Friday 16th November - Saturday 24th November 2012
Morality tales or fables
1: What have I told you?
On Friday a bittern was paged at North Duffield Carrs, right in front of the Geoffrey Smith hide, so off I went with the camera. The hide was pretty full. After a while Alan Whitehead, aka Duffbirder, arrived revisiting his old haunts. Perhaps he's missing NDC - it's a fair way from Holmpton. Anyway from 10.45 until 13.15 I waited and saw very little. The whooper swans were distant and it was cold. The fog rolled back in and visibility became poor.
So at 13.15 I left. I sometimes talk about being a persistent birder: the bird appeared again at 14.20. Should have stayed until the bittern end!
2:You don't know how lucky you are!!
Saturday pm I went to Blacktoft again looking for barn owls.
I was told to go to Singleton for the best chance of barn owls. 'Where's that?' I asked.
'Just follow Fred, he'll show you the way.'
OK, Fred. Lead on, mate!
The light was poor, then quite good but the birds remained obstinately distant. I did see merlin, two barn owls, about ten marsh harriers and a female stonechat, a Blacktoft lifer for me, if you know what I mean! Nothing of note was in camera range and I was battling the oncoming dark. A pair of little grebes swam by...
I should be satisfied with what I did see. After all I'm lucky to be able to get here as often as I do. The images aren't all bad - only the snipe photo has been brightened significantly - and for a reason. Here it is. Question is, how many snipe can you see?
The marsh harrier and shovelers are 'as shot'...
There were four males but one was so far behind I cropped him off!
Starlings were dropping like raindrops into the reeds.
By the time I reached Tiggy, the light had gone - the moon from Blacktoft Sands car park.
Answer: there are 6 snipe. 3 in the centre, one on each end and one on the left on the bank. Looks like an inanimate lump!
3: Two days at Saltholme
Day 1: Look everywhere. You never know what's there!
After a rotten week weather-wise Friday augured well for a day's birding so I headed up to Saltholme for the best of the weather and the light. On arrival at 9am a group of birders were lined up by the workshops just beyond the Phil Stead hide. Looking at a pair of waxwings on a hawthorn bush. Redwings were there too but here are the two waxies.
Back in the hide for a while, things were fairly quiet. A redshank dropped in.
The light was good and this gadwall looked really well in the early sunshine.
I decided to keep moving: there's so many birding spots in the area. North Gare road might have the caspian gull that has been recorded in the last few days. There were lots of curlews and geese.
With high tide checked the night before [subscribe free to EasyTide for 7-day predictions for most places] for 11.59, I knew that the wader roost at Newburn Bridge would be good any time after 10.30. So I parked up there in the re-opened little car park. [At last the building site has gone. I can't tell what on earth they did during all that time either!!] I don't think I have ever seen so many redshank. Here are just a few of them...
As the tide advanced the birds were pushed further up the beach. I spotted my good friend the resident mediterranean gull sunning himself. Note the different profile of the black-headed gull behind.
Teesside airport gets pretty busy at times so you can always do a bit of plane spotting too.
My friend is watching a flight going back to Malta or somewhere else in the Med!!
A turnstone was having a bathe in a rock pool...
...then a good shake...
...and a good flap of the wings.
Back into Tiggy and a few miles north to Hartlepool Headland. There were some female common scoter close inshore. Waiting to be photographed.
Walking along the promenade towards the fish dock I came across a female eider up against the pilot pier. She didn't mind me looking over the wall at her and stayed close.
She deserved two views, I think. Oystercatchers were on the shingle and a cormorant was swimming close to me off the pier.
As I walked back a pair of scoter were now close in.
The pager announced that the caspian gull was showing off the Zinc Works Road so off we went. A kind birder [Andrew Kinghorn - the Fog Blog] helped me get on the bird. Smart second winter, white head, long neck, some grey mottling on back - unfortunately it soon flew off along with the rest of the flock, back to the recycling hill.
Finally it was back to Saltholme to end the day. The light soon goes at this time of year. On the walk to see the long-eared owls I saw the new 'Mad Hatter's Tea Party' sculpture. It's very impressive. Here's the Mad Hatter.
I never found the owls - it was unbelievably muddy too. The shetland sheep must have watched in amusement.
Old 'Amber Eyes'. Afraid that's as close to Shetland as I'll get for a while.
I ended up in the Paddy's Pool hide. A merlin and a magpie were perched in a bush. The merlin soon put everything up. Bit of what I call a cuckoo shot but you can see enough I think.
A pair of red-breasted mergansers were also there.
The day was dying. I walked back to the visitor centre to buy some fat balls for the garden feeders. A group of barnacle geese [over forty present apparently] were by the fence.
Saltholme day two: Something's bound to turn up!
Barry and I set off at about 8.45am [late for us] for Saltholme etc. We began with the etc bit by going to North Gare to see if the caspian gull was about. Unfortunately the sunshine had turned to fog that only got thicker as time went by. We saw a lot of gulls in the fog but that was all. We decided to call back later if the visibility improved. Next stop: Newburn Bridge for the waders.
A couple of red-throated divers were just off the beach, giving great views.
As the birds were pushed up the beach we saw redshank, dunlin, knot, ringed plover, oystercatcher, purple sandpiper. Sanderling were missing but after a while one dropped in.
The med gull was present too. It was cold and, looking back to North Gare, we were glad to be out of the fog. Hartlepool Headland looked clear too so we headed up there.
We saw good numbers of eider and scoter on the sea. The eider looked stunning.
I've always wanted to be good at drawing and painting. Using Adobe I can become a painter!! Here's my eider daub!!
I spotted a pipit on the tarmac. While looking through the pictures I found a picture [taken a few minutes later] of the pipit up on the stone behind the promenade. I noticed the ring on its right leg.
Here's the original picture which, when I paid attention, also showed the ring. It's a rock pipit.
Down on the shingle beach I spotted a gull that looked different. I don't know why but I seem to be able to pick med gulls easily these days! This one looked really smart and I edged nearer which worked fine until a family with a dog drove everything off!
Off went the med gull.
Off went the oystercatchers.
A flock of turnstones flew out to sea.
Looking into the encroaching mist, a group of cormorants were resting on semi-submerged rocks.
Time to go. We set off for Saltholme. En route Barry spotted a short-eared owl on a post near Greenabella marsh. From the roadside I fired off a few shots.
When we got to Saltholme we went to the Phil Stead hide. Goldfinch were feeding up for the night.
A walk down to Paddy's Pool hide in hope of barnacle geese confirmed that we were beaten by the weather. Only a foggy shoveler remained to finish the sequence.
Let's hope for better birding conditions soon.