Swollen Seas

Bubbling and powerful, the North Sea savagely struck the shoreline of the North East coast around St Mary's yesterday. The morning was grey, dull and miserable; but on the eastern horizon the light of the sun burst through the heavy clouds and lit up a small portion of the distant sky. A stunningly gothic morning on the tidal shore.

- David

Hollywell Dene Waterfall

After an early finish from work yesterday I headed to the coastal woodland of Hollywell Dene to take some long exposure shots of the mini waterfall situated half way along the woodland trail.

Unfortunately as I was exiting the dene, whilst attempting to photograph a Shield Bug, my SLR came up with 'Shutter release ERROR!' and as I took the lens off the mirror fell off!

There are however, two upsides. Firstly its still under warranty so fingers crossed I can get it fixed painlessly, and secondly I have a brand new Nikon SLR arriving on Monday which luckily I ordered on Tuesday. I'd been wanting to upgrade for a while.

Was this fate? Who knows, either way its great timing and I can't wait to get to grips with my new camera body.

David

North North East

Dusk Photography At Seaton Sluice

As has been apparent in my previous blog post, I've been frequenting St Mary's at dusk to try and work on some coastal landscape photography; on Thursday night I turned my attention North towards Seaton Sluice and Rocky Island.
The weather was fantastic, however a few more clouds in the sky would have really increased the drama I wanted in the shots. Overall I couldn't find the shots I was after, I attempted to salvage what scenes I could and was relatively happy with what I achieved.
I have ordered a few ND filters to help with the brightness of the sun so until they arrive I have to make do with what I can.
I'm really enjoying my foray into coastal landscape photography; it really makes a change from wildlife photography, which I still do but have put on the back burner for now as I try to hone my camera craft towards landscape scenes in the North East as oppose to amateur wildlife shots.
- David
Nature North East

A Shortie & A Sunset

Short-Eared Owl; F5.3, Shutter Speed: 1/2,  280mm, EXP: +2.3

I decided to end a night of job interview prep with a chilled hour of photography on the coast. A beautiful evening with stunning light and a surprise encounter with a Short-Eared Owl; absolute magic!

David
Nature North East

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

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?!"

Mag-Lime & Muscovy Ducks at Marden Quarry

My Traineeship with Durham Wildlife Trust is rapidly reaching its climax and my ejection into an unknown realm will soon be upon me. I'm constantly scouring the internet and speaking to local contacts for work.
As you can imagine it fills me with dread not knowing which way my career will go from here, I'm optimistic I will remain in the conservation sector but your guess is as good as mine.
It is a tad exciting though.........the uncertainty, what is actually the next step?

Anyway on with the show, work was entirely classroom based on Friday and I used the opportunity of an early finish to have a look around a local urban green space 5 minutes from my front door, Marden Quarry in Whitley Bay.  The daft thing is I've never actually been before despite its close proximity to my dwelling.

It turned out to be an interesting urban sanctuary to say the least, the quarry is one of the very few areas of exposed Magnesium Limestone North of the Tyne. County Durham is a completely different story, it has an amazing amount of Magnesium Limestone landscapes. The quarry now consists of a large pond with a few wooded islands and a large area of mixed scrub on the western edge, consisting of primarily Elder, old knarly and twisted mature Elder, it looked like a passerine's dream.

The pond itself held a few Mute Swans, Canada Geese, Greylag Geese, Tufted Duck, Mallard, Coot, Moorhen and multiple types of duck hybrid. There was a young shoveler feedingby a wooded island and a pair of Muscovy kept watch from the side of the pond. Like two old men keeping an eye on the state of things.
I mentioned how old and knarly the Elder were, well I think these Muscovy Duck can take the crown for that. They're about as primitive as a duck can look, disregarding the saw billed ducks of course, they look like the unfortunate result of a ducks drunken one night stand with a Turkey!!
The bare red skin around the face and the thick, stocky body of the bird make it quite an imposing character when compared to the dainty Tufted Ducks.

Amongst the mixed scrub were the usual suspects, Robin, Magpie, Blackbird, Woodpigeon, Dunnock, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long Tailed Tit and Greenfinch were all in attendance.
When I say there was Woodpigeon there, I mean there was a hell of a lot of Woodpigeon! I quite like these birds in all fairness, I'm not anti Woodpigeon by any means, but they have that seriously annoying character trait of making as much noise as possible when they fly off!! Much like Pheasants!
Nothing breaks the still of silence better than a startled Woodpigeon or an overly nervous Pheasant!

I've heard rumour that Marden Quarry has been a good place to spot passing rarities, I think I'll make a point to check the quarry out on regular occasions now and see if anything does turn up.
Afterall, I have no excuse, its only five minutes from home.

