One in one out

I was out early with SH this morning who was heading for Fenham flats and Stag Rocks.
On the way up the fog was quite thick but at the coast the sun had burnt the worst of it away and visibility was ok.
At Fenham there were 28 Whooper Swans in the fields right of the hide and Brent Geese and Wigeon were on the water. In total 112 Pintail flew past the hide.

Before going to Stag we stopped at Budle Bay as the tide was out. 2 Shovoler were the only suprising duck swimming in the channel.
Plenty of Grey Plover and Barwits were feeding on the mud and there were 4 Roe Deer in the field behind the lay by, one of which was feeding from a pheasant feeder!
The huge Lapwing flock which is in the bay took to the air as they were attacked from a Merlin and a Peregrine!
I missed the Merlin because I was watching the Peregrine catch one of the Lapwing. It wrestled with it in mid air before somehow the Lapwing managed to escape.
The Peregrine took another few lazy swipes at it before heading off away from the bay.
Steve thought that it was a Juvenile and probably not an accomplished hunter and this is why it didn't finish the Lapwing off.

From Stag Rocks we could see a huge flock of 400+ Common Scoter on the sea with a few Guillemots and Razorbill around them.
Amongst the flock was a dusky looking Red Necked Grebe - Lifer, which dived for long periods of time before we could get good views.
Also 10 Red Throated Divers, 10 Long Tailed Duck, 4 Red Breasted Merganser and 6 Slavonian Grebes were on the sea.
18 Purple Sandpipers were on the rocks and Fulmar pairs were resting on the castle walls.

Instead of heading south straight away we stopped at Newton Pool, somewhere I hadn't been before.
On the way to the hide there were 5 Dark Bellied Brents in a flooded field. Nothing much was on the pool but we did get close up views of Goldeneye and Gadwall.

Out next stop was Hemscott Hill links were 22 Twite were on the wire next to the cow field.
We scanned through the large number of geese which were in the fields around Bell's Pond.
Canada and 8 Barnacle Geese were next to the pond whilst Greylags and 500+ Pink Footed Geese were scattered around the other fields. Eventually Steve picked out the Bean Goose which had more characteristics of the Tundra race.

We stopped quickly at Woodhorn flash south pool were 4 Greenland White fronted Geese were between the pool and the railway line.

Last stop was West Hartford were we tried to flush out a Jack Snipe but only managed 22 Common instead. 2 Short Eared Owls - Patch Tick, were flying around the field next to the new fire station and along with a few other patch ticks, two Goldcrest were in the trees opposite the fire station.

44- Short Eared Owl

45 - Meadow Pipit

46 - Pied Wagtail

47 - Goldcrest

48 - Lapwing

Also I have decided to remove the Hooded Merganser I saw at Saltholme in the summer from my life list after I found out about the reputation of Scaling Dam Reservoir, ( the site it was found at) and the fact that a male has now turned up at Saltholme.
This evidence put the females origins in serious doubt and I want a clean list.

Train List: Week One

Since September when I started at Teesside uni I have been getting the train home for the weekend on Thursday afternoons.
It is an hour and 20 minute journey from Middlesbrough to Newcastle which goes through a large part of the north east.
Whilst on the train I have noticed that it goes past a number of different habitats and locations and so to kill the time I have decided to start a train list, the lack of proper birding is going to my head!

The first species to be added to the list was the one footed Feral pigeon which is always hanging around Middlesbrough station.

Middlesbrough:

3 Feral Pigeon
1 Magpie
2 Starling
1 Carrion Crow

Thornaby:

3 Woodpigeon
4 Black Headed Gull
1 Kestrel (hunting over the A19)

Stockton:

1 Blackbird
2 Collard Dove

Billingham:

1 Herring Gull

Just outside Billingham there is a small pond with a hide which the train passes although I am still not sure what it is called.
The pond was 80% frozen but I still managed to see 1 Mute Swan, 20+ Coot and 40+ Teal gathered in the open water in the centre.

The usual good views of the Saltholme area to the right were blocked, not just by the people sitting opposite but by heavy fog which disappeared around Hartlepool.

Seaton Carew:

20+ Rook (on the waste ground outside the tip which had hundereds of gulls circling it)
40+ Canada Geese ( on a pond in the middle of a housing estate opposite Seaton Carew station)

Hartlepool:

Nothing new there but there were four people with scopes scanning the beach

I didn't add any more species until I saw a Pied Wagtail in a flooded field outside Heworth.

The large pools outside Boldon (Boldon Falts?) were completely frozen so nothing new added there also I didn't get good views of the north sea either today.

