Whoopers at Big Waters ,1 ringed

Went over to big Waters via the bus last week  pleasant enough day  and there where numerous birds around started at the first hide /bunker which looks out  onto the island there are numerous bolts to undo to open the shutters this is a necessity as the area is prone to vandalism actually a plague of the nation. Three Whoopers nearby and AJ who probably spends as much time here as at home  pointed out one was sporting a darvic ring , so the challange was on although he had read it through his  scope I tried to get some digi of it , the other two seemed paired up as they  where never far apart. the Island had an assortment of Gulls and drying Cormorants, still no sign of Otter for me again so far , the Male Pintail still around but as before constantly upending Great Crested Grebes in nest building fewer birds at the feeding station  Long Tailed Tits 3-4 pairs around , a Red Admiral along the boardwalk in a sunny spot not a bad day overall. 

 Y696 Alan will send in the sighting and inform me .

All seems harmony as both Mute and Whooper preen on the pool edge

It needs some smart comment added here but I'm at a lost.

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

Maiden Hall Lake and the Coast

A run up the coast at the weekend picked up a Peregrine sitting on the fence when I stopped to look for the Twite etc:, which I did not see  anything of ,watched the Peregrine for awhile as its nice to see one perched even if it was facing away but a couple of jets going over persuaded it to turn slightly it was still there when I moved on . Called around to this new site Maiden Hall Lake , indeed large numbers of geese around the White-Fronts started to separate and move out onto the grass  I counted about 254 with lots still on the water but  a helicopter over sent everything onto the water, they all drifted into the shore below the gate eventually every single one of about 2,000 birds (Greylag, Canada, Pinkfeet , Barnacle 20, White-fronts) was out of sight  and anyone stopping for a quick look would think there was nothing there, they did eventually drift back out and start to come back ashore , 2 Buzzards, and 3 kestrels in the area.   East Chevington the next stop the 2 Bewick's still around but at the time fast asleep, 4 Short -Eared Owls   two sitting on posts and 2 over the dunes  the 2 Bewick's took off and headed south.

Called in to Druridge Pools   on the off chance the Bewick's had dropped in plenty of Teal  and  Wigeon around and a pair of Pintail but no Bewick's .

Back along the coast towards Cresswell a SEO on the ground and another flying further along was the end to the day