David

A Shelter From The Wind

On Thursday I was requested to look for signs of Owls on a private Northumbrian site, prior to this I had time to have a quick pit stop on a local hotspot.
It was a fresh cool morning, the sun was shining down upon the North Tyneside landscape and the wind howled across the open spaces. I took the scenic route to the hotspot and enjoyed the drive, whilst listening to some good music, an essential to a good drive in the car in my opinion. I drove out of Whitley Bay and took the road west through the ominous Hartley Lane and past the Beehive Pub.
I ate there with my better half last week and I highly recommend it, great food, a cosy setting and goats, yes, they also have goats. Pretty strange to me, considering I always envisage goats as somewhat satanic. Anyway I digress...
It took me about 20 minutes to reach the location, I parked up the car and grabbed my necessities, my camera and Bins.
After a slow and steady approach I noticed the Male Little Owl perched upon its regular spot sheltering from the harsh winter wind. As always I was constantly watched, its safe to say this little chap doesn't like intrusion for long and after a short amount of time he hopped into his stone lodgings, out of the wind and out of sight. I know his routine and knew after about fifteen to twenty minutes it would reappear but I didn't want to pry for too long and cause the bird to feel cautious and unhappy in my presence. The female did not show, she roosts deep within a rocky hollow and I've only seen her once. She is however more confiding and not so weary.
I only spent a little while in the area before returning to the car, from this point I took the road North to start my days work on my conservation project; The Northern Owl Project.

In the words of Bilbo Baggins, the road goes ever on.....

-David

The Northern Owl Project update #1

First of all, I would like to thank everyone that has been in touch and sent me their Owl sightings its fantastic. It's so exciting to me on a personal level to see more and more people come forward and get involved with the project.
Remember to check out my Facebook page and if you have any North East Owl sightings inbox the page or e-mail me directly at david.dinsley@live.co.uk

The database is swiftly forming a picture of North East hot spots, with key areas being the Northumberland coast and County Durham, which is an amazing county for all five Owl species. The limestone landscapes and old quarry's almost lend themselves to Owls.

Today I attended a meeting with Ian Kyle, head groundsman at Arcot Hall & Golf Course for thirty two years, I bumped into Ian a few weeks back whilst scouting for Little Owl nest box locations. A chance meeting led to him asking me to put up boxes around the site of the golf course, an area that he has personally had many encounters with Owls.

We discussed current species on site and he took me around different locations where Owls were regularly seen by himself, staff and golfers alike.
Amazingly I have been given permission to do what I want on site, and I can't wait to get started. **Remember that if you are putting up an owl box that you get permission of the land owner.
The Course is riddled with small plantations of scrub and tree, areas of woodland and sections where the greenkeepers have left the grass to naturally grow, creating a perfect space for owls to hunt.

Next Thursday if possible I want to go back across and give the site a full inspection, looking for roost sites, possible old nest locations, signs of any owl activity and of course any owls that are active or roosting on that day.
What an amazing opportunity to be given, made even better because my local wildlife patch borders the land.
The question is, should I consider this an extension of my patch? ;)

Stay tuned for my next update :)

David
The Northern Owl Project

Coming soon

A Tale of Two Shorties.......

The Pale Gull Trio

"Seagulls, bloody seagulls!" 

Yes, seagulls! Now I totally understand how dull that sounds as the topic of a blog post, gulls however are a bit of a challenging bird to ID, particularly during the winter months.
For example, they take several years to mature and in doing so yield a variety of different plumages. Awkward!
Originally they were a type of bird I was totally unphased by, that was until Saturday morning.
Maybe it was the infectious hype from fellow birders on the fish quay or perhaps it was the fact that this was probably the only time I've really given gulls the time of day.......and now they FASCINATE me!!
Whilst on the fish quay I spotted 3 lifer birds, 2 species and a hybrid, and they were;

• Iceland Gull
• Glaucous Gull
• Viking Gull (Herring x Glaucous hybrid)

The Pale Gulls!

Can you spot the pale rarity?

These three Gulls are all far north birds, hailing from their homes in Iceland and beyond to the Arctic Circle, not massively common around North East shores but they do seem to enjoy visiting North Shields Fish Quay during the winter months on occasion.

Glaucous Gull

Glaucous Gull
The Glaucous Gull is a large, bulky and thick billed Gull species. One key feature to notice with this birds winter plumage is the lack of dark feathers on the primary & tail feathers, giving it an overall very pale appearance. Lookout as well for the white ring it sports around its eye. 
As I say though, this is a large bodied bird, almost equivalent to a Greater Black Backed Gull! The size combined with the distinct pale colouration makes this gull stand out strongly amongst its more common peers.

Iceland Gull

Iceland Gull
Our Icelandic friend is a medium sized Gull, yet again its winter plumage is overall pale and the most distinguishing feature whether flying or perched is the length of the bird's primary feathers, they're long! You can clearly see the length of these on the above photograph.
The Iceland Gull also has a kinder appearance than the Glaucous Gull, this is more than likely due to its more slender beak. Giving it more dove appearance facially.

