Welcome to my birding blog - first launched 12th March 2012...
Friday 7th September - Saturday 8th September 2012
Two Days in Cleveland
- or a ride on the birding rollercoaster!
Friday
There was, so it was told on the old pager thing, a Baird's sandpiper at Hartlepool, at Newburn Bridge to be precise. I like Newburn Bridge because at high tide the waders can be excitingly close to you. They were. But no sign of the target bird. In fact there was no sign all day.
Not to worry, there'll be other things to see. Like gulls for instance. I spotted this bird on the rocks.
I seem to have a thing about Mediterranean Gulls. I kept an eye on this one. But there were other gulls too. Like this smart black-headed gull.
Or herring gulls.
My eye was drawn back to the medgull.
At low tide there were few waders.
After a while I drove up to Saltholme - there's usually something of interest at the Phil Stead hide. Here's what I saw... [= ellipsis: only 3 dots allowed, you know!]
This magpie has just been wading in the pool. He starts to shake the water droplets off!
And even more droplets fly!
Now for a godwit-fest. Over 20 godwits were present and there were a few altercations. Light was poor so photos not top quality but they convey the situation well, I think.
Godwit 1: Have you seen my leaning over trick?
Godwit 2: Well, I bet you can't do the splits like this!
How about a fight, then?
I spotted a new species of godwit: the long-necked godwit!
A lapwing came very close. With antennae like those he must get very good reception!!
Unless you get your wires crossed!
There were snipe...
...and even greenshanks. Just in case anyone thought they'd seen the back of them. Trouble is, I can't resist photographing them!
Last picture of the day shows a godwit in calmer mode. Black-tailed by the way.
Saturday
Back to Newburn Bridge bright and early to catch the wader roost at high tide. With equally high hopes of a Baird's sandpiper.
A turnstone was on the concrete ramp behind me.
The roost of sanderlings produced a very black and white image, so I changed it to black & white to see how it looked!
There was for several hours no sign of the Baird's sandpiper. Excitement spread among the asembled birders when someone spotted something different.
'There it is!' went the shout.
Pretty little bird. Unfortunately it's a dunlin. Always eliminate the most likely first. One birder had obviously lost his bottle.
To compensate for our disappointment someone piped up: 'Yellow-legged gull. On the rocks!'
Attention switched to this bird.
Yes, it's a lesser black-backed gull. Double dipping on the birding rollercoaster!!
I fled to Saltholme again for something different, I hoped.
They do a good line in weasels at Saltholme. I've seen a few over the years.
I bet those teeth can really hurt!
There were birds too. Including the surprise of the week! I nearly had to settle for one of my cuckoo type record shots of this bird until, happily, it decided to come over my way...
What is it? It's a pec. Pectoral sandpiper. Bit camera shy at first.
Pectoral band showing nicely! Dead technical.
To end the day I went back to Newburn Bridge. Just in case. Stupid really as the tide was now low. Still, one bird was waiting for me. I don't mean this group of sandwich terns.
Or this mixed group: sanderlings, oystercatcher, black-headed gulls and sandwich terns.
As you can see, the beach at Newburn Bridge at low tide is quite black with sea-coal dust. In sunlight and shade it can look very different. Wet it can look sky blue. In shade it can look jet black. Like this - with my favourite gull.
I waited a long time, camera settings all set for flight shots using the Canon 'ring of fire' focus points. Eventually something put the few other gulls up. The med followed suit and I was ready. So just for me: Mediterranean gull in flight.
Shadow on the sand below.
It's as if he's trying to shake off his shadow.
Farewell larus melanocephalus - which, just to confuse us all means black-headed gull!! To make matters even dafter, black-headed gull has the latin name larus ridibundus which means laughing gull. I wonder what the latin name of laughing gull means?
Editor: this must stop now!
Wednesday 5th September 2012
Blacktoft in the afternoon
If I have a local patch at all then I suppose Blacktoft Sands RSPB is my patch; it's my favourite local reserve anyway. On Wednesday 5/9 the light was really nice when the sun shone. There were periods of cloud especially when the marsh harrier was sighted. The harriers are very quiet at the moment. Suddenly the light cleared - as you will see later.
