Iceland upon Tyne

At North Shields Fish Quay.

Diving off the pier

Tynemouth Pier that is.

Druridge Dragons

 These two male Hawkers posed nicely along the path leading to the Oddie hide at Druridge Pools Sunday morning. Others were on the wing inc at least three Migrant and a couple Southern Hawkers with two Common Darters perched in amongst the Brambles. I used to see many Migrant Hawkers along this path before they disrupted the habitat by renewing the path. Far fewer Darters and various Damselflies seen here now. Other species must have suffered also. All that so humans would have a nice path to walk along and not get their feet wet in the winter. A nature reserve managed by a wildlife trust …… so much for wildlife !!!!!

SOUTHERN

MIGRANT

Divers off Tynemouth Pier

There must have been a shoal of some sort not far off the pier end as hundreds of Terns, mainly Common & Sandwich, were plunge diving into the North Sea. I' will often see Terns in the mouth of the Tyne but this morning they were joined over a period by a decent number of Gannets. I see Gannets passing back & forth along the north east coast regularly with Newbiggin being a particularly good place for close encounters but they don't feed that close in normally. Today however the Gannets joined the Terns some 20 metres or so from where I stood giving amazing views of their diving. Not only the sight but the sound of them hitting the water was brilliant.

 

Gannets

                                                                  Sandwich Tern

On the cliffs under Tynemouth Priory at the beginning of the walk the Kittiwakes seem to be having a good breeding season. Here's an adult with a chick

DUCK !!!

…. actually it was a Spoonbill but I thought I might have to duck at one stage.

A1068 Barnie

The A1068 being the busy road between Widdrington Village and Amble. It was just before 5 a.m. on Sunday morning so the road was quiet. I was heading north along the road wanting to turn off for the side road that would take me down to Hadson Carrs then back towards East Chevington. The Barn Owl caught my eye just before the junction so I had to turn back and park on the grass verge, something I wouldn't consider later in the day or during the week. Lovely sitting watching it as it surveyed the wide grass verge but a gut in a van pulled alongside and asked if everything was alright, probably thinking I might have broken down. "I'm fine thanks" I replied as I pretended to be on my phone. Unfortunately as the van pulled away it spooked the owl which disappeared off down the road. I was going to have to go back the way I had come and turn to get back on track. I drove about 100 metres then spotted at gateway on my right and decided to turn there. As I was about to pull out something caught my eye on the other side of the road.
First image was taken with my 35mm lens. The other three with the 300 mm and are cropped. Bird sat for 15 minutes quite happily flying off twice but returning. Cars make wonderful hides !

Before the rains.

Kestrel hunting near Widdrington Moor Lake.

More in flight entertainment.

This time from Cliffe Pools, Kent. Marsh Harrier.

Three seconds

Three seconds was just about the length of time that I saw the Red-spotted Bluethroat at Newbiggin on Sunday. I had arrived at 05.15 in heavy mist so was hopeful the Bluethroat seen by many the previous day might have hung around. Sadly the mist burnt off quickly and it was fast becoming a beautiful morning without a breath of wind. Not expecting to see the bird now I still had an enjoyable wander with many common birds in full song inc. a Lesser Whitethroat. Last port of call was the blast beach & rock armour at the rear of the power station & with nothing of note out there I decided to return to the car & head along to Cresswell Pond. As I approached the gap in the fence taking me back to the car park a bird landed on one of the large concrete blocks & I though I had seen a flash of blue. Immediately lifting my bins I was looking at the Bluethroat so confirming the sighting I then grabbed my camera to record the encounter but as I lifted the camera to my face the bird disappeared over the fence of the Ash Lagoon next to the main truck entrance gates. No further sign. I hung about for another hour & was joined by other birders who had seen the post on B/guides (I had rang Gary asking him to report it) It was never seen again ……. just gutted I hadn't grabbed something by way of a pic. Any pic !!!!
Looks like at least two Avocets are nesting at Cresswell & a fine looking Greenshank kept a low profile having been hassled by the Avocets. Great views of Barn Owl hunting the dunes next to the outflow ….. it hung motionless hovering, listening before plunging down into the tall grass then returning to its nest with prey. Walking back to the car along the track some 45 minutes later I turned to find Barn Owl heading straight towards me before it gently drifted off unperturbed by my presence to continue hunting again. A quiet chuckle to myself as the assembled toggers numbering a dozen or so had drifted off by this time & a nice opportunity had been missed.

