castle birding

WANSBECK RIVERSIDE PARK

2010-02-20T12:43:00.000-08:00

A trip to wansbeck riverside park on the 4/2/10 my plan was to add the following birds to the patch list Grey wagtail ,fieldfare, and greater spotted woodpecker.
so i headed for the stream which runs through the woods and into the river next to the car park.
but their was no sign of any grey wagtails about maybe there is not enough insects this time of year.
i don't know I'm no expert.
so on to second target fieldfare i checked out the fields but maybe there is just not enough food around for them i have seen little in the way of berries or fruit around the park area.so on to the 3rd target great spotted woodpecker well i didn't have much look there either but i did hear one drumming so i should catch up with one soon, well that was a well planned day 3 targets and 0 achieved.but i did see the following

29 robin
30blue tit
31 long tailed tit
32 kestrel
33 blackbird
34 great tit
35 coal tit
36 dunnock
37 mistle thrush
38 feral pigeon
39 house sparrow
40 pheasant

greater black backed television

mute swan

This was also knocking around in the field opposite the caravan site

BACK ON PATCH

2010-02-01T13:13:00.000-08:00

Bullfinch feeding on sea buckthorn berries

male and female

cormorant

female goldeneye

red breasted merganser

woody in garden

back on the patch on Thursday the 28th and went for a walk along the footpath firstly checking the island area added greater black backed gull and red breasted merganser to patch year list

then i went for a walk towards the road bridge near the estuary where i managed to find 4 otters

but too distant for a photo but hopefully i will get back soon to digiscope some pictures.

additions to patch list were

23 greater black backed gull

24 shellduck

25 red breasted merganser

26 goldfinch

27 sparrowhawk

28 bullfinch

PATCH WATCHING

2010-01-29T09:09:00.000-08:00

goosander

burnt out scooter
first day on the patch this year mon 25th jan a bit of a late start but better late than never checked out the island first there were plenty gulls about but no white wings mainly black heads common and herring,

in the horse field were a flock of roughly 70 redwings but no fieldfares yet{bogey bird}i am hoping to have a good go at patch listing this year after a couple of poor years where i have totally neglected the area theirs no point in having a blog called castle birding if i never visit the fucking place.

i have spent too many years chasing other people birds but this year i will be trying to find my own but i imagine i will get tempted away from my patch now and and again to see some rarities but whats wrong with that .

mon 25th

1herring gull

2 moorhen

3 lapwing

4 black headed gull

5 coot

6 teal

7 common gull

8 mallard

9 woodpigion

10 grey heron

11 carrion crow

12 little grebe

13 goldeneye

14 magpie

15 redwing

16 song thrush

17 chaffinch

18 starling

19 wren

20 goosander

21 mute swan

22 cormorant

SMEW

2010-01-25T03:08:00.000-08:00

Managed to get out bird watching last week for the first time this year it was cold and miserable so decided to head for some shelter and linton lane sounded a good bet as the hide is well sheltered ,it took me about 20mins to find the smew that has been reported here i tried to photograpth it but these 2 shots will win few awards but basically u can see what it is .
a quick stop at the Qe11 country park produced a whooper swan with a group of mute swans but it was too cold to stay here for long and there was more swans further up the road but i decided to get away , a quick stop at woodhorn produced very little
and i could not see any gulls around as there has been med gull reported here .
anyway hopefully i will get out again soon i will keep you posted bye for now.

GARDEN BONANZA

2010-01-14T11:29:00.000-08:00

Im probably not alone but ive had some superb birds coming in to the garden lately over the xmas period a great spotted woodpecker was visiting my nut feeder and a male bullfinch came in to feed but the recent cold spell has brought some more unusual vistors including a mistle thrush a redwing {garden First}and best of all these superb bramblings{garden first}2 males and a female in total ,who knows whats coming next.

Frozen

2010-01-12T11:54:00.000-08:00

have not been birding much lately but was out for a walk at the weekend and did a circular around the Qe11 country park nothing unusual in the way of birds but it was great to get out and see some birds again most of the lake was frozen apart from a few areas were most of the birds congregated.

and the swans were certainly hungry.

MORE GLOSSY PICS

2009-10-14T10:49:00.000-07:00

get off my land its mine now stupid cow

you talking to me

ONE OF THE LUCKY ONES

2009-10-13T02:16:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-23T08:18:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-05T10:09:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-04T14:04:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-14T04:25:00.000-07:00

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

2009-02-27T02:01:00.000-08:00

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

2009-02-27T01:46:00.000-08:00

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

SHADOW IN THE REEDBEDS

2009-02-20T14:22:00.000-08:00

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

2009-02-05T06:01:00.001-08:00

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

LINTON LANE 14th NOVEMBER

2008-12-03T04:08:00.000-08:00

A bean goose had been seen at linton by abbey meadows and an iceland gull so i decided to get up there as this would be another lifer for me and after a muddy hike to the hide i was not disapointed and managed to get these shots, no sign of iceland gull though.

does anyone no the origin of this goose?

