Dragons & Terns....8-7-10

Thursday the 8th I again started the day looking for Dragons called at Summerhill lane pond , teneral Emerald , Four Spot Chaser keeping in shelter and out of the wind , a Black tailed Skimmer down on the road as was 4 Tortoiseshell .

Cresswell only had a Common Sandpiper but I did not go into the hide to check the sand bar, Druridge at the screen end my first Common Darter of the year .

East Chevington checked out the north pool numerous Terns collecting now , my first Common Tern juveniles, a single Little Tern and two colour ringed Arctic Terns both standing in water so not sure If I got the combos right they could be off an old scheme, will try and get some gen, apart from a few Dunlin with a couple of juveniles also that was about it.

Common Darter.........imm male would be my guess
More Five Spot Burnett's but still not in large numbers
Stoat checking the verge for Rabbits that had just been out sunning themselves

Four Spot Chaser

Druridge Pools ...........Glossy Ibis

Glossy Ibis reported from the Oddie hide and showing well ,so I thought another chance to get some shots, no sign when I got there, gave it a good scan then into the south facing hide to see if it could be picked up no sign ,so back into the main hide and the bird showing the the extreme left side of the west end, it flew around a few times when chased by a Heron and eventually went south and lost to view , It was howling strong wind coming in the open shutter , apart from 5 Heron and a few Mallard ,Teal and a single juv Great Crested Grebe, nothing else of note ,stopped at Cresswell and gave the south pool a scan but no sign and nothing else on there to bring it in , it does seem to prefer a few other birds around.
Last stop on the way home as the wind had me beat , Woodhorn Flash south good gathering of Gulls and in with them an adult Med which joined the Black-headeds behind the plough in the side field also picked out a second winter bird, and a 1st winter passed near enough to get a couple of shots , so not only the first time I have seen Meds follow the plough but I got three , could easily have been more given the closeness of there chosen quarters of Newbiggin just over the hill.
It looked as though it was going to come right past the hide but only circled a few times eventually going south lost to view

four Pink-feet heading north over the main pond

1st Winter Med Woodhorn Flash the south pool one of three that was following the plough

Three of five Wagtails at the road end

Classy Ibis @ Cresswell Pond

Just a few shots from the past few days not been much around the doors till the Glossy Ibis turned up, it led me a merry dance on Saturday morning and it's a thank you to all that kept the messages up to date so we could eventually get to see it , it could not have ended up in a better spot giving good views to all that turned up , I got some digi shots and some flight shots which turned out to be not as good as I had thought , I am definitely not a photographer , anyway it was a cracking day out , a great bird for the County . I should have been out more lately ,trying to find something after all somebody has to !!!!!!!!
Black Tailed Godwit Bothal Pond (north )
2 Wheatears Cresswell Pond
3 Buzzards
2 Sparrowhawks
Quail calling or was it a nokia
Plenty of Migrant Hawkers still around

Three beside Woodhorn flash

These Flies at Druridge all the same bit of tree a further 6 or so out of shot

Adult Med has returned to Briardene car park ..........dont't forget your bread

Rats coming to discarded fish & chips at Shields fish quay

There used to be some white winged Crows along St Marys this at the fish quay very strong pattern of white in the wing

stopped at Tynemouth boating lake for the gulls but they all flew off as I went around to get the light behind me ............should have brought those fish & chips

Just got back to the car when this Barnacle dropped in , be a good patch tick for someone {:)}

Digiscoped looked OK on the camera monitor, still I tried.

and a couple as it flew past ,looks rather awkward in profile but it could move swiftly as it rapidly became a mere dot in the sky !!!!!!!!

Just having a coffee outside when I got back home when this Hedgehog came for a drink in the bird bath, always great to see them in the garden...................

That was the week that was !!!!!!!!!!!!

Just catching up on whats been happening or not in this case, spent last weekend camping at Wooler, but absolutely lousy weather Bank Holiday Monday at Glendale Show but not my cup of tea, an evening down at the bridge saw several Daubentons Bats but far fewer than I have seen in the past, there is a very large encased pipe that you could walk on across the river and the bats used to whip past you, but alas now its fenced off plenty of Tawny Owls calling for what seemed like most of the night........... one remark heard as a couple packed their gear away at the site which I thought was humorous (posh voice) " Darling where do we keep the Arxe !!!, your bag or mine ".
Called in at Blyth harbour on the way to St Mary's and the erection of more gates and fences, looks like it's turning into area 51, making Winter Gull watching very difficult if not impossible.
Several Roseates on the rocks but well out , a couple of Whimbrel over but rather quiet.
Had five Migrant Hawkers in a small group all hung up within about 10' of each other and 2 on the same branch but in thick cover so all distant shots also Peacocks a few Painted Ladies Red Admirals & Tortoiseshell and a very raggy Wall Brown, on to Cresswell the water level is up again as you probably already know and the strong wind didn't help either , 5 BlackTailed Godwits, 2 Bar tailed , Curlew Sandpiper, Greenshank & several Dunlin dropped onto the sandbank but all left very quickly, what looked like Little Stint up at the far end still on the main pond but right of that small mound with the channel behind, it stayed there even when everything else flushed .

