11th October ff
Travels round Hartlepool and other bits and pieces...
Thursday 11th October
I went first to the Jewish cemetery where, by chance, I immediately met Peter Garbutt. People were looking for yellow-broweds. I had come to see if the shore lark was still about. We set off to look for it. After some time and walking north to the far end of the new housing area we found it. Saw it a few times. I'd left the camera in the car feeling it was unlikely we'd find anything.
Then went to the Croft. What an amazing hour we had! During that time with 5 or 6 birders present we saw lesser redpoll, mealy redpoll, brambling, fieldfare, redwings, ring ouzel, spotted flycatcher and yellow-browed warbler. Here's some of them...
Also, a few short-eared owl photos from the previous post but not included there.
October 15th - back again to Hartlepool to look for the shore larks that I saw last time. Sheila came too so we made an afternoon of it finishing up at Seaton Common. Of which more later. Firstly my best ever shore lark photos thanks to some fairly confiding birds just north of the Jewish cemetery on waste ground...
Not had two at once before!
After that we went to Borough Hall near the Croft on the Headland proper where groups of birders were yellow-browed watching. Always a very tricky bird [for me at least] to photograph but I tried...one or two successes...
Completely circular YBW!
Finally to Seaton Common. Sheila was hoping to see the owls but, on past experience, she always seems to put a jinx on owl encounters. We waited until, thinking about when we'd get home and get our meal, we decided to give up. I was just putting my bins away when a voice called: 'Over there, far side!'
The rest you can see for yourselves...
We headed home after a very successful afternoon.
Since then we've had a couple of shield bugs in the house - brought in, I suspect, on our clothes after we'd been out gardening. One was well-know to us. Hawthorn shield bugs [acanthosoma haemorrhoidale] are very often found as we have quite a lot of hawthorn in our hedgerows.
We hadn't seen this close relative before - a forest bug [pentatoma rufipes]
