MORE GLOSSY PICS

get off my land its mine now stupid cow

you talking to me

ONE OF THE LUCKY ONES

my best shots

I did not manage to make it for the release of the radde's warbler and did not get there until late saturday afternoon and the raddes had been showing 20min's before i arrived but it did not show any more, but the glossy ibis was showing well again close to the hide on the large pool and 3 greenshanks were also present 1 showing close to the hide. ive seen the glossy at 3 sights now cresswell inc bells pond longhirst and now druridge

I watched him or her fly off again on Saturday night and head towards the budge screen area

before landing.

As it is taking off before roost it always gives off a couple of grunts gruaa gruaa and is a real stunner in flight.

On Sunday i was determined to get up to druridge earlier to see if the radde's was showing and at about 9 o'clock i got some good views as it was showing well in an opening at the start of the path leading to the hides an excellent bird for northumberland but very elusive and i was one of the lucky ones to see it on the Sunday.

SPOTTY RED

a trip to bothal ponds yesterday and i heard a rumour that a spotted redshank was about so i was off hoping to see it as this has been my bogey bird for a while now when i arrived all was looking good another birder was there watching the ponds a good sign as i pulled up on my trusty scooter i quickly got off and headed for the low hedge to get a view the usual birder crack
out about mate only for the reply to be well apparently they were showing well this morning
meaning there's sod all here now .
So i decided to have a scan anyway and could only see lapwings loads of them and a fair number of snipe and nowt else so i had a crack at the garganey that was apparently here as well with all the ducks in eclipse plumage this was not going to be easy and it turned out that way and i gave up i need more time in the field to pick that one out.
Then after about another half an hours scan a large wader appeared on the left hand side bank and it was wading fairly deep by the waters edge but looking into the sun it appeared silhouette like this was certainly something different but i needed a better view suddenly all the lapwings etc took flight and i managed to stay with the bird and yes the legs were red and long and as it returned to the ground i still needed a better view to confirm the mystery wader scanning left again the wader began to move closer but the hedge started to get in my way so i waited for it to move again ,but i was in look today as it decided to keep moving round the corner and appeared right in front of the low cut hedge where i got some cracking views and
it certainly was spotted and a very elegant bird to watch and a much thinner and longer bill than its more common cousin.
and most important of all a lifer for me.
i only managed to get a handheld photo which will need some editing work done on i will stick it on my next post which should hopefully include another lifer but a much rarer one if i get the look see you soon.

LONGHIRST & LINTON LANE

two trips to longhirst flash on the 20th& 23rd april produced very little in the way of birds these two lesser black backed gulls were notable and my first this year .

I often stop off at longhirst flash but so far I have not seen anything special Im sure a great white egret visited here once

I decided to stretch the site a bit and check out the woods next to
this sign

this proved to be a decent area to watch there was a bullfinch and chiff chaffs calling and also a pair of jays ill have to stop off here again to see whats about.

A visit to linton lane afterwards and managed to get my first willow warbler this year but there was very little in the way of waders on the main pond still early days.

Yellow hammer / Linton woods

BOTHAL 20th APRIL

A bit of spare time today so i went up to bothal to see if any waders were knocking around yet I heard a report of a green sandpiper had been seen here recently but on arrival the only waders on show were a single redshank and the usual lapwings .
a scan around the ponds produced the following

robin
tree sparrow
canada goose
pochard
tufted duck
mallard
shoveler
gadwell
jackdaw
coot
mute swan
carrion crow
lapwing
starling
wigion
redshank
shellduck
black headed gull
little grebe

I then headed to the castle and walked along the footpath and down to the steppy stones stopping along the way to see if there were any migrants in the area their were plenty chiff chaffs calling but I could not get any in my bins and what looked like a blackcap but moved too fast to get a decent view

On the river near the steppy stones was this grey wagtail first of the year and also chaffinch doing its best to impersonate a flycatcher by grabbing insects in flight and returning to a high perch

something I haven't seen before has anyone else.

