HOLY ISLAND

on Wednesday the 12th November i had a day off and that special bird at holy island was still hanging around it was too much too resist i did not fancy waiting another 12 years for one of these to turn up so my mind was made up i even got the chance of a lift up so i packed my gear and i was off .

I got dropped off at the lindisfarne hotel about 11.30 and the area had a good number of photographers and birding folk always a good sign and within a about five minutes it made its first appearance and what a little beauty it was i watched it through my bins for a while taking in the well marked flanks and a definite blue tail and a tidy white throat patch a welcome addition to my birding list another lifer.

But this little visitor was not welcome with the locals {the robins that is }they started harassing it up to 3 robins started on it every time it came into view the robins took it in turns to spoil the show it did fight back on a few occasions and did not look too unsettled at times.

The bird did show well and i managed to get some good views and take it all in and now i could relax for the rest of the day i decided to have a relaxing walk around the island .

the above photo was taken by Ron mccombe hope ron doesent mind me sticking it on here

other birds seen were

wren

robin

black headed gull

teal

curlew

collared dove

chiff chaff

bar tailed godwit

woodpigeon

oystercatcher

goldfinch

eider

feral pigeon

red breasted merganser

house sparrow

lapwing

redshank

common gull

goldcrest

jackdaw

dunlin

redwing

little stint

herring gull

shag

cormorant

stonechat

moorhen

greater black backed gull

new birds for site in bold

DESERT STORM

on Sunday the 8th of November i got a call about a rare bird at alcan of all places the weather was poor and a brief stare out of the window did not look promising so i opted to sit it out and wait

then the sun began to get out so i decided to give it a go.

I have not been to the beach up there before (sheltered life) as i was not sure there was access when i arrived i was pointed in the right direction by some local birders then i began the long trek

there were plenty birders about some going out and some returning and there were plenty of positive sightings and talk of it being a colourful male bird .

But the weather started to get worse and it began to rain not just ordinary rain but wind driven horizontal in your face type of rain so i decided to shelter until the worse was over and after about 10 minutes the sun managed to break through again.

Now it was time to get moving again so i followed the birders in front heading towards the mound at newbiggin half way along i was stopped by shouts of how eeeehh its theeere behinnd yu or something like that so i went into stealth mode did a quick 180 degree turn and dropped to the floor and there he was just 12 feet away sitting on a rock a stunning male desert wheatear

a lifer for me this would turn out to be the best view of a clearly unsettled and flighty bird which was hard to photograph so no pics folks.

QE11

2 trips to the QE11 country park in october produced the following species

10/10/08

Species

Great crested grebe

canada goose

greylag goose

black headed gull

mute swan

coot

moorhen

magpie

tufted duck

wigion

greater black backed gull

herring gull

mallard

carrion crow

gadwall

grey heron

cormorant

buzzard

scaup

goldfinch

?/10/08 can't remember exact date

species

goosander

common gull

goldeneye

woodpigeon

sparrowhawk

rook

species in bold are new birds for this site

on the 10th a scaup had been seen here so i decided to pay a visit to see if i could catch up with it

the lake had a large number of tufted duck,a circular walk around the lake was needed as i had no idea where it was after about an hour of scanning through tufted ducks i managed to pick it out a female with a substantial white patch at bill base i managed to get some good views and they really are a lot more bulky than tufties with a big heed! on them.