St Mary's, Beehive, & Holywell

Mid morning message of two Lapland Buntings St Mary's ,so thats where I ended up , but no sign of them and little else there 10 Pinkfeet in a field to the west, no waders on the shore in the rising tide nothing in the willows etc: which was to be expected I suppose, Greenshank over ,flock of about 20 Goldfinch and a flock of about 15+ Linnets, only about 40 Golden Plover on the rocks.
Went to Holywell via the Beehive flash it used to pull in so much a couple of years ago, Greenshank here , and several Golden Plover dropped in briefly before they all took off, harried by Crows.
Holywell ,by now the clouds had gathered and the forecast rain fell, a huge number of Wood Pigeons her today, I estimated 2500-3000, birds ,one main flock over towards the obelisk and a large amount in the woods to the north of the pond , quite a few down at the shore of the far end mostly juveniles, Greenshank here also I suspect the same bird as before making only one and not three about, 200+ Black-headed''s easily the most numerous gull with only a few Common in with them and no Meds, a roost of gulls building up in the field to the west of the hide as in previous years

Druridge Pools ...........Glossy Ibis

Glossy Ibis reported from the Oddie hide and showing well ,so I thought another chance to get some shots, no sign when I got there, gave it a good scan then into the south facing hide to see if it could be picked up no sign ,so back into the main hide and the bird showing the the extreme left side of the west end, it flew around a few times when chased by a Heron and eventually went south and lost to view , It was howling strong wind coming in the open shutter , apart from 5 Heron and a few Mallard ,Teal and a single juv Great Crested Grebe, nothing else of note ,stopped at Cresswell and gave the south pool a scan but no sign and nothing else on there to bring it in , it does seem to prefer a few other birds around.
Last stop on the way home as the wind had me beat , Woodhorn Flash south good gathering of Gulls and in with them an adult Med which joined the Black-headeds behind the plough in the side field also picked out a second winter bird, and a 1st winter passed near enough to get a couple of shots , so not only the first time I have seen Meds follow the plough but I got three , could easily have been more given the closeness of there chosen quarters of Newbiggin just over the hill.
It looked as though it was going to come right past the hide but only circled a few times eventually going south lost to view

four Pink-feet heading north over the main pond

1st Winter Med Woodhorn Flash the south pool one of three that was following the plough

Three of five Wagtails at the road end

Classy Ibis @ Cresswell Pond

Just a few shots from the past few days not been much around the doors till the Glossy Ibis turned up, it led me a merry dance on Saturday morning and it's a thank you to all that kept the messages up to date so we could eventually get to see it , it could not have ended up in a better spot giving good views to all that turned up , I got some digi shots and some flight shots which turned out to be not as good as I had thought , I am definitely not a photographer , anyway it was a cracking day out , a great bird for the County . I should have been out more lately ,trying to find something after all somebody has to !!!!!!!!
Black Tailed Godwit Bothal Pond (north )
2 Wheatears Cresswell Pond
3 Buzzards
2 Sparrowhawks
Quail calling or was it a nokia
Plenty of Migrant Hawkers still around

Three beside Woodhorn flash

These Flies at Druridge all the same bit of tree a further 6 or so out of shot

Adult Med has returned to Briardene car park ..........dont't forget your bread

Rats coming to discarded fish & chips at Shields fish quay

There used to be some white winged Crows along St Marys this at the fish quay very strong pattern of white in the wing

stopped at Tynemouth boating lake for the gulls but they all flew off as I went around to get the light behind me ............should have brought those fish & chips

Just got back to the car when this Barnacle dropped in , be a good patch tick for someone {:)}

Digiscoped looked OK on the camera monitor, still I tried.

and a couple as it flew past ,looks rather awkward in profile but it could move swiftly as it rapidly became a mere dot in the sky !!!!!!!!

Just having a coffee outside when I got back home when this Hedgehog came for a drink in the bird bath, always great to see them in the garden...................

Craster, Budle ,Stag, Long Nanny

A few days up the coast last week ,the weather was fine but the birding quiet, still a brood of Swallows at the campsite which also held a roost of Pied Wagtails with at least 60 coming to roost in a tree in the middle of the park,plenty of Buzzards around, with Tawnies calling at dusk a set a side field that I thought would be good for Short Eareds was now ploughed over, a small pond nearby had an Emperor and Common Darter but these the only Dragons I saw despite the fine weather.

Cycled along to the Long Nanny which had a huge Gull roost and about 80 Curlew by the stream Newton Pool water level up with absolutely nothing on , Common Porpoise seen from several locations.

A near summer Red Necked Grebe off Stag Rocks and about 100 Linnets in a crop of peas with a Merlin trying to catch one , Monks House Pool a single knot, 30 Snipe 40 + Teal, Budle easily a 1000 Black Headed, with also an adult Med Gull the furthest north in the county for me , 2 Greenshanks 40 Bar Tailed & 30 Dunlin near the road with a strong heat haze affecting the distant views, Craster near the harbour lots & loots of Butterflies on Red Valerium was hoping for a Humming Bird Hawkmoth, but not this year, plenty of Silver Y's.

Still a very pleasant few days in a fantastic area.

Only one left on the nest by the last day

Red Necked Grebe off Stag Rocks

Digiscoped shots from the rocks

Little Egret Budle it's been here for awhile now

Some early evening shots from near the castle

Dunstanburgh from the fields a small pond here with Mallards & Greylags

Silver Y

The Castle from Craster harbour

Not had time to look this up yet it had a curious flight

A Rook end !!!!

That was the week that was !!!!!!!!!!!!

Just catching up on whats been happening or not in this case, spent last weekend camping at Wooler, but absolutely lousy weather Bank Holiday Monday at Glendale Show but not my cup of tea, an evening down at the bridge saw several Daubentons Bats but far fewer than I have seen in the past, there is a very large encased pipe that you could walk on across the river and the bats used to whip past you, but alas now its fenced off plenty of Tawny Owls calling for what seemed like most of the night........... one remark heard as a couple packed their gear away at the site which I thought was humorous (posh voice) " Darling where do we keep the Arxe !!!, your bag or mine ".
Called in at Blyth harbour on the way to St Mary's and the erection of more gates and fences, looks like it's turning into area 51, making Winter Gull watching very difficult if not impossible.
Several Roseates on the rocks but well out , a couple of Whimbrel over but rather quiet.
Had five Migrant Hawkers in a small group all hung up within about 10' of each other and 2 on the same branch but in thick cover so all distant shots also Peacocks a few Painted Ladies Red Admirals & Tortoiseshell and a very raggy Wall Brown, on to Cresswell the water level is up again as you probably already know and the strong wind didn't help either , 5 BlackTailed Godwits, 2 Bar tailed , Curlew Sandpiper, Greenshank & several Dunlin dropped onto the sandbank but all left very quickly, what looked like Little Stint up at the far end still on the main pond but right of that small mound with the channel behind, it stayed there even when everything else flushed .