Hauxley, Druridge, East Chev and Cresswell.

On Sunday we went to Cresswell to see these wagtails that we can never find! As always, they weren't there and there wasn't much on the pond so we went to Druridge. We went to the mini-pond first which produced 3 black-wits, 6 dunlin and not much else. So we moved on to the bigger pond. On our way, we saw a whitethroat on our way to the hides. It just flew as we saw it so no picture unfortunately. From the first hide we saw 10 dunlin, 6 ringed plover and 2 nesting greylags. There was nothing at all on the main pond so we went to East Chev. On our way in, as we walked across the bridge, we saw a sedge warbler fly into the reeds. After 20 mins of looking, it never showed again. Just then it started to rain - heavily!! We ran to the hide and dived in. Not much on the pond and if it hadn't been for the 3 wheatears to the right side of the hide, we would have had nothing to watch! After it stopped raining we left the hide and went to Hauxley. On the board, in the reception hide there had been a marsh harrier seen 1 hour before we got there. As we walked round we saw 2 muscovy ducks on the little pond near the Eric's Hide. There were 2 gadwall in front of the hide but nothing else unusual expect a bar-wit on the far side. Not a bad day although not excellent. Wheatear Muscovy Ducks Gadwall

A little extra!: This year I set myself a challenge - to get a half-decent photo of a swift. This is what I came out with:

Hauxley, Druridge and Cresswell 8/4/09

For a little day out on Wednesday, my grandma took me to Hauxley, Druridge and Cresswell. We arrived at Hauxley first and went into the reception. The warden in the hide said that there was a bar-headed goose in the fields to the right. We couldn't see it so we waited for it to come. After 30 mins it still didn't show so we left. We went to the feeders which produced 3 pheasants, 6 tree sparrows and 4 chaffinches. So we moved on to the first hide. From there we saw 2 gadwall feeding just in front of us. Also, the teal numbers were good and two sailed just in front of us next to the gadwall. The other hides sadly didn't produce much except to lapwing in courtship so we went back to reception. The warden said that we had missed the bar-headed goose by 2 minutes. It flew across the pond just before we got there. Damn!! After that we went to Druridge Pools to see if we could see the little egret and garganey. When we got to the main pond, we saw a pair of mergansers and a Great Crested Grebe. The GCG was quite far away but not a bad photo either. We saw the little egret from the other hide but no garganey and the egret was in the reeds miles away! Cresswell, unfortunately was the worst reserve which is very rare. Nothing except a whooper swan on the far bank. Very dissapointing but the other reserves were good and produced some nice birds and photos.

Gadwall GC Grebe Pheasant Lapwing Courtship

Teal