#BirdOfTheDay #Snowy Eurasian Woodcock

A check on up Tree Spug numbers this pm provided SUPERB views of Corn Bunting x5 at Littletown Also Jack Snipe & Little Owl nearby #NEBirding

Nice to find a Woodcock feeding at the edge of our street this evening Moulting into its winter snow-camo plumage 😄 First aberrant individual I’ve seen #NEBirding

Two snowy local rambles added WFGoose JSnipe Stonechat Skylark CSnipe beautiful Barnie & 8Scolopax feeding in the moonlit snowy fields Patch - 85species on foot from home, non coastal sites only. 38miles covered. Durham Bird Club Recording area (VC66) - 110ssp.

Smoggy Tea-Cide what a ghastly mess, but offers up endless easy leisurely birdwatching Lots today including Perg & MHarrier hunting, Spoonbill WaterPipit Stonechat Point blank Purple Sands, MedGull Mergansers Eiders, Pintails Whooper Swan, Seals, Foxes & dozen + Roe Deer Durham List = 107 #NEBirding

Good start to 2026 with 79 species noted on a 21 mile ramble (non coastal) Drumming GSW, Wilti in song, amazing to see x3 warblers on NYD - Cettis Chiffies & a Blackcap Other species reported on patch included WFGoose & CornBunt in song We had 100 species in the bag by 4/1 last year 🧐 #NEBirding

The What3Words app is great for mapping birds Here’s x21 Song Thrush territories are town this month On the whole suburban/ town birds are quicker to get going 🎶

Local recce for NYDay Tick-a-thon. We should be good for c80 species inland & on foot from home ✔️ It was lovely to hear our first snippets of song from Goldcrest & Treecreeper, following on from a trial burst from Yellowhammer - all 2 to 3 weeks early First LBBacks are also early #NEBirding

The airflow has a distinct chill to it & a Russian White front has arrived overnight. The local Beck however is a sheltered microclimate & we found x3 Chiffchaff in just over a linear kilometre this afternoon, with lots of flying insects & Goldcrests 1st winter with multiple Chiffs for a while

Merry Christmas 🎅 We noted 65 species on our morning walk & pretty sure we just heard Bewicks Swans going over in the dark 🧐

We’ve Searched near & far since October to locate Tree Spugs at all these 400+ places… Surprised & delighted to find another dozen within 2km of home today 🎯 Flying into suburban gardens to feed with House Spugs Shiney Row, DH4, Sunderland #NEBirding

Fat Bird of the Barley We’ve been expecting “this year to be the last” for over a decade 😵‍💫 However, 2025 was an excellent breeding season for our relict Corn Bunt population There’s an absolute plethora of winter feeding opportunities On wires at 14:30 before heading West to drink #NEBirding

These x17 JSnipe were in a small area 0.016Ha area of floating mat vegetation. There’s 0.832Ha of suitable habitat which has held JS & CSnipe in recent winters. (0.016 ÷ 0.832) × 100 ≈ the 17 birds were found on less than 2% of the site (ie 1.92%) We’ve seen 40 JS here Perhaps there’s more🧐

New wellies day (Santa has come early 🎅) Christened them on x17 Jacks on part of a site that can hold 40+ #NEBirding

More early song 🎶 A male Chaffinch in full song at Backhouse Park Sunderland is around 3 weeks earlier than expected A 15km ramble produced x17 SongThrush & x4 Mistles singing the latter rural & the former suburban A feeding pair of Wilti were heard at close range quietly & excitedly warbling

Winter Waders Two cracking winter birds on the tidal stretch of the R.Wear just up from Sunderland Common Sand & Spotted Redshank on the WWT / Offerton stretch. #NEBirding

Ex tenebris lux From darkness comes light It doesn’t take much First song from Willow & Great Tits, Blackbird & Bullfinch this week Meanwhile Song Thrush are planning on world domination in 2026 ! Singing in good numbers- mild & damp suits them. Just 1 more week & we’re past the shortest day ☀️

A good day in Sunlund 😊🔴⚪️🔴⚪️ Our first burst of Willow Tit song this morning & even a brief burst of excitable warbling 🎶 This date creeps forward every couple of years, it’s generally New Year before we hear them proclaiming territory strong #Wilti25

A surprise Starling roost 4,500 in 2 small rural Phragmite fringed pools Leadgate Nr Consett. Couple more Wilti up there too #NEBirding

Not many about so far This is our best field It can hold 20+, more usually around a dozen, just x5 Scolopax tonight, but that’s the most this year…. so far…. #Scolopax25

Boring LBJ Our WillowTits are to receive a lot of attention in 2026 Durham County Council, Durham Wildlife & Natural England are some of those undertaking projects Thankfully they’re still a familiar everyday bird for us here 😊 #NEBirding @durhambirdclub.bsky.social @teesbirds.bsky.social 🧵1/5

Zoom in on pic3, you can see the tiny bits of polystyrene ! We have confirmed 21 nests in a Tetrad in 2021, however one single Monad can hold more than 10 nests. We are seeing more nests located high in canopies in recent years, some as much as 50’ up 👍🏻🎯🙂

Yesterday’s #BirdoftheDay was something to do with Side views Here’s our first incubating Scolopax from earlier this year, viewed from both sides ☺️ We’ve had our first chicks hatched & away in previous years, even before the national survey had started 😀🎯👍🏻

OTD 2024 Barnie in his Limestone cavern They’re the perfect colour match Guessed thats where some of them lived before man built barns (& put up boxes) #NEBirding