BIRDS SEEN

herring gull

common gull

black headed gull

greater black backed gull

bean goose

canada goose

greylag goose

gadwell

wigion

coot

tufted duck

mute swan

mallard

redwing

bullfinch

blackbird

new species for site in bold

HOLY ISLAND PICS

2008-12-03T03:46:00.000-08:00

HOLY ISLAND

2008-11-27T13:17:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-19T07:54:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-13T10:29:00.000-08:00

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.

PREDATOR

2008-10-18T03:49:00.000-07:00

Watching the skies but he left empty handed

Scanning the bird table looking for a target

While washing the dishes yesderday a sparrowhawk swooped into the garden hoping to grab something on the way it then landed on my fence so i made a quick dash for my scope, tripod and camera and managed to get these shots through the kitchen window, who said? housework is boring.

IN THE GARDEN

2008-10-16T01:37:00.000-07:00

Red Admiral

Peacock
These snaps were taken in the back garden I was preparing the vege patches for the autumn and could not resist taking these shots,I do not normally take much notice of insects in the garden but seeing these seems to have sparked an interest apparantly these belong to a group of butterflies called aristocrats as far as i know.

yankee invasion

2008-09-20T05:23:00.000-07:00

After a making a bad choice to go to see newcastle humiliating defeat to hull on saturday time was running out to see a lifer at cresswell,would that special wader still be around on the sunday

I had a bit of spare time before starting work at 3 o,clock so i headed up to cresswell to see what was around, the place was certainly full of birders at at the hides and along the causeway so i stopped at the causeway and after a quick word with some friendly birders the news was positive the buff breasted sandpiper was still about after lining it up in the scope i slowly focussed in and what a beauty it was and it stayed put in the small area of dry sand on the north side of the causeway and as the light started to improve the views just got better and the sandy buff colours really stood out and the eyering gave the bird an attractive appearance .

A brief scan around the ponds did not disappoint their were waders everywhere a large group of dunlins was an ideal size comparison to pick out other waders like little stint and curlew sandpiper,

The whole ponds were full of wildlife a bird of prey lifted most of the waders it appeared to be a peregrine at first but when i got it in my bins it appeared less bulky and shorter winged and appeared to be grabbing something small from the air at 1 point.

Other waders on show were ringed plover, ruff, black tailed godwit,common sandpiper,curlew,

redshank in fact ive never seen so many waders in one day.

A black tern also put in an appearance and i finally got a good view of one of the pectoral sandpipers which had been seen in the area a bird so easy to overlook but had the distinctive breast streaks coming to a point.

this picture was given to me with err kind permission from a mr. s sexton alias boulmer birder

THE GREAT FLOOD

2008-09-10T10:06:00.000-07:00

2008-09-08T14:36:00.000-07:00

Managed to find time to pop back to caimbois today but the railway bridge area was full of work vehicles puting up a new fence so i went along to the estuary waders present were lots of redshank & dunlin a few ringed plover and best of all 3 knot
a redstart was also in shrubs nearby and a goosander on the water.
I then went up to castle island the island was covered in gulls hundreds of them
mostly common stuff as far as i could see.
there was a few migrants still knocking about a spotted flycather( new patch bird )and 4 willow warblers.

migrants galore !!

2008-09-07T09:31:00.000-07:00

i turned on the computer to see if their had been any more reports of the wryneck and dotterel at newbiggin found by those dedicated birders last night then i realised there were migrants all over the county so i went up to blyth cemetery hoping to bump into a crowd of birders watching a wryneck the place was empty and could not see or here any birds singing apart from a robin i then bumped into a birder from prudoe who was in the same predicament so i did not waste any more time
i dont have a pager so decided to head to a spot in cambios an old track leading to an old railway bridge with some good areas of scrub there was birds all over pied flycatcher ,garden warbler kindly picked out by a blyth valley birder ,redstart wheatear,this was just a brief stop who knows what else was here.
unfortunatly this was the only spare time i had today so the wryneck dotterel and rb flycatcher hopefully will hang around a bit longer,i doubt it very much though.

Our Tent

2008-09-06T08:40:00.000-07:00

hopefully we can tour the country and find some top birding sites with our new tent here are some pictures from our pitch at faskally caravan and camping park.

arse over tit

2008-09-06T05:48:00.000-07:00

my previous post seems to be upside down plus i have managed to delete my older posts i can not get the photos to appear under the text when i prepare my posts
HELP!!!

GLENGOULANDIE

2008-09-06T04:23:00.000-07:00

take your pick luxury lodges static caravan or tent i prefer the latter

more stunning views from the area

the fast flowing burn good views of dipper around this area.

one of the trails around a fishing pond had good views of buzzard from here usualy herd before being seen

highland cattle at the deer park

our tent is on the far right

a camping break in scotland on the 10/8/08 was a welcome break from work so we decided to head for perthshire and spend a night at glengoulandie country park before heading to faskally
we arrived at glengoulandie an area surrounded by hills and a fast flowing burn ran through the site,and situated at the foot of mount schiehallion.
a walk around the deer park and surrounding footpaths is included in the pitch fee's

testing testing

2008-06-27T10:02:00.000-07:00

welcome to castle birding this is my first post