St Mary's Island & European Stormies

Went down to St Mary's Island to try out some digiscoping at the start of the prom Sand Martins with the occasional House Martin were feeding just over the sand and along the edge of the prom where thousands of flies having emerged from the seaweed rested on the side of the wall, the Martins skimmed the sand and turned sideways to skirt the overhang I only had my compact camera with me so tried to get a couple of shots ,the beach had hundreds of Gulls and amongst them a single Adult Mediterranean Gull so I tried the video on my compact also.

A couple of sessions of seawatching recently produced some fantastic views of European Storm Petrel in an unprecedented movement along the east coast ,early morning they past very close inshore viewed from the island, one in particular gave stunning views as it past about 40-50yds offshore,  I saw a total of 60 birds and apparently movement had continued all day ,will be interesting to see the total numbers reported along the coast with birds sighted from just about every bit of headland giving everyone the opportunity to catch up with this fantastic seabird.    

Dolphins, Meds,Dragons and last of the Swift

Just some images from the past few days a bit of a mix, still trying to find Dragonflies but with not much luck, Big Waters had 2 Southern Hawker briefly, but the sun does not shine for long enough ,I fear most have died off already.

A spell Seawatching but more in the hope of Cetaceans from Snab Point on the 11th the sea fairly flat, and I picked out about six one mother with calf, Bottle Nosed Dolphins they moved around the bay for about an hour till they eventually moved off South at this point two or three breaching but turning sideways through the air it was good to watch. A pleasure boat which I later found out was The Balmoral fully laden with lots of people headed north ,probably an ideal boat to watch Dolphins from as it had a bit of height and looked stable.

Checked out the Med Gulls at Newbiggin and found 5 Juveniles and a total of 19 birds , looked in at Woodhorn Flash later that day 7 Med Gulls bathing in the fresh water, a partial albino Moorhen, but only a couple of Common Darters & 3 Wall Brown.

The last rather poor photo shows a Swift still present at the nest site on the morning of the 16th,just taken from the TV.

Bog Waters had large amounts of these Fungi
The same species but looking more interesting as it pushes its way through the moss and ground litter.
Lots of these small Hoverflies inhabit the flowers in the garden
3 Med Juveniles with a fourth to the right and a five on the beach ( with an injured leg)

A Mc had a total of I think 23 with 6 Juveniles in an early morning roost.
The Balmoral heading North to ?
This again I presume is a Leach
This Fungi had a leave like structure
Partial albino Moorhen at Woodhorn Flash
Silvery Y hiding in plain sight
Common Darter
Common Darter this one drawing heat from an old carpet that someone has dumped
Swift facing left, site entrance in the background and ceiling joist in the foreground.

More Meds 27-30 -7 2010

Spent most of last week Cycling to St Mary's and Holywell Pond

27th St Mary's circa 400 Golden Plover on the rocks below the prom,30+Sandwich Tern & 2 Common Tern adults with 1 Juvenile. I Juvenile Med Gull below the prom, and a further 2 reported near the Adult at Briardene (per T.C.)

28th Adult Med Gull Briardene Carpark.(no sign of juveniles )

29th 250-300 Golden Plover ,12 Sandwich,1 Common tern. Female Tufted with 7 young on the wetland , which actually does not seem to get more than a couple of gulls bathing. 1 Summer plumage Grey Plover Colywell Bay.

30th Another run to St Mary's Tufted still with 7 young.

Holywell Pond had very little on my visits , only bird of note a Black tailed Godwit.

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.

Dragons & Gulls......13-7-10

Started the day off with a shot of this juvenile Wood Pigeon one of two hanging around the garden so they have bred nearby.

A rather bright but changeable day but I thought it worth going out for Dragonflies , East Cramlington had Four Spot Chaser and Emperor this landed only very briefly before eventually flying off high and into the trees , also a couple of Common darter, with Willow Warblers feeding young.

Big Waters , Comma Butterfly, 2 Four Spot Chasers 1 Emperor , 6 Common Tern a pair of Great Crested Grebes , the second brood has been washed out , spent an hour or so at the hide , 2 Juvenile Great Spotted , but no Common Sandpipers along the shore.

Banks pond 2 Four Spot Chasers, Emerald Damselflies single Emperor and brief views of 2 Ruddy Darter.

St Marys called here on the way back , tide was high a good number of gulls feeding at the start of the prom, and among them an Adult little Gull ,had a short seawatch which produced about 60 Manx ,went through the ggulls again and the Little Gull had been joined by an Adult med gull, took me ages to get the two birds together ,( which is a first for me ) pity the light was not better its always dull in this corner as the sun sets.




Emperor as it settled very briefly .
Comma on Bramble also 3 Tortoiseshell
Great Crested Grebe feeding just on the weed edge in the east corner
Juvenile Lapwing just below the hide

One of 2 Great Spotted Woodpeckers at the feeders this one land on the tree for a second or two ,as mostly they are the nuts
Emerald a very smart Damselfly
Four Spot Chaser as it settled
Adult Med Gull St mary's
Med , Little & Black Headed Gulls all stained with green algae
Two nice Gulls and together.

Sat 27th March Newbiggin -Druridge

Saturday another run up the coast first I called in to Newbiggin for a walk along the coast then through the golf course, no gulls in the bay and just a handfull along the coast , a couple of Wheatears on the golf course and a group of Meadow Pipits , Cresswell I just gave the top end a look over the field but nothing for me , Druridge again about 40 Tufted , and lots of Teal on the wetlands a raucous few hundred Black-headeds with 2 Adult Med gulls dropping in , the Black Redstart still behind the plantaion though very mobile , 3 Wheatears also here and about a dozen meadow Pipits.

March 2nd ..........to the woods

Tuesday the 2nd March and yet another bright sunny day has Spring arrived , I went up to Plessey Woods area for a walk through the woods Great Spotted drumming , and just an air of renewal Snowdrops still looking bright and fresh and took some time trying to get some real close ups of them but found they where all slightly out of focus on the monitor , just enjoyed the walk masses of Ramsons just poking through, I like this plant with its clean white flowers, this year I have been in the garden and noted the Lords & Ladies is also just coming through, 2 Mergansers on the river which was flowing very fast and looking very murky, 3 Treecreeper just keeping ahead of me the sun was very warm in the open areas given the shelter of the trees, a very nice walk , I will have to get out earlier if this keeps up.

As the sun had moved over leaving me in shade I decided to stop at St Marys Island , walked along to the Briardene carpark and the adult Med gull dropped in showing most of its black hood, I also found it later in the north bay with 100+ Black headed, much colder now on the coast and the tide was high I had just come down a little to late, Teal & Gadwall on the wetland along with 80+ Redshank roosting and 186 Curlew in the field just off the track..........a good day out for a change !!!

These are just fabulous little birds and quite feisty when they have to be !!!! I would love to see those northern ones

Marsh Tit which is always nice to see, getting harder than it used to be .
Trying one of those arty shots , you can see what I was after but its not quite working !
Coal Tit I usually get these in the garden
Nuthatch another favourite very common at times.
This is the same bird as below but looks to have much less black on its head a trick of the light
Why this adult should haunt this carpark is a mystery there used to be one at Blyth beach carpark but that has not been seen for some time perhaps its the same bird !!