I'll start where I started: in Townend hide where there were greenshanks, green sandpipers, snipe and teal. The greensands were the only birds close enough to photograph. I found the light had a certain moodiness. Perhaps you can see what I mean.
The marsh harrier came quite close. Female or juvenile?
At Xerox hide a young ruff looked quite smart among the wildfowl.
Finally I went to Marshland hide where there were spotshanks, greensands, lapwings, a knot, and greenshanks. One came really close. A birding trip wouldn't be complete at the moment without a greenshank it seems. I try hard to do something diffrent with my pictures of them. The light, as I said, was really nice. Take 5!
An easterly would be a nice idea, don't you think?
27th August 2012- 2nd September 2012
Sometimes the photos just aren't there!
Monday 27th August
The forecast waasn't great but the phalarope was still there, so, damn the weather, I went off to Frampton to see it. Hopefully!
It took about twenty minutes to find it. There were garganeys and curlew sandpipers too but nothing especially close. Remember my cuckoo type photos? Birds you can barely see. Dots in the landscape. Well it's time for one of them again...
Can you see it? No? Oh well, here's a megacrop!
On the way home I called at Swanpool [SK950701] in south-west Lincoln - the local patch of a group of birders. A couple of common redstarts had been reported. Eventually after meeting up with a couple of the birders we had quite a lot of fleeting views of the female.
You don't often get two year ticks as late in the year as this. Another good day therefore.
Tuesday 28th August
Going north. For a lifer and a decent tick as well. Decided to start at Cresswell Pond, the most northerly point of the trip, where I soon spotted the long-tailed duck. It remained, however, well out of reach of the camera. Also present were a pink-footed goose, an avocet, a common sandpiper, yellow wagtails and a little stint.
As for the lifer, a greenish warbler, in spite of four hours' patient waiting in front of the designated scrub [along with about 8 other birders] we never saw a thing.
I called at Saltholme on the way home to see the recently reported spoonbill. It too was beyond my reach but looked great in the big Opticron scope that an RSPB chap had got set up in Saltholme Pools hide. I wandered back and popped into the Phil Stead hide with the camera. A greenshank was close by. I seem to be photographing a lot of them this month... Better than nothing eh?
Thursday 30th August
Old Moor for another red-necked phalarope! Two in a week!! More or less a cuckoo type photo but marginally clearer [?] than the Frampton Marsh bird. Just.
You can easily see this one! Big crop however...
Friday 31st August
Spurn for a seawatch with Barry. The seawatch was pretty quiet. We went to the Canal Scrape hoping for something a bit more interesting. The Hebridean sheep were near the hide.
A juvenile pied wagtail was chomping on a common blue damselfly.
Meadow pipits, looking very fresh and bright, were searching the dead plant material at the water's edge.
A wheatear [white arse to those on familiar terms!] was on the grass or on the barbed wire not far from the hide. Gradually he came closer. Here are some pictures of the bird.
We went down to the car park at Kilnsea. This new information board intrigued me and explained some new wooden posts that have been appearing with a number on and the letters SKEALS.
Spurn, Kilnsea, Easington Area Local Studies Group. There are some nice old photos on the website - do have a look. Hope they don't mind me giving a little taste of what is there.
The Spurn Railway
The Spurn Point Bus
In the overflow car park Barry found a white wagtail.
Next we went and parked at Kilnsea Wetlands. Things were much quieter there than last week. We saw quite a few butterflies that day. This male small white was feeding on thistles.
This reed bunting [I had no idea what it was when I photographed it. The main reason to photograph it was to try to identify it later.] was looking somewhat the worse for wear. Hangover perhaps.
The blog encourages me to take other bits and pieces. This sound mirror prompted a little research.
Kilnsea Sound Mirror is located near Kilnsea, Yorkshire.It is the only listed ‘building’ in Kilnsea.
In World War I the Germans used Zeppelins to make bombing raids on eastern England. In order to have some warning of their approach, acoustic sound mirrors made of concrete were erected at various points along the coast. The Kilnsea sound mirror was probably built in 1916/17. It is in the shape of a half-hexagon, with an inner concave circular disc to amplify sound. It is 16 feet high and 17 feet wide. In front of the concrete disc is a plinth, with a pipe on which would have been mounted a trumpet-shaped 'collector head' which was a basic microphone.