Totting up some numbers Linnet - a total of 6860 found so far during the TreeSpug census (week 10 update 2moro) 3K of those are in NZ34 which had most coverage A benefit of digital images is being able to check flock counts at home over a coffee ☕️😊 #NEBirding

Hurworth Burn Target TreeSpugs & WillowTits at the car park GWEgret, calling WRail & Cettis added interest Nice to get a Harrier trio with 2 cc Marsh & a ringtail Hen. #NEBirding @teesbirds.bsky.social

All too often we hear negative news about birds & wildlife. We have been fortunate to witness dramatic positive changes in Durhams Dipper population over the last 2 decades with 7 additional Hectads colonised in lowland Eastern areas, with confirmation in NZ33 just this season Pic of Moulting bird

1K NZ34 has at least 982 Tree Sparrow in a preliminary Oct/Nov census. The last 2 days we have noted 2 flocks at opposite ends of the Hectad have an extra 120 individuals between them. c1K in just one Hectad…. How many are actually out there 🧐🧮🎯 @durhambirdclub.bsky.social

Returned to a TreeSpug flock in a wild bird seed plot By 15:45 they gradually started to move to leave for roost sites, allowing accurate count of *171 as they went Small groups got up & stuck together but each group headed in different directions Presumably to roost at respective colonies 🧐

Bird of the Day Stripes you say #BirdoftheDay #Stripes

Whispers of a couple of Durham/ TyneTees WillowTit Projects on the cards… Better late than never #NEBirding

End of first 2 months a pleasing 982 TSpug noted in NZ34 (the whole Hectad visited & birds in x86 Monads). County wide see registrations from 268 monads in 147 tetrads from 25 hectads 🎯👍🏻 @durhambirdclub.bsky.social

A little bit of bird news Nothing major but we pick up a few waifs & strays on our rounds… The Yaffle is elevated to Patch Gold nowadays what a negative turnaround for them 😕🧐 Crossbill x4 Low Haswell NZ3644 Raven Pittington NZ3244 GreenWoody Sherburn NZ3143 Not many Scolopax ? 🧐 #NEBirding

Big changes are obvious on several arable farms The NEast has a high uptake of Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) and Countryside Stewardship (CS) we are the top region alongside East Anglia This is a Corn Bunt nest in dense patch of Wheat this July in NZ34 the most northerly English CornBunts

Passer montanus A bit of a misnomer for what’s generally accepted to be a lowland bird Most highly elevated residents we can find are at 340m/asl on the moorland fringe at Woodland between Weardale & Teesdale A small colony has been established since 2017

Myth & Mystery Seeing is believing ! and we see it several times a season Scolopax is another in a long list of Durham species which buck the nation’s downward trends Thermal technology has revolutionised the study of breeding Woodcock #NEBirding

Tree Spug tally for Oct / Nov gives 889 birds in NZ34 alone from the 80 out of 100 monads visited This equates to c11 birds per occupied 1km square or 44 birds per occupied Tetrad There are around 820 of these Tetrad squares in the County & the TS range covers around two thirds of this area 1/4

The cold snap provides an ideal opportunity for picking out Jack Snipe. This one, a Snipe & a Woodcock all sharing the same pathside ditch this morning. #NEBirding

It’s Looking VERY Positive for Tree Spugs in Durham atm *These are our current winter registrations* Nice flock of 120 in NZ34 wild bird cover yday (c90 in pic) where at least 70% of monads have registrations 142 Durham Tetrads is already close to the Atlas total #NEBirding

Oops deleted the Tree Spugs post Update as at 16/11/2025 x207 1km registrations In x121 Tetrads from x24 10km squares Only 5 months to go to map our Winter populations

Called in at Budle Bay on our journey home, just as the tide was just receding Superb selection of wildfowl & waders & great views Pictured are Greenshank, Brents & both Godwits

Angry William It’s been a productive few months for Crossbill passage. Away from breeding sites I’ve had 111 Crossbill moving on 28 dates since June (That’s a 158 day period = so a record around every 5.5 days). 🧵1/3

Surprise Ringtail HH hunting at Garmondsway Nr Kelloe during our Tree Spug recce #BirdingNE

After a rather uninspiring start despite a few late Sept birds, Jacks have picked up this week. By 22/10, a total of x37 birds from a doz sites, with several locs still blank. 20 birds from x9 sites in core study area in NZ35/34 The regions max is 9 at Rspb Saltholme Pics MH & pair by TM #Birding

Tree Spugs after 3 weeks Registrations from just over 100 locations We’ve got out randomly from our core to find birds on the edge of Gateshead (looking down onto the Angel) & in rural East Durham at Trimdon where birds seem plentiful. #Birds #TreeSpugs

Tree Spug registrations after a fortnight Tricky to count accurately with lots of leaves on Still a good provisional indication of presence, however several known colonies yet to be visited We have several nest box schemes & thankfully the population is interlinked #NEBirding

Eventually! First morning of steady Winter Thrushes passing Flocks of up to 80 each of Redwing & Fieldfare heading SWest #NEBirding Smaller nos of GWag Crossbill Redpoll Lark Mipit. Obvious increase in grounded Robin Blackbird SongThrush etc

A new record Day Tally of *x303* Black Grouse counted in west Durham on 23rd September 2025. Coincides with news that translocated Pennine birds have bred successfully over on the NYMoors for the first time in 200 years. #NEBirding

Looking closely this season has revealed a few secrets This is one example of interesting behaviour on our local Beck.

We have a 60 pack counted in Teesdale 11th September 2025. 🎯👍🏻