1972 - The Vasculum

NOTES AND RECORDS
NOTES
Bird Notes. The following ornithological observations may be of interest to readers:—
Black Tern: Autumn passage. From August 27th to September 4th, an immature bird was at
Washington ponds.
Arctic/Common Tern: Autumn passage. During August and up to September 16th, present daily at
Washington ponds, with a maximum of at least 110 terns on September 4th. These ponds are 51/2 miles inland
from the sea.
Ruff: Autumn passage. Up to 28 birds present at the Washington Ponds, throughout August and
September.
Common Sandpiper: On the evening of August 23rd, during the hours of darkness, an individual
was heard calling as it flew overhead towards the south on autumn passage, at Shield Row. Previously, on August
15th, two birds were observed by the side of a stream at Tanfield, less than half a mile from Shield Row.
Little Ringed Plover: An individual at the Washington ponds on August 27th. Breeding was
suspected in the area in 1970, as a family party was seen for several weeks in late summer of that year.
Spotted Redshank: Autumn passage. On August 27th, three birds at Washington ponds.
Greenshank: Autumn passage. Present at Washington ponds, throughout August and September,
with a maximum of 8 birds on September 4th.
Dunlin: Washington ponds. A single bird on September 27th.
Golden Plover: On October 3rd, an individual was noted at East Tanfield.
Heron: Frequently seen during September at the Washington ponds, with a maximum of three
birds.
Eider Duck: On August 23rd at Seahouses. A drake Eider which was on the sea, was observed on
several occasions diving for fish. On each occasion that it came to the surface a nearby hovering Herring Gull
would swoop down and snatch a fish from the duck's bill.
Common Pochard: A party of 5 birds was at the Washington ponds on September 11th.
Collared Doves: A pair present in the grounds of Newcastle University, during December.
Swift: Late date. On September 13th, an individual was observed flying south over Shield Row.
Whinchat: During a period of "drift" migration on the east coast. An individual bird was noted on
September 13th in Marsden quarry, South Shelds.
Grey Wagtail: Outside the breeding season. A pair were noted by a stream at Tanfield during
October.
R. Marston Palmer.
Dotterel on the Northern Pennines. Regarding the query in the Vasculum, Vol. LV, No. 3, page
22, about the last record of the Dotterel on Cross Fell. In the book "The Birds of iWestmorland and the Northern
Pennines," (1933) by J. Oliver Wilson, there is a record of two pairs of Doterells spending the summer of 1923 on
a fell in the vicinity of Cross Fell. One of these pairs nested and reared a brood of two. The following year dotterel
again appeared and stayed until July, but breeding was not proved. From 1925 to 1933, J. Oliver Wilson saw no
more birds around Cross Fell, but in August of 1927 he noted a party of nine in another part of the Northern
Pennines.
In the Transactions of the Carlisle Natural History Society, Vol. VIII (1954), there is a record of a
nesting bird in the Lake District on June 7th, 1925, and in the Ornithological Report for 1946 for Northumberland
and Durham, there is a note of a pair of Dotterel during Mav on a fell at
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