A Butterfly Day

Went to Duncombe Park in Helmsley today for a walk along the river.  It was lovely and sunny and quite warm out of the breeze.  So warm in fact that we saw out first two butterflies of the year in the form of a Comma and Tortoiseshell.  There were a pair of Grey Wagtail and Pied Wagtail along the river but no sign of any Kingfisher or Dipper. 

Comma

Small Tortoiseshell

Grey Wagtail

Kittiwake at Hartlepool Fish Quay

R T Diver at Hartlepool

Still Waiting

Iceland Gull

Spent the last couple of day waiting for the the Spring migrants to appear but nothing yet, still some birds around to relieve the boredom.

Siskin and Redpoll in good numbers around Codbeck Resevoir.

The Great Grey Shrike is still showing well at Coatham Stob.

 Iceland Gull hanging around South Gare Breakwater and Green -winged Teal is showing a bit more at Dormans Pool.

Green-winged Teal

Redpoll

Siskin

Great Grey Shrike

A Cracking day in Cumbria

Hawfinch

Went over to Cumbria today and managed to connect with the Sizegh Castle Hawfinches which gave some brilliant views. Then on to Leighton Moss where we managed to see the long staying Glossy Ibis, along with Avocet, Spotted Redshank, Merlin, Buzzards and many more species. Came home via the Stang forest and spotted Black Grouse and Crossbill in their usual haunts. All in all a very pleseant day with some lovely spring sunshine.

On Saturday came across a Slow Worm while walking in the Swainby area.

On Friday managed to get some pictures of the Black Redstat at Newburn, Hartlepool.

Hawfinch

Common Buzzard

Avocet

Spotted Redshank

A distant Glossy Ibis

Slow Worm

Slow Worm

Black Redstart

Glaucous Gull at last.

Decided to go out yesterday and try to play catchup with some of the birds we had missed of late.  We managed to see at last the Black Redstart at Newburn although didn't manage any decent photos as the light was terrible.  We also saw the Green Winged Teal at Saltholme, although at distance.  At the headland we were just about to give up on the Glaucous Gull once again when we noticed it sitting on the roof of the building at the Fish Quay, giving excellent views for about 5 mins. in some better weather too.  We then decided to go for the Ring Necked Parakeet in Ward Jackson Park and managed to find two of them.  Hoping the weather is better than it is today next Sunday as we are hoping to go to Sizergh to try to see the Hawfinch.

We now have a pair of Long Tailed Tit feeding daily in our front garden in Hartburn.  Never had them come so regularly.

The Dipper seen again at Hutton Rudby, very reliable to see here.

We even managed Crossbill further over the moors, this time out of Osmotherly heading towards Hawnby.  Never seen them here before.

A Grand Day Out.

What a glorious day in comparison to yesterdays fiasco with the weather.  Although it was very cold at South Gare in the wind once you found a sheltered spot out of the wind it was lovely.  I sat for a while and waited until the very obliging Snow Bunting were feeding not far away, flying occasionally but coming back to feed at the same spot.  The Scaup was on the Blast Furnace Pools and the Smew was at Lockwood Beck but by the time I got there it was on the side of the lake the sun wasn't so not much good getting decent pics of that.  I did speak to some people who said they were speaking to someone who had seen and photographed an Osprey at Lockwood beck earlier in the day.

Snow Bunting

Scaup

Smew

Smew in flight

Red Grouse

A Strange Weather Day

Well we set off up to the Stang Forest in brilliant sunshine and ended up in a snowstorm before returning to the sunshine again!!  The only bird of note that we saw was a woodpecker enjoying his meal of a pinecone before we made a hasty retreat just incase the weather deteriorated any further.  We then decided to head for Nosterfield and see what we could see there.  We managed the Common Crane on the main lake near the Quarry visitor centre and although distant we attempted our first video using a small digital camera through the scope. Viewing makes you feel a bit sea sick but actually turned out better than we had expected, we will have to get a scope attachment for the camera to make it steady. Results can be seen on the link below.

http://youtu.be/5YUMwOrsjGM





Nest Building

Stopped off on my way to horseriding today just to see if I could see the Dipper and low and behold there he was gathering stuff for his nest.  He then flew into a hole in a wall so presumably thats where he is nesting, at least it was high up away from the river so if we get any floods he will be safe and sound.  Then on the way home I stopped off in Great Ayton for the scrumptious pies from the 'proper' butcher and on the way home had 3 Buzzard soaring over the car inbetween Great Ayton and Seamer.