Harwood and Beyond.... (revisited)

This year is as memorable as last , but for different extremes , I looked back at last year for the same date and apparantly we where up at Harwood Forest  as soon as I read it the post I could remember the day ,although it was supposed to be very warm and sunny  it was a thick mist while others basked in glorious sunshine . Contrast that with this year and today we have more snow and freezing temperatures no way I'm going to Harwood today !!!, so all I have planned is a seawatch later today not expecting anything , but hoping for perhaps a passing Glauc or Iceland  or even a lingering Med Gull which I have still to see in the Blyth Valley area this year. A seawatch on the 1st of March produced well over 600 Kittiwakes heading North where as prior to this I had only seen 3 individuals in January and February , so it's not just scarce birds to be seen , flocks of Kittiwakes in purposeful flight in blue skies across a dark menacing sea topped with white horses , that'll do for me !!!! 

13-3 2012

I forgot to mention we had another run to Harwood Forest and the Gibbet it was supposed to be record breaking warm and sunny but the reality was a thick mist over the whole area, so what do we do wait and see if the sun will burn through and improve visibility, still plenty Common Crossbills working along the trees of the road edge but no chance of any shots, came across a Common Newt it too was probably waiting for the warmth of the sun. A walk over the moor 60+ Fieldfare chacking away as they fed in amongst some short grass, 2 Kestrels and a single Buzzard. We decided to move on and headed home via Rothbury stopping to look for the Fallow Deer at Billsmoor, it was brighter as we started dropping down into the valley but very windy picked out 2 Fallow grazing and a further 12 or more sitting in shelter, a stop north of Caistron to have a look through a flock of  Geese about 600 Greylag , 65 White Fronts and 30+ Pinkfeet, not sure of the access to Caistron these days as it is now a Trout Fishery , there is a path past the south edge giving some views, a look around Rothbury ended the day with the bridge works still ongoing not sure what happened to the bats that roosted there.