Wallington Hall

As it was such a nice day, we decided to have a day out. After remembering that there was a feeding station there I said that I would like to see some little birds. So when we got there we asked someone what there was to see. She said that there was blue tits, coal tits and things like that. So we went to the hide and sure enough there was a feeding station. We went in a sat down and there was blue tits (10+), coal tits (15+), chaffinches (5+), great tits (2), a nuthatch, a greenfinch, a bullfinch and a robin. Also there was a red squirrel. There was quite a selection of birds until they all scattered. Me and my dad knew something was bothering them and alarm calls were being made. And sure enough, 10 seconds later a sparrowhawk flew right between the feeders but it was unsuccessful in seeing anything.

10 minutes later we left the hide and headed for the gardens. On the way back we saw a bird fly across the path and when we looked up there was long-tailed tits (5+). We left there and went into the garden where was nothing of interest. Moorhens (10+) but nothing else except on the way out when we saw a flash of blue and there was a kingfisher flying away.

Greenfinch on feeder

Great Tit on the ground

Rising Sun Country Park

First day of the school holidays, I decided to go and visit Rising Sun Country Park at Benton. It was sunny but a little bit windy and I wasn't really expecting to see anything of interest. However, within a few minutes of arriving, I spotted a little Goldcrest in the hedgerow. It was totally oblivious to us being there and I managed to get within a few inches of it. Nothing further of interest until we got to the hide. There we saw Shoveler (15+), Pochard (5+), Wigeon (5+) and the usual Mallard, Coots, Mute Swan and Black-headed Gulls. As we left the hide I manage to get this shot of a Robin. Further on, as we were leaving, we heard a bird which turned out to be a Coal Tit.

Pochard

Robin Shoveler

Cresswell Ponds

After recent good sightings at Cresswell, such as black-tailed and bar-tailed godwit, greenshank and many more fantastic waders and ducks, we decided to go back. Just before we got to Cresswell we spotted another little pond and on it, next to a redshank, was a dunlin. After getting a photo we moved onto Cresswell. As we got there we were greeted by 2 kestrels hovering over the fields. We made our way up the path towards the hide greeted by sounds of lapwings as we went in. We had a look out on the lake and the water level had gone up. There was still Lapwings (50+), Golden Plover (20+), 2 curlew and lots of black-headed gulls. No sign of the godwits but when we had a look on the whiteboard to see what there was out we noticed a bittern on the board so we sat down and waited while watching a little grebe (dabchick) diving. 20 minutes later we were just leaving the hide when the bittern flew right in front. We left the hide happy after seeing the bittern and went to try some other reserves. The first one, Druridge Ponds, had nothing at it. Then we went to East Chevington and no sign of life there either so we moved on to the last reserve which was Hauxley. There we saw some snipe (7+) but nothing else of interest so we went back to Cresswell. When we got there "Kingfisher" was written on the board which means it must have been spotted sometime. We waited and eventually someone said "Kingfisher on the post" and sure enough there was a beautiful Kingfisher.

Dunlin Bittern

Some More Sightings at Cresswell in September 08.

Greenshank looking for food.

Black-Tailed Godwit in Summer Plumage

Little Gull Flying

Bar-Tailed Godwit with Greenshank Merlin flying away after chasing some Lapwings