Monday 20 February 2017

Brown, Brown, Brown ...

but everyone a stunner!


Herring Gull
2nd Winter
Ringed Aust-Agder Norway 24/06/2015
Observed Telemark, Norway 17/09/2015
Observed Amble, UK (TM) 24/01/2017
Observed Amble, UK (DE) 14/02/2017






Reed Bunting


Pochard (Orangey/Brown)
10 (9 male) Chev
3 (3 male) DBCP


Northumberland Wildlife Trust

Love Them


Northumberland Wildlife Trust

Thanks


Black-tailed Godwits



Twite

no I said TWITE!




Stonechat




Now that's a bucket!



Buzzard


Triplets ... I said, not Cutlets?


Triplets for this pedigree Texel (above).
Great chat with farmer who obviously has a passion for his sheep.






Cultivated ... sorry!



Monday 13 February 2017

COLD


Well what a miserable few days. Dark, wet and a cold wind that penetrated all the layers I was wearing. Thoroughly unpleasant.


At least the natural world offered plenty to cheer me up.


.

Pacific Diver made it on to my WeBS count on Sunday. It has been flying around a lot in recent days and I thought it might leave. But, apart from a quick excursion to DBCP, it seems settled at Chev.


Cuttlebone (or Cuttlefish bone)
It's actually a gas filled, internal shell of the Cuttlefish and used for buoyancy. Lots of small ones washed up on the shore this morning.


Hazel

What a treat on a cold day. The male flowers nice and obvious and rarely given a second glance.



However, get in closer and you find the female flower with the bright red stigmas.


Fabulous


Even the twigs have dense reddish hairs.

Sunday 5 February 2017

Plenty to See


Watched this Water Rail preening for over 10 minutes. Quite a treat!



Knot

The falling tide at Newbiggin hosts a fantastic number and variety of waders just now.


Purple Sandpiper


Most Stonechats are now paired up. We can probably expect some early fledglings this year (End of March?).


Ruby Tiger Moth caterpillar


Roe Deer
(Capreolus capreolus)



Nice pale Redpoll. Not an Arctic though. Apologies for the pathetic shots but it was dark.



Aaaah!



Teasel