St Mary's ......Bright "n" Breezy

I was going to bin this but actually I think it just sums up Purple Sandpipers.

A much brighter day today but with it the cold ,cold wind, just finishing off what I had to do at home and about to get sorted for a couple hours out , it start to bleach down with snow and lying ,here we go again I thought. But it did not last long now even more determined to get out so I headed off ,started off at the head of the prom Water pipit briefly but heading along south, I walked along but it was always way ahead of me and with the tide coming in I went along the prom and up to the wetland which was full but had plenty Teal , a couple of Wigeon , Gadwall, numerous waders and Gulls , it was looking good . I had not brought the scope ,which was just as well the wind blasting across the water, going further along the prom towards the causeway large number of Black headed and in with them an Adult Med, and 12 or so Purple Sandpiper, but it was not till I got around fully to the causeway that the scale of the birds present could be fully appreciated ,easily a 1000 Black Headeds, with Herring Gulls and a few Common Gulls picking off the water and on the beach , more Purple Sandpipers, Knot ,Turnstones , Sanderling, Redshanks all massed tightly on the beach as the waves crashed ashore ,obviously providing a feast of some sort , what a fantastic sight , birding's not just about rare birds, to me its this sort of thing, just being at the right place at the right time ,without doubt the most birds I have ever seen at St Mary's Island , stacks of Lapwings & Golden Plover wheeling around and a few hundred waders over on the island .Blisteringly cold trying to get some shots my hands where numb and I could barely stand so I put the camera away and just watched ,eventually the cold got to me heading back along the prom to the south bay hundreds more Black Headeds picking off the surface and a single Barnacle Goose dropped onto the wetland . Fantastic few hours out for a change , I nearly let the snow put me off, but now I just can't wait to get back out.

A few hours at St Marys and the cem........

Friday saw me drive to St Mary' s Island , I picked one of the worst days of the week most days had been at Least sunny but today it was dull with a sort of freezing fog hanging around , I went along the beach to try and see the Water pipit for the year, but no sign, I came across this dead fish it was actually quite large , I know nothing of fish but thought is was a John Dory Golden Plover along the shoreline, plenty of Sanderling but the colour ringed birds seemed to have moved on , I know they move to Sandhaven beach at times, lots of Golden Plover feeding in amongst the rocks and also Skylarks dropping in .

Woodccks around with 3-4 flighting around , a Merlin over the screen with prey later I found the remains of a Skylark down on the prom by a seat, and the remains of a Snipe along the track, a small area of open water on the wetland had numerous Teal and a single Pintail male, with Wigeon and Shoveller also 4 of these in a small rock pool, Snipe all over the place but no Woodcock in the open , Song Thrush seem to be finding plenty of snails to eat , I remember the one that used a bottle to break the shells on ,it took me ages to work out what the sound was till I saw it Bashing away on one of those flat Alcohol bottles, by 2 the light was poor and it was bitter cold time to head home.
I thought it was a John Dory but a search on the net shows not ??Thanks to the Boulmer Birder for the I.D. as a Lumpsucker






Plenty of Golden Plover in amongst the rocks and along the shore

Holywell,Big Waters, & St Mary's, blah ! blah! blah!

Another week of just visiting the ponds it's a way of getting out of the wind , Holywell was very quiet six Whoopers on as I arrived but again they took off in minutes.
A visit to Big Waters the water level the highest Iv'e seen the hides surrounded by water and the feeding station was also flooded which attracted two Little Grebes feeding on worms , it was rather surreal a family of Mute swans and 2 Grebes feeding below, Tree Sparrows, Blue Tits , Greenfinch, & Goldfinchas they hung from the feeders, Great Crested Grebe still around no sign of Otter or Kingfisher the water very murky.
Cycled to St Mary's in the winter sun , Water Pipit in the same area of the prom , a couple of Purple Sandpipers feeding on the seaweed wrack, about a dozen Gadwall and a few Teal on the wetland again was hoping the GWT would drop in here but no, from sun to dull in a matter of minutes today , nearly dark by the time I got home.
Six Whoopers just leaving Holywell , what happened to the days they used to roost here in good numbers, only one juvenile in with these.

Big Waters I had time to kill so set up the digiscope gear for the Little Grebes

Digiscoped

Great Crested Grebe also Digiscoped

The Inevitable Tree Sparrow

I'm sure this must have happened before, the feeding station flooded allowing the Swans to swim in

Little Grebes finding plenty of drowned worms from within the feeding station , they came in several times while I was there

just a single Bullfinch going for the Niger seed

I think it could hear the camera, but wasn't sure

Just outside the hide .............

Bullfinch not coming too close

A Purple Sandpiper at St Mary's feeding on the huge pile of seaweed

Water Pipit still around

Sabine session.......................................

Went up to North Shields fish quay late Sunday for the Juvenile Sabines Gull , not lingering someway off in the middle of the river but right along the edge of the quay , giving stunning views as it plied back and forth ,what a little star.
Monday and as the Sabines was still around I went back to try and get some shots in the better light , it was on show again along the edge of the quay , till it suddenly went up river and disappeared to turn up on the south side , from where it went over towards the haven , which is where I caught up with it again , bathing and then preening on the rocks till it again , left and returned to the quay, despite it showing well it had given some the runaround, but most caught up with it , disappearing again it still left one or two frustrated,also nearby 2 Grey Wagtails , a few Goldcrests in sycamores on the hillside along with a Willow Warbler, Purple Sandpipers on the rocks, huge number of gulls feeding on the discarded fish as they sorted the catch, they don't have to do anything other than drop down from the shed roofs and stuff themselves .Larus sabini

28-03-08 Firecrest St Mary's

The day started off wet and grey so I thought Linton ,get the flask and sarnies and sit in the hide, still would like an adult Glaucous, but I got stuck in a very long traffic jam for some reason and I realised I had not brought my phone or pager so I turned around and went back home ,message of a Firecrest not 10 mins old so off I went , not a soul there so I worked the whole lenght of the willows twice before I picked it up on call ,sounded to me hoarser than Goldcrest, anyway it showed very well giving good views but the light was poor and when the sun came out the bird had gone , in and out of view and I took loads of photos many have been binned ,my reactions where always behind the bird and I got many shots of a bare branch.
also in the large triangle patch Goldcrest, Redwing, and a Chiffchaff.
I thought i had taken plenty of shots but I should have went back when the sun came out, the big lenses where there,check out JM site link ,he got a stunner shot as the bird was at the pool for a drink. wait till I get my 800mm!!!!!!!!! (DONATIONS WELCOME !!!!)


Not sure what these are it is feeding on

This looks to me to be starting to show pink on the breast

4th February St Marys wetland

Called in at St Mary's on the way home from work the tide was dropping and 177 Curlews came down onto the rocks on the Prom bend ,Dunlin and Sanderlings did not stay long ,nor did the Purple Sandpiper,plenty Snipe on the wetland very active feeding the edges and flitting from place to place 22 was the total I could see but there was probably more, a couple of Teal in the foreground looked good in the strong light ,Water Pipit over on the north shore very mobile,and it is always poor light just over the top,not the strong Super as on the West Allotment bird ?

Water Pipit

Some digiscoped shots of the Water Pipit taken last week ,