Little 3 Great White 2

I got an inevitable call from LMcD this afternoon about a Little Egret – Patch Tick, at Arcot Pond. After being lucky enough to see the three at Holywell yesterday I thought that one would turn up at Arcot or another local pond.
I checked the ever expanding island in the North West Corner when I got to the pond and could just see the Egret half hidden in a clump of reeds. It wasn’t long until it was forced out of hiding by one of the local Herons.
There are five records of Egrets in Cramlington, (3 Little, 2 Great White) and all have been since May last year. I have managed to see all three Little but none of the Great Whites. I still think it is strange that all the records have come from Arcot rather than the just as suitable habitat of West Hartford.

108 – Little Egret

Helping at Holywell

I was at Holywell Pond today to help Cain (Holywell Birder), with his planned scout event. My job was to help the scouts with bird and plant identification starting at the members hide and ending at the north pool whilst BM (Killy Birder), and the other leaders took the second group of scouts through and around Holywell Dene.

When the group got to the hide I had an initial scan where a drake Wigeon was the only highlight. I started looking more carefully at a group of Swifts, which appeared over the obelisk before getting closer to the pond.
MF soon spotted a raptor in the same area and it was identified as a 1st summer Hobby. Although it was close to the swifts it never made a real attempt to chase them and after hanging over the pond for a while disappeared towards the dene.

After walking down to the public hide and then down to the north pool we stopped for lunch before swapping groups. During the lunch break I walked down to the public hide, as there was plenty of exposed mud in front of it.
Half way down the track to the hide I looked left through the gap in the hedgerow and saw two Little Egret flying east before dropping down near the members hide.
I was then told that three Little Egrets had just dropped in front of the hide and had flown off.
Before going to check from the members hide I saw a pair of Common Sandpipers running along the shore of the small island.

There was no sign of any Egrets from the members hide when I got there but I did have a good chat with one of my old teachers from high school who has recently found the joys of birding since retiring. As I was about to leave he spotted one of the Egrets tucked away in the reeds just out of sight form where I had been sitting. It then took off and flew over the pond heading west.

I really enjoyed today and seeing the pleasure birding and nature in general can bring to people of every age is what made the day for me, along with the good birds and good weather of course. I was also pleased to see the genuine enthusiasm and willing to learn more about nature from some of the young scouts.

1 of 2

After seeing that waders were starting to appear on the coast over the weekend, I had the chance to have a look this morning.
We stopped at Hauxley first where I went to the Tern hide, I think? A band of mud was exposed on the island in front of the hide.
7 Dunlin, some still with black patches, were running along the mud. I noticed a Dunlin sized wader to the left of the 7, which had a more orange head. I then noticed the white v shape on its back, it was a Little Stint.
A Juv Arctic Tern was hiding amongst a group of BH Gulls and 3 Snipe were on the bank in front of the hide.
Wading through the water in front of the mud was a Redshank and two Black Tailed Godwit, which flew off and landed again a few times.
As well as the resident Canada and greylag Geese 27 scruffy Mallard and a few Tufted Duck were on the water, most still looked as if they were in the eclipse stage.

After seeing the report that a Curlew Sandpiper was at Cresswell Pond still this morning, that was the next stop.
The causeway at Cresswell has changed since the last time I was there and the first thing I saw was the pointless square of concrete and wood opposite the car park.
Also I can’t remember there being a fence along one side of the causeway. I’m glad it was there today as the cows, which usually stay further up the field, were very inquisitive today; one was trying to put its head through the fence.
There was no sign of the Curlew sand or the Dunlin flock it was amongst.
The little Egret was on the far bank along with a Whimbrel.
As we were driving off I noticed a wader in the channel, which joins onto the beach opposite the pond. It turned out to be a Common Sandpiper.

Year list...so far

Yesterday I checked if West Hartford had filled up again after the rain, it had, in fact it was flooded.
I checked Arcot Pond this morning and all the exposed mud around the reeds was covered by water and only a small part of the northwest corner island was visible.
The Island held 8 Oystercatchers, 1 Mute Swan, 1 grey Heron and a Little Egret.

The Egret was present all afternoon yesterday and unlike the last Arcot Egret, this one was not intimidated by the Grey Herons.
It fished along the edge of the island before disappearing for a while and reappearing in the reeds.

I have checked West Hartford five times in the last week and due to it either being flooded or dried up, there has been nothing that interesting to report.
A family of three Kestrels have been hunting around the area for the last week.

Below is my patch list for the year so far, which will hopefully be bigger by the end of the year.