Viking Gull

Viking Gull
The mighty Viking Gull, also known as the Nelsons Gull, is a mighty bird. A blend of the Herring and Glaucous Gull, it's a hybrid species.  Unlike the Glaucous Gull it has a broad black horizontal bar on its tail feathers and slightly darkened primary feathers. Making is easier to distinguish at a distance.......allegedly! ;)

Viking Gull, showing both the broad barred tail and darkened primary feathers.

Glaucous & Viking Gull in the same shot, Viking Gull is at the bottom with the Glaucous Gull in the centre of the picture. Note the darker primary feathers on the Viking Gull in comparison to the very pale Glaucous.

Iceland Gull, showing pale elongated wing tips.

The Northern Owl Project

Aims; To promote the population of native Owl species breeding in the North East of England, through surveying and Owl box installations.

As regular readers to this blog and people who know me personally will know, I have an affinity for Owls. I'm a wildlife enthusiast through and through but there's something so intriguing and enchanting about these large eyed, silent hunters. Unfortunately species such as the Barn Owl are in rapid decline, this is due to both natural and man made reasons, habitat loss and bad winters have reduced numbers significantly. Though 2014 numbers are better than the past few previous years.

My main target for this project is to build and install multiple boxes(Tawny, Barn and Little Owl ) and Baskets(Long Eared Owls) and place these throughout the region, in particular around my local area and patches. Due to Short Eared Owls nesting on the ground, creating a nesting area for these won't really be possible.
I have already constructed the first Tawny Owl box (Left) and the first Little Owl box (below).
















I'm hoping to get in touch with land owners and schools, as well  as local ringers and try to work out a system where they can help with ringing if nest boxes become established and used for breeding.

YOU can get involved too!! This is where I need your help, if you have spotted any Owls across the North East (Northumberland, County Durham, Tyne & Wear) or know of any areas of breeding owls, just inbox the Nature North East Facebook page  and I can collate the data and create a map of the areas.

This way I can identify the whereabouts of species and see which are doing better then others, and pin point the locations that are lacking Owl activity........and from there, work out why?

Little Owl Box Creation

If you have an old Owl box you want to donate to the cause then feel free, I will be building all of the other boxes from scratch myself. If anybody does want to donate to the cost of materials then by all means do so. I can provide receipts to anyone who would like them.

If you can't afford to donate then by all means just sit back and watch the 'Northern Owl Project' unfold through my blog and Facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/naturenortheast 

David.
Nature North East

...The Turn Of The Tide

St Mary's Lighthouse, the beacon of North Tyneside

Another Friday had come around and after an early finish at work, and a quick cup of coffee at home,  I headed up to St Mary's Lighthouse & Wetland Nature Reserve to test out my new camera equipment and get my nature fix.

I couldn't wait to get snapping with my new Nikon, its worlds away from using my iPhone and telescope to digiscope. It just makes life a lot easier for a wildlife watcher like myself. Never say never mind, there may come a time when I need to digiscope a species that is just too far for the camera. Lets hope not though.. ;)

Whilst the wetland seemed to be quiet with only few Gull species, Mallard, Coot and a lone Mute Swan making up the bird life on the pond, the shoreline was abundant with shore birds; Oystercatcher, Turnestone, Curlew, Redshank and Ringed Plover.
Shore birds can be a royal pain in the rear to ID at times, depending on the species, they are however great entertainment value. They're either sleeping, flying like its going out of fashion or obsessively feeding like birds possessed! It was brilliant being able to get so close to them, that is until a random dog would come charging towards me and drive all the shore into the air. Funny thing is most of the birds would come back to the exact same 30 seconds later.
After a quick scramble up the cliff and through the gut I headed for the north end of the wetland, this when I seen a large female Sparrowhawk swooping down and into the small trees. Unfortunately I wasn't quick enough to photograph it as it first swooped down and after much searching I failed to locate it again. Bit of a bummer! At least I seen though.
As I headed back along the path to the car I bumped into another birder, canny bloke, and he was telling me about a Short Eared Owl that had been seen hunting around the fields between the Wetland and the caravan park a few days ago. I was loving this new information, anyone who knows me will know how passionate I am about Owls. I hung around for a bit keeping an eye across the fields and on a small flock of Goldcrest on the other side of the path. Goldcrest are great little birds, cheeping whilst moving from branch to branch in search of food.
All in all a great couple of hours on a nice chilled night, time to get to know the camera and observe the wildlife of St Mary's ......and as for the Sparrowhawk and Short Eared Owl ......I'll be back! ;)

Redshank at dusk

A 'ringed' Turnstone