Big Waters

A couple of hours at Big waters the other day,good numbers of wildfowl around including a nice male Pintail which spent 99.9% of the time up ending amongst the numerous Wigeon , I only took a few digi shots of whatever would come within range which included this smart Great Crested Grebe .

 Goldeneye are not uncommon in Northumberland but it's difficult to get anywhere near them

 Only the females would come near the hide but these are also nice looking birds !!

Just caught this GC Grebe as was wing stretching ,using digi scope

Pintail in with the Wigeon, there seems to be a few around , but well spread

3 April Great White Egret..then on to.......Dunstanburgh

News of a Great White Egret on the Friday night saw me head up the coast Saturday it re located at Druridge pools smart looking bird took a couple of digi shots as it was a long way off , then headed up the coast to try and find myself a Black Redstart , headed for the beach beside Dunstanburgh , 6 Goldeneye and 2 Mergansers on the sea several Stonechats along the dunes and lots of Meadow Pipits taking advantage of the huge number of flies among the rocks , picked up a flock of 60 or so Twite with also a couple of Linnets ,walked along to Newton the path to the hide and area well flooded , no sign of any Black Redstarts anywhere , only more Stonechats 2 stunning males not letting me get anywhere near them, 4 Goldcrests working the bushes and 2 Kestrels , 6 Goldfinch, headed back just before the rain.Reed Bunting singing ,not the best songster in the bird world
Egret rather distant although nearer than it would have been at East Chevington

Goldcrests

Dunstanburgh Castle in the distance
Newton Pool looking towards Newton-by -the Sea
Flock of Twite
Twite

March already ...............at least its sunny

At least March has started off nice and sunny rather than those dull grey days of Feb,I went to Druridge to try and catch up with the Green Winged Teal, stopping at Cresswell and walked up to the hide as there was only two cars in the carpark I was surprised to see the hide nearly full not just that but all the shutters where down everyone having a picnic lunch , so not wanting to squeeze in amongst the rustling crisp bags I decided to go over too the dunes , only a couple of RTD, large flock of Wigeon 100+, and a small number of Eider with a couple of Scoter also, typical the perfect light and I was enjoying just sitting in the sun but not much to go at. also stopped to check the geese beside Bells about 1000 Pinkfeet and looked for the Twite they are not very mobile now and take some finding about 10 and as many Skylark but as usual some way off.

Druridge I waded through to the Budge screen to find about 6 Teal and a few mallard , not worth getting the feet wet for, I noticed a couple on the bank looking over the main pool and thought perhaps the path was flooded , so I dug out the wellies but it was not to bad , I did mention to them that the mound was not for viewing from , and the reply was he could not make it all the way along the track , seemed to get up the mound OK though , and with scope & tripod.

I counted about 80 Teal no sign of the GWT, although there was also plenty you could just see bits of, the only birds I took any shots of was some Male Goldeneye feeding beside the hide, another look on the sea 4 RTD and 30 odd Scoter, it was just nice having some sun and warmth.............looking forward to Summer more than any other year before !!!!

Whaffling Blogger, Whiffling Geese

Another round up of my week Sunday we had a run along to the south end of Hauxley via the Carrs road ,the place was lifting with people so I only went as far as the Ponteland hide, a Great Spotted Woodpecker along the track, but just the usual geese on the pool with the water level very high, I noticed this survey ship very close inshore . Stopped at East Chevington on the way back it was good to get two Short Eared Owls over the south pool , with two Bean Geese in with the Pinks.

Another walk locally with Barn Owl, lots of Pinkfeet over, another large covey of Grey Partridge , noticeably more birds singing now , not perhaps full song but definatley they are feeling Spring is in the air and it's good to see the days getting longer, flock of Redpoll still around though impossible to pin down, a couple of Bullfinch keeping ahead of me , a couple of TiT flocks but getiing smaller and smaller, I was actually going to head to St Mary's but it went from nice sunny day to heavy rain within ten minutes so I headed off home.

Heading up to Big Waters I picked out two Roe Deer in a field and caught sight of a Buzzard sitting on a grass hummock near the Holiday Inn roundabout so I pulled over and waited for it to lift getting a few shots in as it sat , it lifted facing the right way got one shot and .....battery flat ,they always go at the wrong time. Big Waters partly frozen still loads of Teal but most tucked away so it was impossible to check them all for the hoped for Green Winged why this is something I always look for is hard to say , but its better to check yourself than see it reported just after youve left !!!, Goldeneye and the ever present Mallard, but there is always plenty to watch at the feeding station , Siskin showing very well , the area drying out after flooding so more ground feeders showing up , not seen Otter here for sometime now ?.

Another sunny day so I headed for East Chevington with the intention of spending the day there

I have never walked around the path that encircles the North Pond so I headed off with all my gear I could see the Pinkfeet on the West side and thought I would get a better view from the north Track but as from most areas of this pond your looking into the light, actually they showed better from the road in and had I stopped in the car would have been able to look through most of them, but being on foot the y spooked as soon as I stopped to check them out, and off they went . For once it stopped nice and sunny so I checked the sea, could only pick out about 10 Red Throated Divers , 8 Red Breasted Mergansers, and only 4 Scoter, with numerous Auks, walked along to the South Pool had two Short Eared Owls and A Barn Owl, one SEO trying to pursue the Barn Owl but they went out of sight , a birder came along a said the Barn Caught a Vole and the SEO tried to mob it, three Redhaed Smew on the pool, presumed some of the ones from Druridge, I stayed till the sun set which made nice change , having been a good day out !!!!!

I forgot about the three Bar Tailed Godwits roosting in with Lapwing on the ice.

This Survey ship seemed very close in , must have a very shallow draft.
SEO over the South Pool from the top gate
This Redpoll dropped in to drink but gone in a flash.
At Least this Stonechat was willing to pose for me
Siskin BigWaters
Stock Dove
Could only get the Bullfinch on the feeders so I cropped it out.
SEO looks like its hung up on the fence but its dropping on something

Just as I was leaving picked out this one sitting on the fence but the sun setting rapidly now ,they are always great to see !!!
The same bird but just a little warmer light
And finally the setting sun , although its setting over a spoil heap , but I cant change that around here !!

Big Waters........11-10-09

I have been to Big Waters for awhile so I thought I would have a run there on Wednesday, 3 and then 2 Roe Deer out in the fields as I drove along the A19, it was bright when I arrived but soon became dull with some light rain although I seem to have missed the worst.
The Otter showed after about 30 mins feeding along the north side at one point it looked as though it was going onto the island , always a number of Tree Sparrows on the feeders , probably one of the easiest places to see them, a Sparrowhawk tried for one just below me it was all over in a flash, not sure if it got one or not ,it was some time before the birds returned in numbers.
Great Crested Grebe, a few assorted duck , 3 Goldeneye, a couple of snipe over , the water level very high ,where has all this water come from must have been some heavy rains through the nights.
Kingfisher put in a brief appearance no time to get a photo it flew off to the right of the hide probably to the willows to fish from.

This looked a little bit like a face, and no my nose is not as big as that !!

Digiscoped the Goldeneye

View from the front of the hide

and view from the side