birds seen

dunnock

blue tit

blackbird

chaffinch

goldfinch

grey wagtail

great tit

robin
my Bothal list now stands at 71 species

OUT AT LAST

Managed to get out the house on the 10th April and decided to head up to Lynemouth hoping to catch the water pipit that had been seen on the flash it did not take long to find it and i managed to get some good views from the roadside this was only my second water pipit the first one was at west allotment business park Dec 07 there was also a large number of pied wagtails here but i could not pick out any white's amongst them

Also at the flash was my first swallow of the year

I headed up to druridge pools next to catch up with the garganey and a little egret both showing well still and welcome additions to the year list .

Patch Listing

Here is my patch which i started keeping a record of birds seen in a calender year in 2008 i also have some old notes from previous years and i have been putting together a species list for this area,on the far left following the river wansbeck is sheepwash bridge then following the river in a north easterly direction taking in wansbeck riverside park then the river heads south easterly towards the stakeford road bridge then past the railway bridge and then towards castle island
then my boundary stops at the road bridge.

the patch is a bit narrower than the picture shows as i don't count all of the urban areas shown

and some of the distant fields etc.

2008 patch list

1 little grebe

2goldeneye

3 grey heron

4 magpie

5 woodpigion

6 blue tit

7 tufted duck

8 teal

9 mallard

10 canada goose

11 herring gull

12 black headed gull

13 shellduck

14 coot

15 moorhen

16 mute swan

17 iceland gull

18 glaucous gull

19 common gull

20 carrion crow

21 chaffinch

22 coal tit

23 blackbird

24 cormorant

25 long tailed duck

26 magpie

27 greater black backed gull

28 song thrush

29 robin

30 great tit

31 kingfisher

32 mistle thrush

33 pochard

34 feral pigion

35 greenfinch

36 goldfinch

37 bullfinch

38 wren

39 treecreeper

40 great spotted woodpecker

41 goosander

42 dunnock

43 redshank

44 nuthatch

45 grey wagtail

46 goldcrest

47 long tailed tit

48 oystercatcher

49 starling

50 snipe

51 pied wagtail

52 kestrel

53 red breasted merganser

54 barnacle goose

55 redwing

56 lesser black backed gull

57 jackdaw

58 sparrowhawk

59 chiff chaff

60 house sparrow

61 swallow

62 whitethroat

63 gadwall

64 sand martin

65 common sandpiper

66 blackcap

67 collared dove

68 swift

69 linnit

70 grasshopper warbler

71 common tern

72 reed bunting

73 willow warbler

74 spotted flycatcher

Water Rail

This water rail was sitting in the sun at cresswell ponds on the 9th

SHADOW IN THE REEDBEDS

This shape appeared when i scanned through the reedbeds
At cresswell on the 9th feb .

The bird then revealed itself it had to be .yesssss a Bittern

Then it came towards the waters edge what an amazing bird and a lifer for me

BACK ON THE PATCH

Have had a break from birding lately a combination of ill health, work and family commitments but had an opportunity to get up to the patch yesterday to start my patch list
I was hoping to pick up some of the winter species that were present last year i.e iceland gull,glaucous gull,redwing etc.
So i scanned the gull flock which had the usual combination of black heads,common,herring,greater black backed gull,
other birds present were as follows
Kestrel juv
wren
mallard
teal
pied wagtail
moorhen
starling
carrion crow
coot
redshank
long tailed tit
tufted duck
great tit
blackbird
house sparrow
greenfinch
woodpigion
goldfinch
chaffinch
collared dove

But best of all as i was returning home there was a lot of gulls in the horse field opposite the island so i thought it was worth a scan and as i scanned through mainly black heads and common gulls there was a stunning adult med gull,these are really stunning birds only my second hear but with it being an adult it realy stood out from the crowd.
Patch list 09 =24 1visit