Little Owl

Easily overlooked this Little Owl remains near Widdrington Village.

New Year birding is always interesting, lots of wildfowl and some interesting overwintering birds. Today a Little Egret flew from Hauxley to Hadston. Pink-footed Geese numbers are in excess of 2000 and many farmers are resorting to flags to keep them off their crops. Two interesting birds include a pale brown PFG (leucistic not a hybrid) also another with a broad white band around the belly (again not a hybrid).

Target for the rest of the month; to find a Smew and catch up with the Black Redstart at Cambois.

New Year

A trip to North Shields on Sunday and I was shocked to see so many people there. The birds were brilliant with Glaucous, Iceland and a 'Viking' Gull (the one with the horns).

The light was very varied and the patterns on the water were almost as interesting as the wildlife.

Fulmars takng a welcome break from their pelagic adventures at Snab, Cresswell.

Cambois was the place to be on Monday. 17 Snow Buntings under the wind turbine on the North Pier, River Blyth.

Chevington still hosts the Back-necked Grebe (found by JF on Saturday) and a Long-tailed Duck.

The Hen Harrier is still hunting the ridge between Widdrington Moor and West Chevington. However the Green-winged Teal was elusive at Druridge this morning. Little Owls are giving birders the run around at Druridge but one remains faithful to the same tree between feeding excursions .. patience required.

Best Wishes

Happy New Year

2015

A slow start to the year for me ..no rushing about for me any more. I've been pottering around Amble, Alnmouth and Branton Gravel Pits. Will get the year properly started next Tuesday.

Hoping the Brid bird headed North not South

;-)

Nearly Done

Goosander

This bird (QEII Lake) did its best to keep on the wrong side of 

the light. Might need a few trips inland next spring to get a decent shot.

Chevington (apart from the dog-walkers) is always worth a visit. 100+ Goldeneye now on the N Pool a smart pair of Pintail and a male Long-tailed Duck the highlights. The sudden cold snap also means the feeders at the N end are attracting more birds. 50+ visited whilst I was there, nothing scarce but the antics of birds at the feeders can keep you entertained for ages.

Widdrington Moor

Also worth a visit. Today the Peregrine sat in the field, a magnificent bird and although there was little else on show it was a treat. Maiden's Hall Lake is still losing water but the Geese are enjoying the grazing around the edges.

So almost ready for 2015 .. even got the microscope out and ready for some new ideas?

Little Changes

Well back more than a week now and still photographing Stonechats.

The initial weather shock is over and today it was positively balmy. Just a few 'April' showers and some nice rainbows. One Stoat had a similar reaction to the cold snap and ended up with a tri-coloured tail (black tip white middle and brown base).

Raptors are the highlight presently with Hen Harrier (even visible from the front room), Peregrines, Buzzards, Kestrels and Sparrowhawk.

Not much action on the bird feeders?

Finally a whinge.

Twitter can be really good, and there are some witty people out there. However many will tick the favourites box (and I've done it myself) for no logical reason. Also people are a bit like sheep praising good causes without taking time to eplore the arguments. When it comes to promoting wildlife 'causes' the example below has to be the worst. Self-promoting, retweeting, favouriting etc have led to the book below getting rich praise from a host of people and press.

I bought the book, read the book and was utterly amazed at how bad it was.

Please if you are going to 'favouite' a book read it first.

I haven'y read a single negative review so maybe it is just my lone opinion but it has to the worst book I've read in many years.

Gambia List

Link to Gambia List

1 = Bird Seen

Some birds were seen by other birders on the trips, not included.

Gambia 1 (3rd December)

Gambia 3^rd – 10^th December

Well a break from the patch last week. The offer of a trip o Africa in December was quickly snapped up. The travelling there was a bit of a pain but all was forgotten when we walked across the runway at Banjul Airport a warmish 30°C (compared with -3°C  and the iced windscreen before we set off.).

First photo of the trip, Plantain-eater.

Spur-winged Plover

Greeted by Tijan Kanteh our friend (and guide for the week), we dropped off bags and headed straight back out.

Kotu Sewage Works ..

.. herons, waders and much more to get the birding started.

Intermediate Egret

African Jacana

Lizard Buzzard

Kotu Bridge ..

..more waders, kingfishers and raptors

Abyssinan Roller

Can you believe that by the end of the week these hardly got a second glance?

Pied Kingfisher

Westen Reef Heron

White-faced Whistling Duck

and

Black Egret

Darter and Long-tailed Cormorant

Badala and the Cycle Track..

..finished the first day. All the while the ever present Hooded Vultures and Black Kites kept us company.



Finally food and chilled lager before an early night (having been awake for the last 24 hours).