Lancashire Little Owls

It's been well over a month now since my last 'lite' blog entry and this has been down to my pretty busy schedule of work with the RSPB, as many will know I'm doing schedule 1 raptor nest protection work and I will say no more on the matter for security reasons.
Lancashire is stunning and the quiet lanes provide me a chance to take it easy and snap a shot of any local flora and fauna that I happen upon on my journey, these opportunities have been provided many times in this picture perfect landscape. The mosaic of habitats is sublime for the variety of different types of flora and fauna found in the North West. Bilberry and heather covered moorland are haunted by the enigmatic Short-Eared Owl and the calls of Cuckoo echo deep into the night, the fast flowing shallow streams which cut through the small communal villages are home to an abundance of invertebrates and in turn draw in their predators, the Common Sandpiper and Dipper to name but two. The miles of farmland that are divided up by dry stone walling and mature hedgerows are ever active with everything from Redstart, Barn Owl, Lapwing and Curlew, with Brown Hare chasing each other to and fro across the fields and Little Owl adorning the dilapidated farm buildings and mature trees, which border the narrow country lanes.

Little Owl are a much more regular sight around the farmland of Lancashire than back home in
Northumberland and North Tyneside, that being said I am aware of a good number of sites in the North East. Generally those sites involve a good amount of searching or good luck so I'm relishing in the numerous 'easy' encounters I have been having down here.
Fence posts and dry stone walls seem to be the favoured perch of the Little Owl and they like to scrutinize you as you drive past, with those large illuminating yellow eyes and that angry look they seem to have. The Little Owl death stare!
I recently noticed a parent bird taking food into a tree hollow and in turn discovered a roadside nest site. Which is happily on route to my place of work, not too high from the ground in the split of a tree trunk, tucked away from the prying eyes of everyone but a hand full of cows.
I look forward to keeping a distant eye on the young Owls once they fledge, and I'm sure the parents will be keeping an eye on me when I do so.
David

American Wigeon, Hollywell Pond 24/04/2015

Payed the American a visit yesterday afternoon, the yank in question being a drake American Wigeon which has recently settled at Hollywell Pond. 

Magnificent Mediterraneans In Newbiggin

Last Friday after my usual half past noon finish from work I headed northward up the coast to the seaside town of Newbiggin-By-The-Sea. I met up with Stewart Sexton, whom I had previously only had twitter correspondence with and he had promised me Mediterranean Gulls / Larus melanocephalus!
Now I had seen these gulls before but my views were always pretty rubbish and brief at best and I wanted an opportunity to get decent views of these birds, hopefully in summer plumage!
I'll be the first one to say that I'm not exactly a gull fanatic but Med Gulls are pretty darn special and why they congregate in Newbiggin is a mystery to me.
As soon as I arrived Stew had me locked onto two adults in breeding plumage! Beautiful birds, to me they resemble a much more appealing Black-Headed Gull, and unlike the black heads the Med Gull actually has a black head when in breeding plumage.
Unfortunately the weather was grim at best, not fantastic when photographing a bird that is predominantly grey and white.
In total we had five birds, the two breeding plumaged adults, two first winter birds and a second winter individual.
Great birds, great conversation and nice to put a name to yet another Twitter face.
Check out Stews blog and follow him on Twitter @Stewchat

First Winter Med's

Second Winter Med Gull

Breeding Plumage Adult Med's

David
Nature North East / The Northern Owl Project

Killy Lake Courtship

Sunday was a relatively gloomy and overcast day, despite the weather I took a free afternoon as an opportunity to give Killingworth Lake a visit.  Ten minutes of driving later and I reached my destination.

The lake was relatively busy with dog walkers, adults and children milling around the lakes edge, I suppose I shouldn't have expected anything else, it was the weekend after all.

As usual the water was alive with the regular cast of waterbirds; Coot, Tufted Duck, Moorhen, Mallard, Canada Geese and Mute Swan, all of which seemed to flock towards the nearest bread dispenser.

The open water contained a large flock of Pochard (20+) and a large flock of Goldeneye (25+), whilst a solitary female Goosander bobbed along in the distance towards the road. The smaller roadside pond contained a few stand out birds in the form of a Shoveler pair, a Lesser Black-Backed Gull and dozen or so Goosander.

I headed back towards the larger lake and positioned myself on one of the small southern jetty's, lying down and positioning my camera out towards the expanse of water. It wasn't long before an absolute corker of a drake Pochard began drifting towards me, preening and napping as it approached. 

A stunning drake Pochard, just look at that deep red demon eye.

I came to the lake with the intent to observe and hopefully photograph some of the finer species Killy Lake had to offer and was more than happy with my close encounter of the Pochard kind however, at the top of my list was the stunning Great Crested Grebe.

I was in luck there was a total of three Grebes, one pair on the larger water body and a single Grebe on the smaller roadside pond near the school.

The pair on the lake were in full courtship mode, performing the enchanting penguin dance, my first time seeing this I'm ashamed to say and it was fascinating to watch these two birds perform this stunning ritual. I'm looking forward to making repeat visits to the lake and watching how the pair progress throughout the breeding season.