On the western side of Beacon Lagoons sea aster aster tripolium flowers proliferously at this time of year.
Walking back along Long Bank [sea plan earlier] a common darter was almost camouflaged by the mown grass.
Finally we spent an hour at Sammy's Point. There were lots of common blues and small tortoiseshells to enjoy. I was pleased to photograph the shy female common blues too. Enjoy too...
This male looks past his prime!
Male and female.
Barry was photographing a smart looking male common blue so I joined in. I like this image.
Female again.
Walking along the shoreline, a kestrel surprised as it came out of the sunshine towards us. I pointed and hoped. The light was challenging and the focus was slow to lock.
In the horse paddocks we spotted some activity other than the ubiquitous goldfinches. A chiffchaff was bustling about proving hard to identify conclusively. I wanted it to be a greenish warbler! It has a slight wingbar and strong supercilium.
The best thrill was when I found a female redstart in the bushes.
Saturday 1st September
The thrill of finding your own rarity!! I will be brief. I went to Whitburn looking for a Bonaparte's gull. Various searches on the beach and in ploughed fields full of gulls revealed nothing. Eventually I went down to Roker Pier to sift through the gulls there. I found it!
There were no other birders to be seen so I phoned my find onto Bird Guides and Rare Bird Alert. After about 25 minutes birders wrrived and confirmed my sighting to my relief asnd great pleasure. Sorry no camera with me.
Sunday 2nd September
Bridlington cruise - again no camera. The cruise was very quiet although we did see a pomarine skua [tick], great skua [bonxie], pied flycatcher, manx shearwaters but noithing in quantity except little gulls.
Afterwards we went to Old Fall plantation where we eventually saw [Barry was onto it first] the arctic warbler. People had come from afar to see this bird: alifer for both of us.
And so another great day and the end of the summer holiday season, so the old man will be a lone birder more often from now on. Bring on the easterlies, bring on the megas!!
125 Yorkshire; 260 UK; 385 life list.
Sunday 26th August 2012
Not quite the Seven Wonders of the World - but nearly!
We go north-east for an ornithological harvest festival
I picked Barry up at 7.15am. The plan was clear: start with a seawatch at Hartlepool Headland [1]. We had no particular target in mind, just some good birding. The seawatch was very quiet. A few gannets, eider, gulls and terns. A ruff, knot and redshank on the rocks. House martins. Plenty of normal stuff. We didn't see any skuas if others did. Time to move on.
Leaving the Headland we dropped in on the cemetery and nature reserve called Spion Kop[2], on the north side of the Headland. Wheatear and whinchat were seen here - and sparrowhawk too. I photographed the whinchat on a wall but unfortunately it was always looking the wrong way! Still a blog is for the bits you wouldn't otherwise see, so here's a nice sharp image of a whinchat. Looking out to sea.
Next stop: Newburn Bridge [3]. Just to see if there were any birds. Well, it turned into a feast of waders: knot, purple sandpiper, ringed plover, sanderling, oystercatcher and, best of all, a little stint! Here are some of the results.
This sanderling looks very smart.
The oystercatchers took off but came back.
This knot didn't like being disturbed.
North Gare [4] was quiet and we didn't linger and headed for Saltholme [5] where we picked up a good number of species including red-crested pochard and little gull. The Phil Stead hide gave us greenshanks x3, water rail and garganey. There were also many snipe and some dunlin.
The greenshank took off. I'm getting good at these rear view greenshank shots!! Take off!
Cruise.
Landing!
Coatham Marsh [6] was quiet too. Coots. So we headed for South Gare [7]. Bar-tailed godwit on Bran Sands as we approached, along with lots of other waders. Again plenty of usual stuff down on the rocks. A couple of birders were watching something in the brambles. We wandered over. Barred warbler, we were told! This hadn't been on the pager so we were very pleasantly surprised. Just before it flew off we had a good view, much better than the one we saw at Kilnsea four days earlier.
'It'll have gone back to the bomb hole,' one of the birders said. I knew it well as I had photographed Hume's leaf warbler there the previous autumn. I went back to Tiggy for the camera. It was only a short walk then to the bomb hole. A weasel popped up. So, obviously I aimed, hoped and ran off some shots, knowing focus wuld be tricky with so much vegetation in the way.
