Canny Weekend

A few highlights from the weekend:

 Cracking female Scaup at Killingworth Lake.

 Purple Sandpipers at St. Mary's.

Curlew at St. Mary's.

Male Blackcap in the Garden.

A good hour of birding 6/10/09

Just come back from St. Mary’s. The tide was coming in fast so I just got 10 minutes but it was worth it. The North Bay contained a bar-tailed godwit, 2 curlews, 3 redshank, 24 sanderling, 9 turnstone, 3 ringed plover, 50 golden plover and a cormorant fishing. I tried to get photos of all of them in the short time that the tide let me have! I called into Briar Dene Car Park on the way back, no sign of med gull but there were 2 common gulls present. We also saw a grey wagtail fly over then land quite close to the car park down under the bridge in the little stream. As this was a first at St. Mary’s for me we went and got a few photos before moving on. After that we went to Tynemouth Boating Lake to see the barnacle goose. When we arrived there was only one goose there and it was the barnacle goose. Quite easy to spot! The wind picked up a bit while we were there but it soon settled letting me get some photos. A good hour of birding! Cormorant Curlew

Bar-Tailed GodwitRinged Plover Grey Wagtail

Common Gull

Barnacle Goose

A Glossy end to the day!

Yesterday, we decided to go on a big journey today with my new lens. It is a 70-200mm with a 1.7 converter. We started at Thornley Woods where there wasn’t much at all except stock doves, squirrels, coal tits and nuthatches! I was a bit disappointed with the outcome of Thornley. Next we went to Big Waters. We got there and went straight to the main hide. It was very busy so I just got a spot at the feeders although I still had a view of the main pond. After watching the goldfinches, blue tits, great tits and greenfinches for a while, I saw 3 snipe out of the window. They were a bit far off for photos but within 10 minutes they were right underneath the window. I got some great photos of birds that I have never seen that close before! We left soon after that to go to Cresswell to see the Glossy Ibis via St. Mary’s. We arrived at St. Mary’s and sat in the North Bay for half an hour on the rocks. It was fantastic sitting watching the waders feed around us, the dunlin came especially close. They we within 7 feet of us producing great views and photos. There was a curlew that came very close as well and I got a photo of that too. After sitting for 30 minutes we went to Cresswell. When we got there, there were loads of people in the car park but they told us that we had just missed the ibis my 15 minutes. After a while, someone got a call to say it was near Bell’s Pool. The car park cleared within 2 minutes. Everyone went to Bell’s Pool. We followed everyone and when we got there, we immediately saw mine and my dad’s first Glossy Ibis. It was in the field just beyond the pool but it soon flew onto the pool giving us great views. A glossy end to the day!!

Snipe

Goldfinch Redshank Curlew Dunlin

Glossy Ibis