Larking about on the Shore.

Went to South Gare today to see if we could find the Shore Lark that had been reported yesterday, took a while but the bird was eventually located on cabin rocks. The bird was very mobile but worth seeing. On the way back Sylvia spotted a Marsh Harrier at the Blast Furnace pools, first one we have seen in this location. The heavens opened when we called at Scaling Dam and it was fairly quiet here with only Cuckoo and Dunlin of note.

 Shore Lark

 Marsh Harrier

 Full house (Swallow House Martin and Sand Martin)

 Golden Plover

 GSW

 Lapwing Chick

 Mistle Thrush

Wheatear

Saltholme today.

A quick visit to Saltholme today.......... Garganey, Little Ringed Plover and Common Tern from the Phil Stead hide and distant views of Marsh Harrier and Black-necked Grebe.

Garganey

Tree Sparrow

 Common Tern

Little Ringed Plover

Warblers and Cuckoo

Over to Yorkshire today with a trip to Wykeham forest which was pretty quiet, did manage our first Garden Warbler and Swift for the year, but nothing else of note. Back on our normal patch the Cuckoo at Sheep wash now has a friend and they were calling and displaying this evening.

 Garden Warbler

Willow Warbler

Chiffchaff

 Cuckoo

Cuckoo with his friend.

Just another day around the patch.

Well its been just another day around the patch with a few birds to add to the year list but nothing worth shouting about. Lets hope tomorrow turns up something a bit more exciting.

 Avocet

 Gargany

 Ringed Plover

 Sedge Warbler

 Common Whitethroat

 Wheatear

White Wagtail

A lovely day with 'The Duke'.

What a lovely sunny day for a change.  Lots of Redstart and a Pied Flycatcher before we caught up with the Duke of Burgandy, and lots of them at that and in tip top condition too.

Duke of Burgundy

On the way back a few Green Hairstreak too.

Orange Tip

Common Redstart

Pied Flycatcher

Tree Pipit

Meadow Pipit

Jay

Dotterel - a nice bonus.

The weather today was grim to say the least, with light rain and grey skies. Opted for a visit to Hartlepool Headland to see what was about. A ringing session was going ahead at the Bowling green so didn't hang around here for long. At St Hilda's church yard a Whinchat was nice to see.....1st of the year, but didn't see much else in the area. Got a shout that a Dotterel had been seen at North Gare Golf course, so had a drive over. The bird was located after about 15mins but remained distant, bit of a dull bird but an unexpected bird. Also in the area was a Swallow and a late staying Pink-footed Goose.

Whinchat

 Dotterel

Swallow

Pink-footed Goose

Black Tern and Wryneck - nice to be home 'NOT' !!!

Had a look around the North Tees area today to catch up with some of the birds that had turned up while we had been on holiday. A Black tern had been around for a couple of days on East Saltholme, Sedge Warblers had turned up and numbers are growing and a Common Whitethroat was seen nest building. A bonus bird today was a Wryneck that had turned up on North Gare Golf course....always nice to see.

An Eventful Journey Home.

The day started superbly with not a cloud in the sky and a Sea Eagle circled over the cottage just before we left.  Another Great Northern Diver in the Sound of Mull before we got on the ferry at Fishnish, very smart too he was.

The Black Guillemots appeared to be nesting at the pier at the Corran Ferry and we had a swim by of six Slavs too along with a Great Norther Diver further along the road.

To top it off we stopped for a break at the Abington Service Station on the M74 and just as we were about to pull away and continue our journey an Osprey flew overhead and proceeded to fish in the river nearby.