Greenery, Greenshank & A Garganey

Sunday became a rather dull day swiftly after 9am. The heavens opened and the rain came down hard and heavy, long overdue I suppose after a great week weather wise.
It's a pleasure to see greenery beginning to finally take back a colourful hold over the landscape of the North East.
As much as I relish the bleak look that Winter brings with it, the return of Spring is always welcome and this year its return has felt long overdue.

I had just finished writing up my latest blog, 'Amphibious Amplexus', and the sun had resumed its place in the now clearing sky when I received a text from Gordon, saying there was a Greenshank at West Hartford, Cramlington.
I decided to head over for a look whilst the sun was still out.
Sure enough when I arrived it was wading around the margins of the larger pool, joined by a Redshank and after a few minutes an Oystercatcher pair. A good number of Lesser Black-Backed Gulls were present around the pool and in the Eastern distance, high up in the sky two Buzzards were circling in the deep blue sky.

Unfortunately my lens struggled to capture any decent photographs of the distant Greenshank, hence the above image being heavily cropped. Next stop larger lens!
I watched the birds milling about the pool, the Skylarks which sang in the air above me and a Kestrel hunting over the rough grassland of West Hartford.

Then a text from Gordon.............Drake Garganey @ Arcot

Upon arrival Gordon pointed out the drake, my first ever. Arcot has played a blinder for me recently, now if only I could find the elusive Green Woodpecker!
The Pond had the Garganey, a single Greylag and Canada Goose and the usual suspects. Over the pond hunted 20+ Sand Martin, cracking considering there was a single bird on friday. Amongst them a few Swallows zipped over the fields and waters surface.
The usual 'primary feather missing' Buzzard was again present and a Kestrel made a few appearances whilst I was there.
Not a bad afternoon.
David
Nature North East / The Northern Owl Project

Cheat Day

Yesterday, as the light faded and day turned to night I finally had my first Barn Owl of 2015. I was on one of my local patches and it appeared from a plantation to the west and flew at times within 30 feet. Unfortunately it didn't hang around for much more then five minutes and the lighting wasn't great for photography (understatement) but I did manage a few shots. 

Safe to say these are the best of a truly bad bunch;

So after the excitement of the Barn Owl sighting I wanted a quick fix today, a cheat day if you will. So I drove up the coast and visited a regular Little Owl haunt and as ever noticed the yellow eyed phantom glaring at me from his perch. After a few minutes in his company I headed back towards home and visited one my local Little Owl pairs. 

Only one bird was seen out of the two, buts thats the norm in all honesty at this location.

All in all a relatively straight forward morning and if anything a little bit of a cheat, I do spend a lot of my spare time looking for fresh Owl roosts and hotspots so a cheat day is okay every once in a while.

Tomorrow I'm hoping for the full five species in one day.........wish me luck!

David

Nature North East/ The Northern Owl Project

"Is he back again?!"

...Windy West Hartford

Let me begin by stating that I don't think I've ever been to West Hartford and it has not been windy! The place is a wind tunnel, and I swear it has its own micro climate going on!
Anyway I digress.....
Lets get down to the matter at hand.

So it was a Saturday and after a somewhat sluggish start to the day I set about on what, initially was going to be a quick 20 minute walk. This of course evolved into a 4 hour adventure around familiar and unfamiliar locales.

A Grey Heron taking flight after being spooked by yours truly

I began as usual by searching the area of the wetland for any life, not much about bar a handful of Gulls and a Grey Heron. No sign of any wading birds or even the regular Kestrel. I had however, earlier had a tip off from The Liverbirder that there was a pair of Stonechat hanging around the area.

They weren't were they had been sighted earlier, I did manage to catch up with them on the back field. Brilliant birds and though the female was very photogenic and willing to be snapped, the male was not so obliging.  Great birds to see in Cramlington. 

The Happy Couple

She was ready for her close up

From here my journey led me North where I caught sight of a Buzzard, unfortunately not Rough Legged like some of the local lads have witnessed over the weekend in the county.
From here my path went beyond the beaten one, and for three hours I walked through woodland, pockets of Gorse, fields, ditches & dykes. At one point I followed a Roe Deer hind for about 10 minutes before losing her in the woods.
Although I really enjoyed my time wandering around fresh territory I was a wee bit dismayed at the lack of action going on, then again that's the beauty of wildlife/birdwatching. You never know what is going to turn up.

The journey continues....

Ghost of Cramlington

So after a day primarily spent watching documentaries about space I decided I needed some outdoor time. I contained my outdoor cravings until mid evening, because tonight I was hunting!

Hunting for a bird that comes out pretty darn late in the day. I had heard of a local site getting frequent visits from a Barn Owl. The word Owl alone would have done it for me, but this was a Barnie. The last of the British species I've yet to see in 2014.

I had visited the site earlier in the week but too no avail, tonight I was hopeful......conditions were stunningly perfect.

There were plenty of butterflies and dragonflies about, the usual Kestrel was seen flying and hunting over the fields. The wetland didn't feature anything out of the ordinary, a few of the commoner species of gull and a couple Moorhen feeding on the reeds. They were actually using there feet to climb onto the reeds. Sedge & Grasshopper Warbler were heard calling briefly, Goldfinch flew about and the sky featured House Martins & Swallows feeding before going to roost.

One of the many female Common darters flying about tonight

Then I seen it......a white shape to my left, evidently not a gull! I got my binoculars on it, and behold 'twas a Barn Owl!! I quickly rang 'Liverbirder', who was about 1/4 mile away and informed him of the Owl.

The Barnie put on a brief show for us but soon vanished, and shortly after so did 'Liverbirder'. 

I hung around hoping for another performance, slowly retreating back abit more after each scope scan. 

Then suddenly it was back and this time it flew right past me, giving me a cheeky glimpse when it did so!

It perched on a fence post about 100ft away, I crept about 30ft away and enjoyed this amazing birds company before making a gentle retreat back to the car. I didn't want to push my luck and cause the bird any stress, and as I walked away it just stayed relaxed on the post. To be honest it seemed quite comfortable with my presence.

The past few weeks.....

Well it's been a few weeks since my last blog, so to quickly to recap the events of my last few weeks birding we have to start at West Hartford.

It's a site I've frequently visited since my last blog, and it's played a blinder. A new site to me for birding but it's become one of my favourite places to bird.

I'll summarise my best sightings from there in a list.

Marsh Harrier (my first ever and as soon as I got out the car no less)

Woodcock (Always a brief 'flying away' glimpse)

Snipe (Flushed and climbing high but quick descension into the reeds)

A close encounter with a female Sparrowhawk (amazingly close)

Great Spotted Woodpecker (Decent fly by view)

***possible (can't confirm) Water Rail running through the marsh near the fence post

Kestrel (regular treat) 

And a brief glimpse of a Short Eared Owl as day soon turned to night, last Thursday after work, very exciting. Purely for the reason that's the one bird I was after considering the time of day! 

The picture below was taken just after seeing the owl, I happened upon it just out of chance by scanning the back hedge line. It landed briefly on a fence post to the right of the big tree and vanished into shadows! 

I spoke to a dog walker and birder who told me what had been seen at West Hartford etc 

He shocked with news he had earlier flushed a Bittern, unfortunately no sightings by myself as of yet.

I also revisited Horton Burn again recently, seeing the Little Egret and Kingfisher/ers again. As usual the foliage and gardens along the burn were teaming with multiple passerines. And surprisingly a Great Spotted Woodpecker was seen in a conifer tree. Nice surprise. 

(Shame about the rubbish pic!) 

Wrapping up warm left me looking slightly suspicious!