Waiting for the fall

The Expected fall of birds this weekend seemed to pass us by, with all the goodies tending to favour going either to the north or south of our area. We were not in the mood to travel far so had to put up with whatever was in our area. Started at Crookfoot and with the exception of 3 Bar-headed geese nothing exceptional here but did note good numbers of House Martin still present in the area. Hartlepool Headland did produce a Yellow-browed Warbler and we managed a couple of fleeting glimpses Sylvia also spotted a Lesser Whitethroat but that was about it. Further south in the Saltholme area 3 early Whooper Swans were on Dormans pool and the Marsh Harriers (3) were giving some good but distant aerial displays...........and that was about it for the day.

With the onset of a major storm on Monday and Tuesday hope that we get an opportunity to have a second bite of the cherry and hope we get something special drop in to the area.........here's hoping.

Marsh Harrier

Knot

A very quiet week

Well it's been a very quiet week for us. Visited Smardale Gill on Sunday and the bird life was just about non-existent. Did manage to locate a couple of  Red Squirrel feeding at a bird feeder. Haven't ventured out for the rest of the week.....................see if anything turns up this weekend.

Did manage 3 Whinchat on Seaton Common earlier when we had a brief visible migration.

Playing catch up over the last few days

Baird's Sandpiper

Pectoral Sandpiper

Short-eared Owl

Just posting a few photo's taken over the last few days, the Baird's Sandpiper is attracting plenty of attention while the the Pectoral Sandpiper looks like its moved on. The Short-eared Owl display (up to 8 birds) is also nice to see.

Short-eared Owl

Pectoral Sandpiper

Baird's Sandpiper

Bairds on the Beach.

After a tiring day back at school (a bit of a shock to the system after six weeks off) we headed off to North Gare to try and see the Bairds Sandpiper which had been found there and which had been around for a couple of days.  Thanks to a tip off from a friend we located it more or less straight away and with a bit of patience staying put we managed to get some reasonable views and record shots.  but unfortunately due to some mad dogs on the beach it eventually was chased away!!

Headed North.

Had a run north yesterday to see what was about.  Although it was fairly quiet we had a pleasant day in reasonable weather and it did not rain until we were on our way home.  We started off at Druridge Country Park and East Chevington.  The Spoonbill was present, although distant along with a couple of Marsh Harrier and a Sparrowhawk.  There was a flock of small birds which included at least five Willow Warblers.  We then paid a visit to Hauxley nature reserve where there were lots of butterflies including Small Copper, Wall, Peacock, Tortoiseshell, Small Skipper and Small Heath along with lots of whites.  There were 2 Common Sandpiper a Redshank and a Greenshank on one of the pools and Turnstone, Ringed Plover and Sanderling on the beach.  On the way home we stopped off a Cresswell pools where we had close views of a Spoonbill, whether or not it was the same one from East Chevington we do not know.  We also had a Long Tailed Duck and a Barn Owl here.

Waders at Blacktoft Sands.

We had a run down to Blacktoft Sands to see what was around there and were surprised at how many Spotted Redshank were there, at one count we had 24 from one of the hides along with 3 Green Sandpipers and quite a few Ruff and Greenshank with three Marsh Harriers in the air together, although too distant for photos.

It was a beautiful calm day and we had the hides to ourselves.

Greenshank

Spotted Redshank

Spotted Redshank

Spotted Redshank and Ruff

Green Sandpiper and Snipe

Green Sandpiper

Spotted Redshank

Lapwing stand off with a Spotted Redshank

Ruff

Snipe

Never seen soo many Peacock butterflies

Emperor Dragonfly

A beautiful end to a super day!

Hobby Blue!!!

Went on a butterfly hunt today but to no avail, even though the conditions seemed perfect.  We did manage to find quite a few Holly Blue including one which visits our garden at approx the same time each day, just after lunch.  It came today as normal, stayed around for a few minutes then disappeared again. 

We visited Woodlands Fishery at Carlton Miniott, Thirsk where we managed to get some photos of a Holly Blue and also a very damaged Speckled Wood.  Apart from a white they were the only butterflies we could locate and it is normally where we would find Gatekeeper and Brimstone to name but a few.  On entering the driveway to the fishery we did see a Hobby circling above and managed to get some record shots but it didn't hang around for too long, no sign of the Corn Bunting today though.  We went on to Nosterfield and saw the Black Tern again along with a Yellow Legged Gull at Lingham.

A Cracking Day.

We decided to go and sit it out at Lockwood Beck in the hope of seeing the Osprey, which on past occassions we always seem to have missed.  We didn't have to wait long though as it was sitting in the trees when we arrived.  We positioned ourselves out of the wind on the opposite side of the lake and waited.  It wasn't too long before the bird was circling overhead very close to us and during the two hours we sat there we were rewarded by some magnificent views of this stunning bird.  We then went on to Scaling Dam and again were rewarded after a long wait with views right outside the hide of the Wood Sandpiper.  All in all a good day out.

At one point he was heading straight towards us as we sat on the picnic bench, he was definately staring us out here.

Wood and Common Sandpipers at Scalling dam

Wood Sandpiper giving some closer views from the hide.

Sightings for 12.8.12

Did the local run today, Saltholme, Hartlepool Headland, Parton Rocks and Newburn.

From the Phil Stead hide we saw 1 Ruff, 5 Greenshank and numerous Snipe.
At Dormans Pool we had Meadow Brown, Common Blue, Grayling, Wall, Small Copper, Small Heath and Green Veined White Butterflies and what we think was a Cuckoo disappearing into a bush.
At the Headland we had lots of Gannet and Little Gull along with a Great Skua harrassing a tern.
Parton Rocks produced several Knot including one red, Redshank, Turnstone, Ringed Plover with a single Dunlin and Sanderling.  On the water there were approx 35 Common Scoter along with several eider and a single porpoise that was seen.
The Med Gull was on the beach at Newburn together with a few sanderling and Ringed Plover.