Welcome to my birding blog - first launched 12th March 2012...
13th November ff
Quietening down? Or is there still life in the old year?
Thursday 13th November
South Landing's water pipit seems to hide away when I try to find it. So I tried again at high tide in a roaring gale. The pipits kept coming to the outfall at the end of the road where later on I parked to escape the bitter wind.
I suspect my best possible is still a rock pipit. But I enjoyed the other birds...
It's a bar-tailed as it frequently proved as it was easily spooked into flight but always returned to the same general area.
By lunchtime I was shooting into the sun. Quite effective.
Curlew flew past several times.
Cormorants braved the heavy seas constantly disappearing beneath the waves.
As for the pipits, put it this way, if nobody had suggested there was a water pipit about I'd have happily accepted them all as rock pipits. Perhaps I'm just not yet a good enough pipitologist!
Anyway here's my paler bird that looked brighter than the ''darkling rocks...' [Tennyson] He's bulkier too!
..and in flight too.
Sunday 16th November
Barry and I started at Hayburn Wike looking for a Richard's pipit but we dipped there. At Filey Brigg we saw some eider, red-throated divers, little auks and pomarine skuas. Very pleased to see them.
Then at Bempton, Buckton end, we waited for the short-eared owls to show. They didn't! My only pictures of the day were of the fungi Barry spotted!
Saturday 22nd November
I went up to the north-east, Hartlepool area, and wandered around my normal sites. Nothing particular to report. I ended up in Albert Park to see if the jays were still about. Three still present but too skittish to get anywhere close. I photographed this tufty on the lake.
Shortly after this I managed to lock my car keys inside Tiggy. Green Flag were summoned but they failed to gain entry. In the end my friend Barry, whom I can never thank enough, drove all the way up from York with the spare keys. The end of a rather embarrassing day!
Monday 24th Novemberr
On the evening of the 23rd an isabelline wheatear was reported on the beach at the end of the Zinc Works Road, Seaton Carew near Saltholme. I set off by 10am to see if it was still around after sorting out a few things at home. The bird was very confiding and the pictures probably say it all.
First view just to make sure in case it promptly flew off. [This has happened to me more than once!]
Cheers!
Twitch on the beach!
UK lifer 409. Year count 2014 263
9TH & 10TH NOVEMBER 2014
A Tale of Three Colours... [and a shade!]
1. Citrine
Sunday 9th November: Barry had the morning free so we set off at 7 a.m. prompt for Danes Dyke beach, Flamborough. Strangely I hadn't been there before and we drove round twice before finding the car park! Don't ask! A few birders came up from the beach and confirmed the citrine wagtail was still present. Luckily things were still pretty quiet and we had stolen a march on the crowds who would follow. Soon found the wagtail as it flew past Barry. And then back again to where it came from. Say no more...
What's this, then? I spotted a bird at the cliff base.
Target bird!
An hour at South Landing looking for water pipit proved fruitless. We saw one possible down on the rocks with the rock pipits but couldn't get decent views. Water pipits are generally more easily flushed than rock pipits so this bird may well have been the one we sought but we'll never know!
2. Pink
On Monday I decided to head for Formby and Downholland Moss to seek out the snow goose that had been widely reported. On arrival at the site I saw no birds. I cruised the general area on narrow, subsiding roads. Eventually, arriving back where I started I heard geese [I had the car window down]. In they came! Pink feet!
I came back a couple of times to see if there had been any new groups coming to join the flock but no snow goose came. In between times I headed for nearby Formby NT where I remembered a colony of red squirrels clings on protected by NT's heavies who keep the greys at bay!
3.Red
The light in the pinewood was very poor on this dull day and I had to shoot at 1250 ISO [a new experience for me] and still only managed shutter speeds of 1/80th or 1/125th. Many images were too blurred to use but here's some of the nice ones I liked. Reds are restless, constantly chasing, much faster and slighter than greys. But photogenic definitely!
The first shot was from the car.
Although they are red squirrels this static population does have some very dark 'black' red squirrels but still clearly not like the black grey squirrels of southern England. Below: a 'black' grey squirrel.
Note the ear tufts on the darker red squirrel: below a Formby 'black' red squirrel.
