June 6th-8th 2024
So this is summer!
Been rather quiet on the birding front. Malcolm [younger son] helped me rebuild our decking down by the pond as old age had induced a lot of rot. All done now. Also, I endured the nightmare of getting a new phone that didn't want to talk to my old phone. Still, got there in the end. No really exciting birds since the indigo bunting.
Blacktoft Sands - June 5th
A quiet afternoon's birding. I tried to photograph swallows and swifts. A wood pigeon was desperate to be included too!
As I reached the car park at the end of the afternoon a pied wagtail was ushering two youngsters off the main driveway to the safety of the roped off grassed area.
South Gare, Redcar - June 6th
On June 6th I went to South Gare to see some sandwich terns - or so I hoped. I chose a time when the tide was high and the birds would be pushed nearer the shore. And so it was but the terns were on the rocks on the seaward side and getting a clear view proved tricky. I sat on the uncomfortable rocks and waited. A ringed plover came to see what I was doing.
Although the bird was quite a long way out in the bay a sandwich tern did oblige and put on a nice display for me. I liked the pastel colours of the background of buildings at Marske.
Walking back to the car I could hear [new hearing aids] a skylark somewhere above me. Directly overhead as it turned out.
Saltholme - June 8th
I walked a very long way to the location of the pool that the night heron was frequenting. About a dozen birders staring at the reedbed. Plenty of house martins to watch and it did make a pretty picture . Only downside: the night heron was hiding somewhere out of view.
I walked back with Peter Garbutt and I commented on the display of marsh orchids on the meadow.