Semipalmated Sandpiper 27-8-09

Well Thursday saw me drive back to Cresswell , it's where it's all happening at the moment, so many waders in one small area it's fantastic, A Water Rail showed saeveral timeson the far right even stopping to bathe at one point, terrific number of waders around I did not count everything but some counts where, 200+ Dunlin , 46 Black Tailed Godwits, 35Knot, 4 Greenshank, 4 Curlew Sandpiper,5 Bar-tailed, 6 Ruff & a Wood Sandpiper. A Merlin paid a couple of visits also 2 Yellow Wagtails at the north end of the main pool, the hide again rather busy so I went up to Druridge but alas nothing around so after a short visit headed back to Cresswell, and got sat down near the small pool , but wih the constant trek of people looking for the Semi-P I gave up.


Later back at the hide it was much quieter, around 6 as I was scanning the reed edges and picked out what I thought was a small Crake at least I was sure it was not a Water Rail, it was just about to come more in the open when a Moorhen spooked it I picked it out in the background as it moved through the reeds, so sure that it was perhaps a Spotted Crake that I gave it another hour scanning and re scanning the edge , the presecne of a Heron would not help , but it was not seen again. This was the area between the red fish box and the large square post . When I got home a message of possibleWhite Winged Black Tern at Woodhorn south flash I often stop there on the way home and have a scan but not tonight


2 of the 4 Greenshanks

Wood Sandpiper

Migrant Hawker

I had not niticed the line of hairs or bristles before , but actually the book does illustrate it.

Migrant Hawker ....according to the book the facial suture ( between frons & clypeus) is not marked with a distinct black line..........not quite worked that out yet

Cresswell Butterflies 25-8-09

Tuesday was a much warmer day and a lot more Butterflies around one small area I stopped at on the way Cresswell had 25 Painted Ladies, 8 Peacock, 10 Wall Brown & a few Tortoiseshell, but no Hawkers which was what I was hoping for, ST's blog had many more Butterflies on this day.
Cresswell still had the Semi-P now settled on the pond with a fantastic showing of waders including 30 Black tailed Godwits, Wood Sandpiper & 3 Curlew Sandpiper, the hide getting rather busy now .

Roseates & Semipalmated Sandpiper 24-8-09

Monday the 24th saw me check out the Roseates before heading back up to Cresswell ,not sure how many Roseates here, but there was a few Juveniles ,I think Roseate Juveniles are very smart birds in the early days of fledging as are Sandwich tern, with that striking pattern.
Moved on to Cresswell the Semi-P had been reported but was not on view so I decided to walk the beach hoping to come across it , which I did it was at the pond outflow and even flew over to the side I was on but kept it's back to me , it then moved to the waters edge , I had to walk around the large long pool to refind it , from here the tide pushed the birds over to the pool , Wood Sandpiper at the North end and in the field 6 Yellow Wagtails increasing to 10 later in the afternoon also 3 Wheatear, and a Whinchat, also a steady movement of Swallows south for most of the afternoon.
The Semipalmated Sandpiper again from the hide along with a Wood Sandpiper, 30 Black-tailed Godwits,4 Bar-tailed , 2 Greenshank, 2 Ruff, 1 Green Sandpiper,1 Adult Curlew Sandpiper, 70 odd Dunlin, Redshanks & Lapwings, of which I again picked out the same colour ringed bird seen awhile ago but again just the left leg...................so if you see the other leg please let me know
Roseates on the rocks this one with a juvenile

some very low tides of late keeping the birds well out

Semi-P back on the pond, when asked where is the bird after they all flushed, I said it feeds in a small area either side of the old tyre ..........................where's the tyre was the next question !!!

I'll just have a quick nap !!!!!!!!!!

Another out of focus flight shot of the Semi-P

and with Sanderling on the beach

HAVE YOU SEEN THIS LAPWINGS RIGHT LEG.....PLEASE LET ME KNOW !!