Pine Marten and Badgers in the Cairngorms.

Had a brilliant night watching Pine Marten and Badgers at Loch n'eilean, Aviemore. Didn't expect to get as close as we did. 3 Badgers and a single Pine Marten showed within feet of us. Pity it was dark with artificial light, the camera struggled but at 6400 ASA just managed to capture some ok pictures.

 

 Pine Marten

 

 Badgers

 

Hoopoe.............another lifer.

Made the short journey to Bishop Auckland to try and link up with a reported Hoopoe today. The weather was pretty overcast with some light rain .....not good conditions! Managed to locate the Hoopoe within about 15mins of arrival, a stunning juvenile bird.

 

 Hoopoe

 

 

 

 

 

Pallid Swift (or Common)

Caught up with the Pallid Swift at Hartlepool on Saturday unfortunately the weather conditions were poor and we didn't have time to linger due to me being at work. The pictures were not good but just a record shot. There is still some debate about whether it is a Pallid or Common Swift but my identification skills aren't good enough to make a decision based on viewing in the field and the pretty rubbish pictures I have.................leave the final decision to the experts!!!

 

 Pallid Swift

 

Western Bonneli's Warbler ......the migration continues.

A Western Bonneli's warbler was identified at the weekend at Hartlepool Headland and was reported as being present today. Took a trip over and after about an hour located the bird along with several dozen other birders. The migration is still in full swing with lots more common migrants showing in the area.

 

 Western Bonneli's Warbler

 Brambling

 Greater Spotted Woodpecker

 Lesser Redpoll

 Redwing

 The twitchers

Wren (not to miss out the local birds)

The Migration continues.

With the deteriorating weather we have had several migrating birds dropping in to refuel before continuing their journey. Today we managed to see Great Grey Shrike, Goldcrest, Mealy Redpoll, Blackcap, Brambling, Greater spotted Woodpecker, Blackbird and Redwing  at Hartlepool Headland. Here's hoping that more goodies arrive in the next few days while we continue with this run of weather.

 

Mealy Redpoll

 

 Greater Spotted Woodpecker

 Scandinavian Blackbirds (male and female)

 Redwing

Stonechat

 



Firecrest at South Gare

Another regular but uncommon visitor to our area is the Firecrest, this bird is one of two birds that have been at South Gare for a couple of days, today was our first chance to catch up with it. For Sylvia it was a lifer as this species had eluded her so far. Initially I thought it would be difficult to get some decent shots as the bird stayed deep in cover, then to my surprise it broke cover and showed well for about 5 minutes, giving close views..............great!!

 

 Firecrest

 

Barred Warbler

Another uncommon bird at Hartlepool today when a Barred Warbler dropped in. A great bird to see and it gave some excellent close views. We even got a visit from birding celebrity Lee Evans to boost the numbers watching the Warbler (no celebrity photo!!)

 

 

 Barred Warbler