Seaton Sluice

Spent late afternoon at SSWT , the sea had settled down some what only a handfull of Auks around a few gannets moving North but well out several Fulmars but suspect of local origin, 3 Common Scoter, Sandwich Terns in good numbers and about 70+ on the rocks during the high tide,much mating and pair bonding going on but not many fish brought in as offerings , not much in total even the Gulls that passed close to the window where all 1st & 2nd year birds ,  so the hour dragged somewhat, 

Avocets 12-6-11

Called at Cresswell last weekend surprised to find a pair of Avocets with a large chick thought to be from the original pair that had three young and last seen going away from the pond , it looked OK just fending for itself with the Adults in nearby attendance . ( unfortunately it has not been seen since lets hope they have again moved it away from the pond) . Carried on to Amble a quick look around the harbour area more at the market than anything else then headed  along the river Coquet past Warkworth looking for Damselflies in the form of Banded Demoiselle  ,not a single one seen conditions not ideal I suppose and the river seems to have changed in it's flow , some very large salmon leaping now and again, and a Sandwich Tern fishing never seen one well up river before  but I don't see why not, called at Cresswell again on the way back but nothing to add.

This chick had put on some considerable growth since last seen lets hope it's still around somewhere

 These huge swarms of Tadpoles in the many thousands just lying near the edge the bank very steep so I only got a couple of shots from the top, no sign of legs on any of them that I could see !!!!

Cresswell 31-3-11

31-3-11 Another trip to Cresswell  it was not too bad when I left home but Cresswell was wild a West wind that nearly took you off your feet , viewed the pond from the path up by the farm sheltered from the wind but  with the nice warmth of the sun, American Wigeon still on show ,ended up down at the hide the water with plenty of white tops a nice rainbow over the farm at Hemscott. A total of 3 Med Gulls in with the Black-headed's ,the American Wigeon as did all the Wigeon moved from the grassy bank to the pond and back again, the hide was getting a bit of a battering with the wind so I decided to head home but 2 Sandwich terns dropped in on the spit gave me another year tick. 

Rainbow from the hide cresswell

 Keeping low with the strong wind ,feeding as they lay down.

 Choppy waters

Heading back to the bank where it walked out and fed again

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 !!

A bit more green birding 20-7-09

Monday 20-7-09 thought I would check the falling tide at St Mary's Island but cycle there via the fields to check out a few ponds only one Emperor flying and that was brief, and then a couple of Common Blue, I waited an hour, even when the sun came out and the temperature had risen sharply, nothing , not even Damselflies in the grass, they must be deep in cover or I wonder if stuff has had a real hammering from the wind & rain on Friday ( I was up the Coquet Valley looking at trees ,till it was decided to call it off, camera never even came out the car never mind the bag ) so I headed down to the coast its a very long way around doing it like this , plenty of people pouring onto the rocks as the tide receded, numbers of Golden Plover increasing, 3 sp Knot, about 30 Sandwich, a few Common & a couple of Arctic , Sanderling in the north bay but very flighty, so I just got a couple of shots.

Golden Plover coming in from the Island as the crowds descend

Following comments on http://dustybins.blogspot.com/ about Starlings on seaweed, these guys caught my eye not just a couple but loads where lying on the tarmac I assume absorbing the heat, now have I seen this before and took no notice or not seen it before just cant think ,should take more notes.

taking in the sun !!!!!

Rooting around on the beach, they do actually bring in other birds , a Rook was just a few feet away, but in the light

On The Buses 19-7-09

Another slightly of topic post, just to show there are other things than birding, well when its quiet anyway .
Sunday the bikes came out and it was off pedalling to Whitley Bay via the coast path , 8 Painted Ladies in one small stretch & 5 Whimbrel South, tide in at St Mary's so we went past straight to the car park where there was a Bus Rally loads of old buses beutifully turned out but these wernt just to look at you could get a free ride on just about the whole lot so we qued wanting to get an open top bus but alas we ended up on an old London Decker, straight upstair nostalgic memories coming flooding back as a kid you went for the front seats which actually had kids in already , so having got seated the bus pulled off with a start, throwing you back in the seat, it was OK at first but the lack of air and the sun bleaching in through the large glass it soon lost its appeal , and going around a sharp bend I thought it was going to tip over , actually thats what we used to do as kids all pile into one corner to try and make it tip a bit more , but not so good when your middle aged.
The tide dropping I peeled off to have a look at the rocks, Common, Sandwich & a few Arctic Terns with Golden Plover coming in many still in some summer dress, worth a look at over the next couple of weeks for Roseate Terns , or Juv Med Gull (tell me if you do ) got back home it was time for a bottle of red in the garden looking at how high the weeds are growing from the comfort of a lounger, canny day out in the end.
I forgot to get a photo of a new bus it had an advert on the back "get a weekly ticket for the price of a tank of petrol " am I missing something here !!!!!!!