 

It wasn't a plastic bag !!!

Mondays May bank holiday weather was awful. Rain and wind, the temperatures were that low I had to go and sit in the car with the heating on full blast for twenty minutes !!!

This pair of Yellow Wagtails helped warm me up further and while Dave E. and I captured images of the Wags Dave mentioned that he possibly had a Little Egret way off in the distance BUT when he put his bins then scope on it he confirmed that it was a CATTLE EGRET !!! Only the 3rd for Northumberland as I understand. Always just a little distant for a nice image it did give closer views later in the day. It wasn't reported yesterday but Dave found it again this morning (Wednesday) but it was even further away this time for us. The Yellow Wagtails on the other hand did oblige.

A nice Whinchat and Common Sandpiper were nice additions this morning aloing with the Cattle Egret.

They can't all be good.

The photographs not the birds.
While walking along the path to the Oddie & south facing hides at Druridge my 6ft 4 inches of height comes in very handy since they put in the new path ( at least 2 years ago now) I get good views most of the way along over the walls screening the Budge Field ….. this came in handy as I noticed a long snake like white neck poking out from the reeds to the west of the site on Sunday morning. Hurried along to the hide and sure enough there was a Great White Egret in full view from this other angle and two folk were sitting watching it. I rattled off a few images, just in case, and went outside, so as not disturb the couple in the hide, to ring Gary who I had passed leaving the path and heading along to the Budge Screen. I wanted to know, jokingly, why he hadn't informed me of its presence !!!! "What" was his reply followed by "is that big white thing in the corner it ????" Gary labels himself BLIND PEW on occasions, you can understand why. As I headed back to the hide the couple left saying something like "You've missed it" The bird had flown ! Hence the lack of decent images. I texted Dave to let him know and he replied saying that an Egret had flown over him continuing north high up. He went on that it was hard to judge size & presumed it was a Little Egret but it must had been the GWE. It wasn't reported again.
A single Sand Martin feeding over the Dru Pool was my first Hirundine of the year.
No Wheatear though.

The beast from the north

Having checked out the fish quay at North Shields at least twice a week all winter for a white winger I had just about given up hope of seeing one this time around. Low & behold a cracking 2nd winter Glaucous Gull turns up BUT it fails to show for me on my following three visits. I'm a morning birder generally and all those visits had been early in the day and it was noticeable that most folk had seen it later on particularly late afternoon.
I headed down early on Sunday, as usual, and scanned the quay roofs from up on high by the High Lights but again out of luck. I dropped down to the quay and spent a further two 30/45 minutes sessions freezing my nuts off as the extremely chilly wind was coming straight down the river from the west. In between I visited a relatively balmy Tynemouth without any success with either the Black Redstart or Kestrel pair but I did get a rather nice Grey Wagtail under the Priory at the end of the pier. So I had 20 minutes at the quay again before I had to return home and two smiling birders pointed to one of the shed roofs and there was the Glauc. …… for all of two seconds before it lifted and headed immediately over towards the south side of the Tyne and drifted towards South Shields ferry landing before being lost to view !!!!
I couldn't return until Friday afternoon having frustratingly seen daily images of the gull on Twitter but was finally rewarded with some brilliant close encounters with the brute. A fine specimen indeed. Mission accomplished !!!!!! HOOOOORAH.

and finally …. a bit of beauty after the beast.

One o five

The number of Whoopers I ended up with on Druridge Pool last Wednesday. Started off the just the one, as captured with a single Great-crested Grebe below, before the others joined it in small groups from the fields just north. The volunteer warden and I counted them in ….. 20 odd, 40 odd, 70 odd..... slowly heading towards the ton before finally getting there with five on top. Another four drifted towards the pool before disappearing behind the copse to the left and not being relocated.
Here's a few shots of them coming

Sadly I didn't have a camera with lens attached with a short focal length to capture them all on the pool.

First of nineteen

Two thousand and nineteen, that is. My first SEO. The shrewder amongst you will know exactly where. Pleased to say I beat the crowds of toggers.