2024: Another leap into the unexpected!

January 1st: A day around Hartlepool. Highlights for me were goosander and red-breasted mergansers; purple sandpipers, slavonian grebe and black-throated diver and a showy single waxwing at Saltholme. A few pictures follow showing goosander and merganser...

...goosander is smart; merganser looks like it's having another bad hair day!

Mute swan

It was hard work trying to get the siskins in a clear shot at Saltholme until one was found high up enjoying the sunshine.

Saltholme's solitary waxwing enjoying all the attention!

Off the Headland

Pied wagtail and common scoter in the bay.

January 3rd: North Duffield; North Cave and Blacktoft North Duffield was like an ocean as far as I could see. Lots of wlidfowl but no sign of any swans. A few fieldfare were about the roadside hedgerows. North Cave was quiet: little grebe, collared dove but lots of bramblings busy round the feeders.

Blacktoft had snipe, marsh harriers and a barn owl that woke me up with a start: wrong ISO, so wrong shutter speed but I tried!

...and a pheasant!

64 2024 UK