Welcome to my birding blog - first launched 12th March 2012...
July 27th 2023
Skua!
Never noticed before - skua is auks backwards! How silly! Well after seeing distant arctic skuas at the Snook from South Gare [where they were like midges even through my binoculars] I resolved to do the walk to the very far end of Seaton Snook where the last bits of clinker reach the Tees and try my luck. Now the R7 camera is hopeless for birds in flight [in my opinion] but great for stationary birds but I thought I'd try. I took lots of blurred cormorant photos, lots of blurred skua photos too but in among them were some nice shots. The thing about the R7 is that when it locks on it focuses like nothing I've ever handled before. All my skua photos were taken from much further way than you might think. 500mm zoom lens.
On the walk I was accompanied for the first rocky section after leaving the dunes by a group of linnets. Here's one.
On my left was a large expanse of samphire.
Just think what it's worth...Waitrose charge £2.15 for a 90g punnet!
Common sea lavender or sea statice was growing on the clinker. Limonium vulgare - used by dried flower arrangers.
Eventually the arctic skuas began to appear. You don't appreciate their flying abilities until you see some of the photos that capture their dazzling acrobatics.
194 UK 2023
16th July 2023 ff
It's about 3 miles...
Early July in the garden
Once you have pressed the play arrow try pressing the enlarge symbol bottom right if it shows on your screen view.
The title of this blog refers to the relatively short distance travelled to see birds at Saltholme, Greenabella Marsh and Hartlepool Headland.
July 16th: Saltholme, Paddy's Hide
I was hoping to see a pectoral sandpiper so I was pleased on my walk to the hide to be told by Caroline Farry that it was still there. Unfortunately it stayed resolutely over on the very far bank - unlike the common sandpipers that dropped in just in front of me!
The bird is on the far right. Redshank and godwit also visible.
Pec is now against the dark mud background but shows quite well.
The 2 common sandpipers were putting on a show for me!
Same day on Hartlepool Headland I snapped some kittiwakes and an eider duck.
The next photo was an experiment in depth of field control. I think it worked pretty well! 16 kittiwakes at F16 for one thousandth of a second.
July 20th: Greenabella Marsh for a scaup
First pool from the road. And there it was. Noticeably bulkier than the tufted duck nearby.
More images from where I was sitting comfortably on the dry clinker. Carline thistle; small skipper and a rather poor [common spotted?] orchid; small heath butterfly and a goatsbeard seedhead.
193 UK 2023
29th June-7th July
Well, it's been quite a while... [Part Two]
June 29th: Saltholme
A roseate tern was reported. From the visitor centre through glass.
Knapweed
Reed bunting
Four-spotted chaser
Rat
Avocet and chick
June 30th: Blacktoft Sands
All quiet. A couple of greenshanks graced Marshland lagoon. Amazing green!
July 7th: Blacktoft Sands
Greenshank
Avocet
Green sandpiper
Black-tailed godwits
Marsh harrier
189 UK 2023
31st May -7th July 2023
Well, it's been quite a while... [Part One]
...but it's that time of year when the Big Lull creeps up on me!
May 31st: The first of two trips to Wykeham and the raptor watchpoint. Not that there were many raptors. All the buzzards were common but there were other things...
Cuckooflower/Lady's Smock cardamine pratensis. Foodplant of orange tip butterfly.
Crossbill
Willow warbler
I got some decent photos on 9th May at Sutton Bank of a garden warbler. The very vocal bird at the raptor watchpoint on the 31st was much more elusive. This is it!!
And this is the tame robin at the same place.
June 2nd: North Duffield
A squacco heron was reported and a long time was spent staring at the area where it was supposed to have landed. I watched a mute swan pass Geoff Smith hide and a common whitethroat. Eventually the squacco was sighted nowhere near where I expected. So far away it's just a shape in the far distance...
Little egret on the left, squacco heron on the right.
I'll zoom in a little!
Supporting cast
June 12th: Blacktoft Sands
Goat willow [I think] produces lots of wool-like down after flowering that contains the seeds.
Birds seen:
There were 9 cygnets although only eight are visible in this photo.
June 19th: Blacktoft again
Common blue butterfly, spotted redshank, green sandpiper and lapwing
More photos
June21st: Seaton Carew
Another visit to the little terns.
But this is a young ringed plover!
How many little tern chicks can you spot?
187 UK 2023
11th May-25th May 2023
Hartlepool to Blacktoft Sands...
...and places in-between
May 11th: Hartlepool and Seaton Carew
I started at Hartlepool Headland which seemed very quiet. I spotted a couple of waders further along on the rocks so I drove in their direction. Delighted to find they weren't curlews but a pair of whimbrel.
Seaton Carew beach has been the new home for the local little tern colony for a couple of years now and it is well monitored and protected. Most birds had gone fishing but there were a few little terns around...
...and common terns at Holme Fleet.
May 12th: Sutton Bank in very gloomy conditions. Two turtle doves seen but not photographed as they didn't linger thanks to disturbance by innocent visitors who walked past at the wrong moment! I settled for a yellowhammer.
May 15th: Tophill Low
I walked to North Marsh hide confident I would see reed warblers from the hide. No sign. A kingfisher did land just in front of me however and I was very happy to see him.
May 24th: Tophill Low again. No kingfisher but a rather shy reed warbler was seen. Otherwise quiet. A pair of mute swans were parading their young family along the channel.
A female orange tip [no orange on the female] posed for me as did a confident song thrush as I walked through the woodland.
May 25th: Blacktoft Sands for an afternoon. Canada geese can look very bulky when they're coming straight at you!
Old man with a stick
183 UK 2023