St Mary's Island and beyond from the cliffs

Whitley Bay and beyond from the prom

cute or what !!!! you can just imagine a group of birders pilling out of here on Holy Island , all kitted out with the latest optics, surplus from ww11 probably

Bus logo or is it livery ?

I have know idea what these are, much like my posts in general, but you can still enjoy them .

It's not easy trying to get a shot without someone in it

They used to run a n old bus on Scillies , remember getting it back to town one day.

Aidensfield ...... Not sure if this is from the TV or not !!

Everyone wanted to get on this old bus.

Cycle around the ponds 14-7-09

Tuesday it was a cycle around the ponds and back via St Marys Island on a very small pond near Newsham (NWT) a Common Tern fishing it caught a few then took one away south presumably to Holywell Pond, unusual in that this pond or old reservoir is deep set and surrounded with trees ,still if the fishings good .
Holywell Pond at the open end about 40 lapwings ,and the usual Canada , Greylag & loafing gulls, with 2 Common Tern on the island , at the east end a photo shoot of some sort so I did not hang about,there is to be a Moth evening tonight(17th) at about 9pm but given the weather its probably cancelled, through the Dene and out at the stream with not a single Dragonfly to be seen ,St Marys also had very little a few Terns came in to the rocks displaced from their usual roost, my first 2 Sandwich Tern juveniles with them , a few Sand Martin in the North bay which I tried to photograph, a sailing ship passed the lighthouse which looked interesting ,I later caught up with it as it came into Blyth

Frustrating Weather 29-6-09

Lead Belle Or July belle

This weather is rather frustrating for me ,warm it may be ,but so changeable went up the coast the other day stopped near the power station for a walk it was a sunny spell and I counted about 20 Common Blue nearly all males with just a few females , also Red Admirals, Ringlets, & Meadow Browns , various amounts of damselflies at most suitable locations, Willow Warblers & Chiffchaffs still singing family of Whitethroats, stopped beside the travellers camp and looked up the stream very overgrown as is the pool nearby could be anything in there, the flash dried up now, a quick look in at Cresswell the Goosander on the sand beside the hide in heavy moult, Common Sandpiper here also. Druridge pools from the screen had little on show, the track to the hides was good for Butterflies as the sun as out again walked right to the end getting a few shots , went into the hide to find a mist over most of the pond , I ended up in the car for a coffee to see what would happen as I wanted to go to East Chevington to check the north pool , I thought it had cleared enough to be able to see the terns so off to east Chev, Greenshank & 3 redshank , a couple of Arctic Terns & 3 1st summers in with the 10 Little Gulls and numerous Common & Sandwich terns.

A couple of Juvenile Herons outside the hide Druridge Pools Mutes with Young also

Latticed Heath ?

And another paler version

Plenty of Common Blue out today

Common Toadflax starting to flower

A couple of Red Admirals ,this on Viper's Bugloss

Common Blue female

More Ringlets out every day

23-6-09 Northumberland Coast

What a fabulous day weather wise spent the day up the coast started at Snab point a couple of Harbour Porpoise, Cresswell, then to Druridge and walked through to Ladyburn lake more Butterflies about ,Common Blue, a few Painted Lady, Meadow Brown, 14 Little Gulls at East Chevington and 6 1st Summer Arctic terns, its looking good here I like to just sit and scan through them. they lift and settle, so its scan again, there must be a marsh tern here soon,checked the sea from the dunes a few Manx north, and three groups of Scoter the nearest one had 60 and another looked to be over 100, Auks everywhere, back at Druridge and checked the bay looking for Porpoise in the calm sea, 2 Red throated Divers, a great Northern Diver, Puffins close in , a group of 11 Manx very close in, looking fantastic in the early evening light a few more all moving North and numerous Gannets feeding ,nothing unusual in the day just a good day out ,no coat no fleece, just a decent hat.



Stonechat Cresswell

Cinnabar Moth

I think this is Hemlock Water Dropwort

Common Centaury

I have seen these moths many times , forgot the name for now will have to look it up later.

Druridge Pecker's in the form of Starlings

For non locals the view north to Amble at high tide

Ladyburn Lake to the rear

and the view South


While on the dunes at Druridge this Spider caught my eye. when I touched the grass stem it lay along its length the colour blending perfectly legs held forward to completely hide its profile, which I could not get a photo of