Monday 28 January 2019

Extra Layers Needed

 

The feeders at Chevington are proving very  popular. Even a Willow Tit made a brief visit this week.



Anvil near the burnmouth at Chevington


XAJ and XAS in the bay





Good collection of Rock Pipits on the seaweed at Newbiggin.



Plenty of plumage variation.





Sunday 20 January 2019

Haaoooooo


Yes the blood red, wolf supermoon!

At its reddest my camera couldn't focus.


However once it moved out of the Earth's shadow there was more light and the photos are a little better.






I'll pop out in the next half hour to try and get a reference shot with some background detail to  get some scale.


Thursday 17 January 2019

Snow ... just a little.


A repeat of my earlier visit. Quayside first (no white-wingers).




Northumberland Park
No Firecrest :-(



No Black Redstart at Tynemouth or Gloucester Lodge Farm.


However the Snow Buntings were a delight at St Mary's (despite the ticket machine malfunctioning and costing me three times what it should have).





Just in case you didn't see my earlier post, I am no longer using Twitter. All my sightings will be on my blog. Apologies to my few followers.



Saturday 12 January 2019

Jan Fantastic


Only discovered this from BSBI postings a few years back and now it is one of the first things I look for in January.

Hazel Flowers
(female above, male below)



If I was a year lister this would be a good year. Already I've seen Cetti's Warbler, Bittern, Jack Snipe, Great Northern Diver, Kingfisher on patch and Goshawk, Smew, Shorelark, Lesser Redpoll and Chiffchaff (the last one out of county).


In addition the only common patch bird missing is Willow Tit.


I did try for three long stayers but failed miserably with the first, only to abandon my search for the others. (Firecrest, Black Redstart and Snow Bunting)

Enjoyable visits to Bamburgh, North Shields, Wallington, and Branton. Regular visits to the patch and it hasn't been a bad start. ;-)

Thursday 3 January 2019

Happy New Year



Happy 2019



Red Dead-nettle


Amazing how many different plants can be found in flower at this time of year.


Yarrow


Daisy


Red Campion


Winter Heliotrope


Red Valerian



Jackdaw


Amble


Turnstone


Mediterranean Gull


Surfing on the River Tyne


The Groyne (South Shields)


Today I did my first proper birding of the year. I decided to close my Twitter account this week (apologies to my few followers). It does make it a bit more difficult to pass on my sightings but I will continue to inform RBA of any scarce/rare birds I see. Also the general bird sightings will appear on my blog.

So today; a quick, unsuccessful visit to Newbiggin for a Black Redstart. A check of Widdrington Moor to see if the Smew was still present. It was. Then my usual patch (East Chevington) visit. Highlights: Pintail (drake), Long-tailed Duck (flew North), Jack Snipe and Kingfisher. All the usual  commoner birds on show. Finally a visit to Warkworth to see the four Shorelarks on the saltmarsh.

A decent enough day (-;