Roseate Tern Day

Caught up with a couple of Roseate Terns in with Common Terns  plenty of Juvenile Common but  no juvenile Roseate with these adults  also feeding around the area Sandwich Terns but again at the time no juveniles . A Guillemot with young on the river I believe it's the male that rears them when they leave the nest site 

 Adult Roseate Tern

 Juvenile Common Tern

 Adult Roseate I took advantage as it was now on it's own but they flew just after ,into the light unfortunately  so still no flight shots

The jostle for position

 Adult Common Tern it brought in a sand eel  which it held for sometime before swallowing it

 The Adult Common Tern which brought in a Sand Eel but with no takers it ate it itself !

 Calling in the hope of a feed   !!!!!

There seems plenty of time to just loaf around

Wing stretch but for my purposes on the wrong side

Adult Male Guillemot brings it's Juvenile into the river to feed .

Big Waters

Had a look around Big Waters the other day thought I would have found some Speckled Wood Butterflies but no Orange Tips and Whites in good numbers, along with Damselflies much earlier than I had them last year , I think they would have been around but much harder to find deep in the grass, Common Terns on the Lake with a few Black -headed, & Lesser Black Backs ,report of Otter in the book from the same day ,not seen one for some times now. The feeding station very quiet , a lot of trees cut down here and at the pool to let some light in..

Common Terns bonding on Big waters lake

The Predator

And the prey

This Spider walked infront of the lens

Damselflies out in good numbers but they did seem to disappear with ease

This one eating a very small fly

Small Copper along the boardwalk

St Marks Fly which seem to be out in  droves  !!!

Newbiggin,Cresswell,East Chevington.

26-7-2010

A run through o Newbiggin to check out the Med Gulls ,soon located some sitting on the rocks with one group of 5 another with colour ring and a Juvenile ,with a few others on the beach ,12 in total which is about average for what I see ,although reports of 25 have been made, a single Whinbrel over .

On to Cresswell I Greenshank, 1Copmmon Sandpiper,18Dunlin ,160 Lapwing & 2 Whimbrel over looking to settle but moving on.

East Chevington plenty of Terns but no Roseate, a smart Summer Little Gull, 1 Black Tailed Godwit,I Greenshank. Down on the beach mainly Common Terns , a few Sandwich and a single Roseate Tern adult, a Arctic Skua buzzed them and harried the Terns out at sea before heading off, again Whimbrel over with 4 calling high up.

Lots of Harebells out now.

I have put the photos in the wrong order you would think I would know how to do it by now

Juvenile Med Gull as it moves out

Juvenile Med Gull probably already a few weeks old.
Adult Med 3L47
Five Med Gulls in this group.

Holywell Pond 7-7-10

Wednesday started the day at East Cramlington the day sunny but again that fairly strong breeze, Dragons on the wing with Emperor & Four Spot Chaser but not wanting to play ball have get their pics taken I watched for over an hour and they did not land anywhere near me, plenty of Butterflies in sheltered spots , Blue & Lge Reds still around , but I saw little point in visiting further ponds for Dragons anyway. Holywell Pond I have not been for Awhile so I ended up there ,water level low at the East end 6 and later 9 Black Tailed Godwits , 3 Common Terns, and a Little Egret drifted to the west, Little Ringed & Ringed Plover , with House Martins coming in for mud.

At the west end hide 2 Emperor(F laying ,Four Spot Chaser, and a Black Tailed Skimmer, I looked up at one stage and a Little Egret coming right towards me , it stalled and started to gain height I had the camera in hand but it would not fire .........battery dead ....I should make a note of the power level, but thats the way it goes, later I went back to the east end and the BTG had increased to 9 with also a Common Sandpiper.

It was still a pleasant day and only about 17:30 so I headed to Castle Island for an hour or so, water level here also very low , but all I could manage was 11 Common Sandpipers , and mostly Black-headed Gulls.

Large Skipper

Little Egret
Black Tailed Skimmer ,took lots of this will put it on Dragonfly blog when sorted

Female Emperor laying about 20yds away

Magpie Moth I get many of these in the garden at times
Black-tailed Godwits
Little Ringed Plover

Bridled Ter....no !!!......22-6-10

Bullfinch now a regular visitor to the garden and here a pair taking a bath together, it never fails to amaze me how much birds enjoy a bath some come back 2-3 times for more.

22-6-10 With the news of Bridled Tern on the 21st at East Chevington, it was a long shot but worth a try, checked the spit at BlythEstuary , and a couple of places along the coast in the hope of gathered terns , but too early for that .

Only a few birders at EC scoped the Terns picking out , Sandwich,Arctic, Common and later a Little Tern, with also some Little Gulls Black Tailed Godwit.

Had a walk to look for Orchids at least a 100 spikes of Lesser Butterfly Orchid, Twayblade & lots of Common Spotted, no sign of any Bee sure I have had them in late June before, first Common Blue of the year, Small Heath, only a few Blue damsels on the small pool , but later in the day Four Spot Chaser(lots this year), and Emperor with a single Black Tailed Skimmer at Woodhorn.

Also called in at Druridge for the male Ruff, nice bird it sat fast asleep behind a rock and we had to wait till it decided to have a wander, difficult to capture a good image with it colouring.

The message of reported Bridled Tern at Budle summed up the day , but it was still a good day out.