In the bomb hole the barred warbler performed well beyond the call of duty. I have rarely been so thrilled with a set of images. I know there's often vegetation in the way but not just great poses but who has ever photographed a barred warbler choking on honeysuckle berries? Here comes my barred warbler portfolio!
You can just see the honeysuckle berry disappearing!
Time had gone well and I gauged we could still go home via Scalng Dam and see what there was to see... As it turned out no fabulous sightings but it was nice to have spotted the common sandpiper outside the hide. And rabbits! Oops! That makes 8 birding wonders. Oh well.
It was just another Grand Day Out. Cracking stuff, Grommit Barry!
73 species of birds in a day. No ticks - but who cares?
Saturday 18th August - Wednesday 22nd August 2012
A weekly round-up
After Unst just a few days pottering in the garden, a trip to Spurn [fruitlessly], a trip to Blacktoft and another trip to Spurn. Some nice photos to go with this - birds, butterflies and some konik ponies.
Saturday 18th August 2012
In the garden
I'll start at home. My wife offered to butterfly spot in the garden. She and Barry both have better eyesight than I. She spotted a peacock in a conifer [we're talking butterflies, remember!]. Trouble was it was quite high up. I took one photo on an uncomfortable angle, then climbed on a chair for a more normal shot. The butterfly fluttered by my nose and left.
Note it has a broken antenna. We caught up with it again later.
Later that session I photographed another peacock.
Antennae both entire.
Holly blues are tricky as they rarely stop for more than a couple of seconds and because they land at angles which present unusual issues both in terms of depth of field and in terms of the need to see an osteopath after struggling to get an angle on the butterfly. Oh yes, they never have their wings open when perched.
However with the macro lens you can get some super views...
Finally a speckled wood was quite approachable showing a repeated preference for a camellia bush.
Sunday 19th August 2012
Spurn 1
A Cory's shearwater was reported off Flamborough Head, heading south, as I was on my way to Spurn. When I arrived I went to the seawatching hide where a crowd gathered hoping to see the shearwater as it passed Spurn. We saw arctic skuas [one pale morph very close], whimbrel, oystercatcher, terns... but no lifer shearwater. Well, that, as they say, is birding. I decided to explore the new Kilnsea wetlands.
Birds were few and far between but there were butterflies. I was thrilled with these two species.
Wall [sometimes known as Wall Brown]
Painted Lady
Tuesday 21st August 2012
Blacktoft
My wife and I went to Blacktoft for the afternoon. As ever, I'll let the pictures tell the story. It goes like this: greenshank, konik ponies, spotted redshank, pheasant with chicks.
Greenshank
Konik ponies
'I won, I won, I won!!'
Spotted Redshank
Pheasants
Wednesday August 22nd 2012
Don't wear your glasses to take good photographs!
Spurn 2
Barry and I were undecided where to go that day. It was a toss-up betwen Frampton Marsh in Lincolnshire for the red-necked phalarope or Spurn for a barred warbler. This would be a lifer for Barry. We chose Spurn which was good as we saw the warbler and the phalarope didn't show that day [but did the next!]
I parked at the new Kilnsea Wetlands where we walked to Beacon Ponds. There was a wonderful display of terns and waders. Grey plover looking immaculate, hundreds of redshank, lots of greenshank, ringed plover, countless dunlin and probably a few other choice birds we missed.
'Whimbrel. Coming straight at us!' Where were my glasses? No idea. I saw a blurred shape, half-pressed the shutter and hoped for a decent focus as the bird came over us on an angle. Things turned out so good I couldn't believe my eyes when I started processing the pictures at home.
My old friend Mr. Wall was frequently to be seen along the new mud banks surrounding the flashes.
From the hide we saw a golden plover when a lady from Sheffield came to ask us to help with the identification. I wondered later when we saw it a second time if it was not well.
Meadow pipits were using the mud banks as look-out posts.
At the Blue Bell car park a blackbird was clearly still feeding young.
We called at Sammy's Point but other than shelduck saw little new. In the horse paddocks we saw more butterflies.
Red admirals and common blues.
Finally we called briefly at North Cave Wetlands on the way home. Not sure quite how I feel about this 'great crested grebe preening' photo.
So here's a more conventional view.
See you soon, I hope!
UK 254; Yorkshire 123; Life list 384