David
Nature North East / The Northern Owl Project

Monday 2nd March - Photo Blog

On Monday 2nd March I took a trip up the Northumbrian coast to Warkworth, it was a ridiculously quiet day with not much showing at all. How odd, the North-East coast is after all a mecca for birdlife!!
I went out with a few target species in mind;

• Amble Mediterranean Gull: No sign
• Coastal Short-Eared Owls: No sign
• Druridge Little Owl: No sign on the past three attempts

So instead of rabbiting on about nothing massively exciting I'll simply let the photo's do the talking for me. 

David

Nature North East / The Northern Owl Project

Amble Harbour looking inland towards Warkworth, the castle & beyond. 

Whooper Swan quartet & a gaggle of Greylag Geese, Warkworth Lane.

The petite Wigeon, 3 drakes and a female at Queen Elizabeth II Country Park, Ashington.

Incoming! A pair of Shelduck about to make a splash at Druridge Pools, on the the budge field.

Grey Partridge lurking in a field near Druridge Pools.

The aptly named Turnstone.

A Black-Headed Gull, beginning to look pretty darn dapper!

A stunning drake Goldeneye on the river Coquet at Warkworth.

Female Stonechat, Warkworth Gut.

Very distant Brown Hare bounding through rough grassland after being disturbed by a dog. Dog walkers annoy me something rotten sometimes!

An ever observant Rook.

C.S.I: Cramlington & The Brutality Of Nature

Victim: Carrion Crow / Corvus Corone

Scene Of Crime: Arcot Golf Course

Crime: Murder

Personal Account:

...Sometime in late February I stumbled upon something straight out of a horror movie, there were scattered body parts all over the place, piles of feathers strewn across the mossy woodland carpet and an uneasy silence resounding through the wood.

I had walked right upon a murder scene, a crime of nature if you will and at my feet lay the recently devoured corpse of a Carrion Crow / Corvus Corone. This was a fresh kill, the red meat still looking juicy and red raw. 

The Crow had been picked clean, all that remained were its legs and a fully feathered head, eyes n'all. Obviously these were the less tasty parts shall I say. Next to the bird lay two piles of feathers, one containing larger feathers such as the primaries and the other seemed to mostly consist of shorter downy feathers.

On a large branch to the left a pair of wings hung in the breeze. Did these belong to the same bird? Possibly.

Around the area were a scattering of Jay feathers, but no sign of a carcass were present and a large mossy branch had remnants of what appeared to be rodent fur, of which species I couldn't possibly say.

But who commited this crime?

Female Sparrowhawk, Buzzard, Fox.....Something else entirely? Man?.....Perhaps shot and scavenged?

I am fully aware of the activity of all suspects on this patch and the woodland area that held the corpse seemed to be this offenders favoured area.

Photo Evidence: See below (Not for the squeamish) 

In all seriousness finding this Carrion Crow was a pretty amazing and eye opening experience, yes it's just a dead Crow but it's the whole thought process behind the act that intrigues me.
Nature can be brutal, actually no lets be honest, nature is very brutal but I suppose it has to be. It is after all survival of the fittest on this ruthless earth and this Crow just happened to play a part in the success of a predators survival in this ecosystem and its that concept that astounds me.
Whether its Nile Crocodiles predating Wildebeest or Lady birds devouring Aphids, the food chain is pretty darn incredible!

David
Nature North East / The Northern Owl Project

Arcot Pond 27th Feb

On Friday morning (27th Feb) I spent about 45 minutes at my local patch before heading off to Gateshead to complete my woodchipper training qualification.
All was quiet, all was still and this seems to be the norm recently at Arcot Pond. The horses were still in the South West field, much to my frustration and the Roe Deer were in their usual hot spot across the pond. Two doe and a buck, sporting velvet antlers! Fantastic.
I look forward to watching them over the coming weeks and months.

As I stood watching the Deer, there was a few duck species milling about the pond with Teal, Mallard, Tufted Duck and Shoveler all dabbling on the waters surface. All of a sudden ducks, gulls and corvids took to the air as Arcot's chief avian predator burst out of the woodland and flew over the pond and headed northwards.

Once the Buzzard had left a stillness returned to the area and I watched as two Oystercatchers flew south and possibly towards Big Waters? The presence of two distant Canada Geese on the pond provided my first geese of the year at Arcot, I wonder if they'll breed again this year?

All in all it was a very quiet forty five minutes on patch but nonetheless enjoyable and as readers to my blog will know, the birding day got vastly better in the afternoon with a Short-Eared Owl bonanza!
http://nature-northeast.blogspot.com/2015/02/shortie-stakeout.html

David
Nature North East / The Northern Owl Project

Shortie Stakeout

This afternoon was spent waiting for Short-Eared Owls at Prestwick Carr, an area which has reportedly had the birds coming out earlier each day and owling word had clearly spread as many other birders also flocked along the lane.
After about 90 minutes of scanning and waiting, we had the first Shortie, followed swiftly by another, and another and another!! Four birds in total were seen to be quartering the fields for prey in the last remaining light and as I left in near darkness their ominous silhouettes could still be made out in the distance.

David
Nature North East / The Northern Owl Project