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 !!

Wader day 20-8-09

Unable to sleep last night I was up very early and at Bothal pond which held 6 Greenshank,1 Wood Sandpiper,2 Green Sandpiper,1 Spotted Redshank, and about 30+ Snipe, another day of strong winds which is not good for digiscoping, also had 3 Swift which hung around most of the morning, next stop Longhirst flash large number of duck which I admit I ignored, a F Marsh Harrier over , a quick stop at Linton but nothing of note so I headed for Cresswell and into the hide which only had a couple of people in most at the north end , level dropping and wader numbers increasing, 50+ Dunlin, 3 Black Tailed Godwits(30 on Monday) ,4 Ruff, 1 Curlew Sandpiper ,2 Greenshank, 1 Green Sandpiper,also a few Sanderling the Semipalmated Sandpiper dropped in a couple of times, and even stayed when all other waders took flight , another 2 Swift, probably keeping ahead of the rain,eventually those from the far end came to look for the Semi-P, only to find it had taken off as they came in the door (frustrating or what !!!), after having given cracking views on the sandbank, the hide filled and it was time to go.

SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER 19-08-09

Wdnesday 19th the only shot I got showing palmations as it walked on the beach

There is nothing like the report of a bird on the pager whose name is in capital letters, so I went up to Cresswell got to the north end not a sole in sight so I checked the pool and the first bird I saw looked like a good candidate, no expert by any means on waders although I do have a interest in them .

The more I looked at it the more I thought this is the bird I saw on Monday of which I tried to get some digi shots of , and these still in the camera as I have had computer problems again ,anyway there was a report of Little Stint on Monday that had been seen from the hide but this bird at the top pool thought by me and others to be it , all I can say is at the time I thought its not the smallest Little Stint Iv'e seen and rather long legged , very difficult to digiscope in the strong wind, and I did not give it much thought after that.

Here are photos of Monday & today, there must be some cracking images of this bird given the crowd of today.

Monday 17th the best digiscoped shot although the head would be behind something but you can still make out the bill.

Monday 17th

Wednesday 19th on the beach when it looked like a totally different bird

back on the pool

strong wind not helping in digiscoping

A couple of grabs in flight