I got home earlier than expected today so I had a walk down to Horton Burn to check for the Kingfisher again. On the way I flushed a Grey Wagtail - Patch Tick, from the side of the burn.
I met LMcD half way along who was watching 2 Redwing and a Song Thrush.
No sign of the Kingfisher but 3 Moorhen - Patch Tick, flew from the bank side at the fire station end.
Also on the way home from Newcastle on the bus I added Feral Pigeon and Rook to the patch list as they were both around Manor Walks.

40 - Feral Pigeon
41 - Rook
42 - Grey Wagtail
43 - Moorhen

I nearlly forgot, I was woken up by the hooting of the Tawny Owl outside my window last night, the first time I have heard it this year.

39

I had a quick look around Arcot Pond and West Hartford today. The south west corner of Arcot is still frozen and was covered in this mornings brief snow.
20+ Mallard were the only ducks on the pond but a single Coot - Patch Tick, was amongst the group.
At WH there were three different Kestrel hunting over the fields. 7 Mallard and 30+ Teal were on the main pool with a pair of Shellduck - Patch Tick.

38 - Coot

39 - Shellduck

West Hartford Wildfowl

I had a quick trip to Horton Burn and West Hartford this afternoon. No sign of the Kingfisher on the burn, again. The water level has raised a lot on the burn so the Kingfisher has probably moved further up past the fire station towards Blyth.

When I arrived at West Hartford I was suprised to find the now fully thawed main pool full of duck! Well full by WH standards.
20+ Mallards were on the water with 10+ Teal, I couldn't count them properly as they were constantly flying off and relanding in different areas, also I was too interested in watching the pair of Gadwall which were amongst the Mallards, my first ever at WH.

After a quick chat to JM (Birding Sometimes) who had just found a Jack Snipe, I was off.

34 - Kestrel
35 - Teal
36 - Mallard
37 - Gadwall
38- Grey Heron

First Lifer of 2010!

Before going back to Teesside I went out with SH and DMcK this morning to do the webs count. Nothing out of the ordinary was seen during the count at Castle Island.

Before heading to Castle Island we stopped at the field at Newsham were the Bewick’s Swans- Lifer, had been the night before.
Luckily I got a lift from LMcD on Saturday afternoon and saw them straight away so todays’ viewing was slightly more relaxed.

After the webs count we went to East Chevington but it was only a brief stop as we heard about the two Shorelark near Boulmer.
When we arrived at Longhoughton Steel and found the right area we were told that they hadn’t been seen for a while so we searched the surrounding fields and dunes.
In the end we didn’t find them but did get good views of a Snow Bunting amongst with the Skylark feeding next to a group of sheep.

Our next stop was a Linton Pond to look for the Smew which had been reported. It took a bit of finding but eventually the redhead appeared in the North West corner of the main pond.
The suprise bird of the day was a Green Woodpecker which yaffled from behind the hide.

At the field next to Alcan a good number of Whooper Swans were feeding with the Mutes and 400+ Pink Footed Geese flew over.

There was no sign of the Iceland Gull at Blyth Harbour and we couldn’t flush out any Jack Snipe or Water Rail from the Bates Filtration Pools.

Today more than made up for not being able to get out on the 1st of January lets hope there are more days like this to come this year.

Last predictable garden tick

As the title says today I added a bird which is long overdue albeit as a flyover in my garden. 15 Common Gull were circling over and landing on the school field.
That puts the garden list on 48.

I was pleased to see 6+ Long Tailed Tits on the feeders today with two Blue Tits, at least they survived the snow.

Frozen Rail

With being ill and doing work over the last week yesterday was the first time I had been outside this year!
Throughout the week I have added Jackdaw, Sparrowhawk, Goldfinch, Song Thrush, Coal Tit and Wren to the patch list as they were in my garden at various times.

Yesterday lunchtime I went off to West Hartford via the Horton Burn where four Snipe were flushed and a pair of Bullfinch fed in the trees. A few Common Gull were flying around also.
Further along, single Redwing and fieldfare showed well.

West Hartford was very quiet when me and my friend ( Simon) arrived but things soon picked up when 5 Greylags flew over followed by three drake Goldeneye.
A Reed Bunting was calling from the back field as was a Stonechat.

After initially checking the main pool which is completely frozen, I noticed something small in the south west corner on the ice.
At first I thought it was a Snipe or Woodcock but as we got closer it was smaller but to crouched down to see what it was.
I thought if it was a snipe it would fly off if we got closer so simon walked towards it. The ice was so thick it wasn't going to crack so I followed him and we stopped with the bird at our feet.

It turned out to be a Water Rail which was trying to probe the ice with its beak, I though it was injured as it wasn't bothered by us standing over it but after a minute long Mexican stand off it ran across the ice into the cover of the frozen marshy field. It stood from the edge of the field and watched us as we went back.
It was amazing to see this notoriously shy bird so close, it would probably be better if it followed the snipe to Horton Burn as it is guarenteed flowing water and food.