Tuesday 11 December 2012

Burning

After nearly falling arse over tit multiple times on the black ice, which seems to have coated Cramlington overnight, I eventually ended up at West Hartford.
To my surprise the main pool was only half frozen, and an even bigger surprise was that there was some wildfowl present. Unfortunately there were only 10 Mallard.
As I was leaving a Short Eared Owl flew around the field behind the main pool before settling on a fence post.

I then walked and skidded the length of the Horton Burn in search of the Dipper Liver Birder found yesterday which was a long overdue first for the Burn.
I was half way along the burn with no sign, which was no surprise as the water was very cloudy with a lot of steam rising from it. Also the number of rats was increased of late, probably due to the raw sewage that was accidentally pumped into the burn during the summer.
As I crossed over the second main road bridge over the burn a Kingfisher flew from its perch on an over hanging conifer branch. I saw it perched a few more times as I approached the end of the burn. No sign of the Dipper today but I will check again.

No comments: