Monday 11 October 2010

A lifer weekend

My weekend started on Friday at Tynemouth with the great grey shrike very fleetingly. It was on the priory for a couple of seconds then flew off and I didn't see it again. The goldcrests and other warblers were putting in a performance as well but nothing unusual.
On Saturday, we went to Hartlepool to see the woodchat shrike which was a new bird for me. A very handsome and approachable bird along with a lot of other things: redwings, goldcrests and a lot of other birds. Unfortunately I didn't get any birding in on Sunday because I was ringing all day which was also a success. 2 GS Woodpeckers, Redwings, Stonechat and a pied flycatcher were all ringed. There was a lot of other good birds ringed too. See the photos for details.
And yesterday, I was at St. Mary's getting my second lifer of the weekend, the red-flanked bluetail which was showing very well on the fence posts and stiles. There was plenty of other things too, goldcrest, redstart and a garden warbler which is a patch tick. I think it is a garden warbler but I have aphoto of it on this blog so feel free to tell me if it's not.
Overall, I think that is a pretty impressive weekend, shame about the light though.
Woodchat Shrike Garden WarblerRed-Flanked Bluetail
Redwing Meadow PipitGS Woodpecker Stonechat SiskinWillow Tit

4 comments:

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  2. Hi Jack

    I believe it is a garden warbler had my photos of what I think is the same bird checked out by a couple of local "experts" and both say garden warbler

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  3. You have taken some wonderful pictures for this piece. Many congratulations.

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  4. Thanks for the comments, I thought it was a garden warbler but I wasn't sure, thanks for the confirmation Mark!

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