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Welcome to my birding blog - first launched 12th March 2012...
9th January -28th January 2023
I just love to be out birding...
January 9th: Bempton Cliffs were quiet apart from the fulmars that were already well-established on the cliffs.
A robin sang to me in the car park and linnets were flying around over the set-aside crop area.
Goldfinches on the wire at the set-aside.
January 11th: Lockwood Beck feeder station held the usual regular birds plus a few bramblings.
Siskin
January 18th: Cowpen Bewley and Saltholme
Treecreeper, tree sparrow
Yellowhammer
January 18th: Seaton Snook and Saltholme
Twite photos were not really any good but these are twite in flight. You may just about detect their yellowish bills...
...but I was quite pleased with the golden plover photos as it's not a bird I have ever found it easy to approach.
Lunch break. Starling in the car park at Newburn Bridge.
Fox on the ice at Saltholme
January 18th: The Zinc Works Road and Saltholme
Grey partridges. The partridge were really distant and the photos are extreme crops. I'm impressed you can tell they are grey partridges!
Stonechat
I called briefly at Cowpen Bewley.
A water vole showed nicely at Saltholme Wildlife Watchpoint.
January 20th: A largely uneventful afternoon visit to Blacksoft Sands.
January 22nd: Saltholme again! Mallard and water rail on the ice
January 24th: Bempton Cliffs
Fulmars, very distant gannets. I was grateful to the two RSPB guides who pointed out the shag swimming in the deep shade below the cliffs.
A bridled bird
January 27th: A brief afternoon visit to Swillington Ings, starting at the Methley end. The causeway was stilll flooded and I retreated. Grey wagtail and meadow pipit at Lemonroyd sewage station but no sign of water pipit.
A light engine provided the only photo of the day!
I drove round to Oddjob but there was little to see.
January 28th: Ingleby Barwick and The Rings. The waxwings were found relatively easily but getting decent pictures was difficult as the birds were perching in rather dense hawthorn and ash so I got lots of pictures like this one!
Quite happy with these!
107 UK 2023
31st December 2022- 3rd January 2023
'Thor' sees the old year out!
Scarborough harbour hosted a one day visit by Thor, the touring walrus
House sparrow on the lobster pots and a fulmar hiding on the cliff
Smew the star of early January
All round the Hartlepool area on January 1st
January 2nd: Askham Bog, North Duffield, Tophill Low and Blacktoft
72 UK 2023
26th December 2022
Boxing Day in and around Hartlepool
I had been trying for months to bump into a red-breasted merganser so I was leaving things a bit late to spot my 2022 sighting! Eight seen in the Pilot Pier area along with eiders.
Cowpen Bewley Country Park feeding station.
Ward Jackson Park
Reminds me of a curling stone [carved in the shape of a tuftie!]
220 UK 2022
3rd December 2012
A Stranger Inland
December 3rd: Moor Lane Bridge, Naburn
A walk both sides of the bridge along the Transpennine Trail. Regular thrushes and tits seen but no bramblings. Nuthatch and coal tit photoed on baited fence post.
December 4th: in the garden
Sparrowhawk caught a sparrow outside our kitchen window. Quickly grabbed Sheila's phone...through glass...
December 6th: Swillington Ings
Colour photo into the sun. Shann House bridge.
From the birders' viewpoint near Shann House Bridge, Swillington Ings. An arctic skua was on a spit near a group of cormorants.
Eventually it flew to chase a gull round the site. Everything flew up.
219 UK 2022
11th November 2022 ff
Something's bound to turn up!
11th November: Hemlington Lake and Saltholme
A visit to Hemlington Lake, Middlesbrough to see if the mystery Upland goose was still around. Unringed but must have come from someone's collection, I hadn't seen one before. Pretty female bird.
Then I went to Saltholme and saw a marsh harrier from Phil Stead's hide.
Plus a distant cattle egret.
21st November: Bempton and Scarborough
Bempton was enjoying having a long-eared owl roosting in the Dell. A small group of birders were watching and I joined them. Second photo shows quality of cropped image with Canon R7 camera plus 500mm lens.
Scarborough harbour was quiet.
23rd November: Blacktoft Sands
Blacktoft was fairly quiet too. It's that time of year. But I was pleased one of the fieldfares was a bit more confiding.
Geese as the light rapidly faded.
25th November: Hartlepool and Saltholme
A bird swimming slowly out of the fish dock at Hartlepool caught my eye. I only had bins with me. I felt it wasn't an eider so I waited for it to approach. Guillemot.
Cormorant
Marsh harrier and teal at Phil Stead's.
From Saltholme car park: crab apple [Golden Hornet?] and a late dandelion looking bright and cheerful.
218 UK 2022 [still]