Back to the Formby reds.
Recently my wife said that you don't see monkey nuts any more. I know where they've gone!!
06.11.14
Sometimes you go for one bird and you get another!
South Landing beckoned with possible water pipit and citrine wagtail. In spite of several hours' careful search neither bird was located. A couple of birders tried to convince themselves a rock pipit was a water pipit. There were plenty of rock pipits to watch plus wagtails but no citrine. However Dave Aitken put me onto the passing groups of little auks soon after I arrived. I saw 28 in all which after 3 singletons over the years was rather spectacular! Photographing them as they hurtled north along the tideline was tricky but i had a go.
After seeing several groups of 4, or 5 little auks pass us by I went in search of the pipit and wagtail. I soon found lots of rock pipits.
This one showed up well against the white stones as if it were standing in a huge mass of white birds' eggs!
After an hour I climbed back up to the car park to put more money in the meter as I decided it was worth spending more time there. A squirrel was huddled in the cold wind on a lichen-encrusted branch .
I was soon back among the pipits. A grey wagtail joined in.
Some birders were looking skyward at a kestrel hovering along the cliff top.
Cue kestrel photos!
A birder I'd been chatting to spotted a little auk on the water.
As the tide was slowly coming in the bird drifted nearer the shore.
Sometimes it headed out into the oncoming tide.
By going out onto the rocks I think you get the impression we're well out to sea!
Lovely little bird. I hope it made it.
UK 2014 now 259 and, incidentally the little auk was the 281st species of bird I've photographed in Britain. Not a lot of people know that!
29.10.14
A birders' day out!
Well it nearly wasn't anything at all. A puncture just after setting off diverted us to Harrogate VW for a repair - in fact I didn't know what the problem was I just knew I had an unknown error light on my dashboard. Anyway, Harrogate VW soon had us on our way again. Well done to them!
We decided to 'do' Hartlepool starting in the north and working south to Saltholme. Barry's version probably has more detail [http://barryjohnbishop.blogspot.co.uk/] but the Headland produced plenty of waders. This oyk went north.
Round by the harbour entrance a drake eider was enjoying the calm and the sunshine.
The kittiwake nest site by the lifeboat station still held some noisy black-legged kittiwakes.
Eventually we reached Saltholme and the Phil Stead hide. Barry saw a water rail that I missed. I did see this conspicuous heron!
Before heading home I suggested we try to find Albert Park where jays had been reported. A very large park so we suspected a recce was the best we could achieve but hardly were we out of the car when Barry said he'd found them. They were under a group of oak and beech trees feeding on the nuts and co-existing with grey squirrels who had the same game plan. I was thrilled to get really nice images of a jay for the first time. Previous efforts do exist... but are best forgotten now!
Squirrels first.
The jays. There were at least three of them present - initially up in the treetops.
I waited patiently by one of the trees until one landed...
A super end to our day!
25-26th October 2014
Roughing it!
Saturday 25th October
I got up ultra early and was in the seawatch hide at the Warren, Spurn, for 7am. Plenty of people there. I spent a merry couple of hours watching but failed to see any of my real targets. Nice group of 13 whoopers went south low and quite close, little gulls and a few duck but nothing really exciting. A peregrine showed well outside the hide later and, on my drive back to Easington saw more whoopers and a fair number of brent geese. The black brant was not too hard to pick out in the fields just north of Kilnsea Wetlands.
I headed for Grindale in the hope of seeing a rough-legged buzzard that had been reported on the road between Grindale and Bridlington. A couple of cars parked at the side of the road in the middle of nowhere in particular made me slow to a crawl as I assessed what might be going on. At that moment a large bird of prey began to hover over the hedge about 20m in front of Tiggy. Rough-legged buzzard. I crept low out of the car, got the camera and...well... have a look!
Sunday 26th October
Barry and I headed off to Blacktoft for the afternoon. A redshank dropped in to Marshland.
There were lots of little grebes about.
The konik ponies were very active.
'I wish someone'd do something about this fringe!'
Pinkfeet flew overhead.
A few pheasants were by the path to Singleton.
Marsh harriers entertained us at Townend.
Finally a male stonechat gave the day a colourful conclusion!
257 UK 2014