I was going to treat you to a couple of nice images but Blogger will not let me download at this time. Both were from my visit to Swallow Pond early on Thursday morning in brilliant light including a smart male Blackcap and my first "baby bird" of the year, a Greenfich being fed by one of its' parents. Shortly after i had the sight of a pair of Tree Sparrows collecting nesting material on the main path close the the metal gates leading to the Visitors Centre. I've seen Tree Sparrows just outside the country park at Scaffold Farm but these are my first inside the boundary. I'll have to ask JSD and SPP if they've had them.Willow Warblers outscored Chiffchaffs 7-4 on this morning.
The previous day i had ventured from Druridge Pools to Low Hauxley with Mr. Cheviot for a walk with a bit of birding thrown in. We travelled up keeping to the beach for as much as we could and came back through the dunes via the main pathway. By far the highlight in birding terms was the sight of a couple of Avocets on the flashes in the fields just past the turning circle at the end of the main drag at Druridge, sadly they didn't hang around and after only 20 seconds lifted and headed off in the direction of Cresswell from where the had presumably came originally. The low light being the 3 dead Puffins that we came across by the side of the path, strangely we had seen no casualties on the beach as we headed north. Scattered along the surfs edge were small groups of Sanderling, probably 30 or so in overall. A few waders in the form of Oystercatcher and Redshank were also noted here before we came across larger numbers at the Hauxley reserve with more Redshank alongside Lapwings and a trio of sleeping Bar-tailed Godwits. Honking Greylags and Canadas made their presence known.
A few Goldeneye still hanging around at East Chevington but no Terns. The male Marsh Harrier was "worrying" three Greylag geese near the reed beds towards Chevington Burn and a single female was the only Wheatear in or around the Dunes.
It looks like the current trend is for dogs to retrieve the corpses of dead Puffins from the beach and deliver them to their owners hence the presence near the path.If only they could be taught to crap in their own patch!
ReplyDeleteJohn,
ReplyDeleteIf I had know you couldn't treat your adoring public to a few pictures I could of done that for you, especially with your great picture of a female Wheatear.
I await with baited breath for your pictures from the Lek on Sunday, whilst you could see it well through the bins the pics were awful due to the sleet and snow.
John
PS. my pics wouldn't upload either but I just left them for a few minutes and although the percentage bar wasn't working, all of a sudden they were finished, about treble the normal time but they worked.
Just the thought of dog walkers gets my blood pressure rising.............
ReplyDeletethat last piece of info. puts the tin lid on it Peter.
Ill just have to be more patient John when downloading. I haven't got too many decent images from Saturday, looks like i've had a problen when adding the extender. Will have to try it out today to make sure it was only a connection problem on Sat. and not something more.