Little Grebe
Cormorant
Grey Heron
Little Egret
Mute Swan
Whooper Swan
Greylag Goose
Pink- Footed Goose
Canada Goose
Shellduck
Mallard
Teal
Gadwall
Tufted Duck
Garganey
Shoveler
Pochard
Goldeneye
Red Kite
Sparrowhawk
Common Buzzard
Kestrel
Peregrine Falcon
Grey Partridge
Pheasant
Water Rail
Moorhen
Coot
Oystercatcher
Little Ringed Plover
Golden Plover
Lapwing
Snipe
Jack Snipe
Woodcock
Black Tailed Godwit
Curlew
Redshank
Greenshank
Black Headed Gull
Common Gull
Herring Gull
Lesser Black Backed Gull
Great Black Backed Gull
Common Tern
Feral Pigeon
Wood Pigeon
Stock Dove
Collard Dove
Barn Owl
Tawny Owl
Short-Eared Owl
Swift
Swallow
Sand Martin
House Martin
Skylark
Meadow Pipit
Pied Wagtail
Waxwing
Wren
Dunnock
Robin
Stonechat
Whinchat
Wheatear
Blackbird
Song Thrush
Mistle Thrush
Fieldfare
Redwing
Chiffchaff
Willow Warbler
Blackcap
Sedge Warbler
Grasshopper Warbler
Whitethroat
Lesser Whitethroat
Goldcrest
Blue Tit
Great Tit
Coal Tit
Long Tailed Tit
Nuthatch
Treecreeper
Jay
Magpie
Rook
Jackdaw
Carrion Crow
Starling
House Sparrow
Tree Sparrow
Chaffinch
Greenfinch
Siskin
Linnet
Bullfinch
Reed Bunting
Yellowhammer

102

Inner Marsh Farm

After leaving Cornwall at the weekend we stayed with family in Wrexham, (North Wales).
On Monday I was dropped off at Inner Marsh Farm RSPB just over the border in Cheshire near the river Dee estuary.
Pool No1. can only be viewed from the main track, so I got distant views of 36 Little Egrets! 2 Egrets flew overhead as I was watching them.

On Pool No2. there were 2 Spotted Redshank amongst a mixed group of Redshank and Lapwing. 13 Black Tailed Godwit were wading around the middle island with three juv birds joining them.

Little Egrets were flying between the pool and there colony in the treetops above. 18 Teal were also on the middle island.

The Egrets stood out a lot more against the black sky behind which later turned into a thunderstorm.

Little Suprise!

Got a call from Steve H tonight saying there was a Little Egret- Patch Tick, at Arcot pond! After missing the GW Egret last month I knew I had to get there before the jealous Grey Heron chased it away.
I got to the pond about ten minutes later after scrounging a lift just in time to see the Heron chase the Egret off the water. It flew around the trees at the back of the pond before landing in a tree near the south west corner.
Steve scoped it and for once I could see the yellow feet which are usually covered in water as well as the long white hair on the back of its head, I should really find out the technical name for those hairs.
It didn't stay in the tree long and it flew off west. I have never seen a Little Egret next to a Grey Heron before and really appreciated the Little in Egret.
As we waited in hope of it returning a Common Tern - Patch Tick, landed on the dead wood in the middle of the pond.

98 - Little Egret

99- Common Tern

Dead Dolphin?

I needed to take some photos on the beach for school today so we went up to Druridge Bay.
We parked at Druridge Pools so I checked the Budge screen first. A male and female Garganey were asleep on the bank at the back of the pool.
Snipe, Grey Heron, Teal and Redshank were feeding on the pool and a Little Egret was feeding in the marshy area right of the hide.
We then walked on the beach from Druridge Pools to near East Chevington, Sanderlings and Ringed Plover were on the tide line.

After walking in the dunes just before East Chevington we went back onto the beach and I noticed what looked like a dead Dolphin.
It had been well pecked at by Gulls but still it looked like a Dolphin, any ideas?
Whilst photographing the corpse I looked up and saw 5 House Martins hawking low overhead. I tried to take a photo but the were to fast and small for my camera to pick up.
They were overhead for around 5 minutes before heading south over the dunes. At one point I had to duck as they were flying very low, this is when I noticed another had joined them.

On the way home we quickly stopped at the causeway car park at Cresswell Pond but there was no sign of the Yellow Wagtail. 5 Pied Wagtail and a linnet flock in the dunes was about it. I was surprised not to see a Wheatear today.

Swimming in the Rain

Yesterday I went to Cresswell pond in search of the Little Gulls that have been there for weeks now.
I parked by the side of the road and all that I saw was 1 grey Heron and 1 Shellduck with 7 humbug style chicks, so I went off to Druridge pools.
As ther heavens opened I ran to the indoor hide where an otter gave brilliant views in the water right outside the hide for about ten minutes.
I have only ever seen one Otter before yesterday and that was at the exact same place very breifly in October as it got dive bombed by a Kingfisher.
I watched the latest otter happily swimming in the rain as it caught a huge fish which it then took onto the bank and ate, but as usual no camera!
I then went to the Budge field hide and apart from the usuals there was a Little Egret fishing behind some reeds. I watched it for about ten minutes before it flew off into the tree tops where it argued with a Grey Heron for a further five minutes.
On my way home I saw a worrying sign as smoke was covering the field and roadside not far from Linton Lane. I can only hope that it was from Linton itself and not another case of arson at the reserve.
I also noticed a summer plumage Long Tailed Duck in the River Wansbeck next to Castle Island.