Monday 24 November 2014

A Raven, Hume's Leaf Warbler and two Waxwings.........

......not bad for Sunday mornings birding.
Tynemouth was my first stop. I saw the gates of the north pier were open, and having tried and failed to gain access on my last three visits, i made a bee line for it. I spent an hour in the shadow (although there was no sun) of the Lighthouse gazing at the North Sea  and saw.........nowt. Well, apart from gulls and cormorants. On the way back i heard the distinctive GRONK of a Raven. It had already passed overhead so i only got a couple of record shots in very poor light.

I didn't check out Priors Park but instead headed along to the Brierdene to check out the Hume's Leaf Warbler which i saw almost immediately from down in the dene. It looked like photo opportunities might be better higher up so i joined the small throng gazing into a Sycamore above the dene. I did get some more nice views but there were always branches in the way and the light was still poor so hardly tried to capture anything with the camera. A couple of Waxwings were reported by The Three Muskateers so i made my way in the direction of the Whitley Bay Golf Club and picked up on the Waxers quickly.  Ten minutes in their company before they lifted high and headed off south in the direction Monkseaton Drive but i have seen since that they returned.


Wednesday 19 November 2014

Recently.

Aint been out too much in the last two or three weeks with the odd half day visits to Tynemouth, Prestwick Carr and Gosforth Park the venues.
Gosforth afforded me a few views of the Bitterns. The highlight a ten minute session with one in full view preening and looking to feed. You can only take so many pictues of even  a Bittern so decided to capture some video footage, which isn't the best, (need some practice) so here is a non moving image.
 Tynemouth on Saturday was relatively quiet. A number of birders were on the prom. below Knotts Flats scoping the River Tyne over towards South Shields looking for the Grey Phalarope which had been seen on both sides of the river on Friday but the bird had flown, as they say. Sadly the pier was closed  AGAIN and i had to settle with views of Purple Sandpipers on the Midden Rocks. Priors Park held noticable numbers of Blackbirds and Robins once more and i had the joy of a gleening single Goldcrest for a couple of minutes.
Ptestwick Carr gave me three firsts. My first Redwings of the autumn, my first ever bathing Bullfinch, it splashed about in a puddle on the bumpy road and my first Tree Sparrows at this site. They seemed to favour a raised piece of scrubby ground halfway up the horse fields on the way to the sentry boxes. Very skittish and attempts to get an image were abandoned in case they may have settled in the area. Will check it out next time i'm up there.Willow Tits very much in evidence and a couple showed well on returning from the red flag area. No SEOs .


Saturday 1 November 2014

Hoping for a Shag.....

...i called in at Blyth South Harbour. Only Cormorants on the old staithes. On the lookout for a Snow Bunting or two but dipped on those also. I did have this beaut patrolling the harbour after i lifted it from under the wharf.