Past Week!

A few highlights from the last week, the obvious one being the Crag Martin at Flamborough on Friday, absolutely quality! Watched it for about 10 minutes before drifting south with a Swallow, however it returned and was seen up until Sunday morning! No photos unfortunately, but here are a few photos from Bempton Cliffs: 

 Classic Gannets!

On Monday, I returned to the patch, and found SPP and DH looking over the wetland, little did I know they were looking at an absolute mega for St. Mary's. There was a PAIR OF COOTS on the wetland!! I was also told they were mating, which could suggest the first ever breeding record of Coot at St. Mary's! I also got 4 White Wagtails, 30+ Sandwich Terns, a Grey Plover and 3 Bar-Tailed Godwits flew north.

MEGA!

Then yesterday, I went back down and heard my first Gropper of the year! Possibly my favourite song of all time, and it showed wonderfully!

  Grasshopper Warbler

White Wagtail

Happy Birding 2012 - Favourite Photos from 2011

I thought I'd follow the trend of the 'final post' on the year with a summary of my favourite moments and photos from 2011:

To start, a photograph taken at sunset of 4 whooper swans coming into land at Marton Mere reserve at Blackpool.

Another of my favourites is this one, from mine and my dads annual Scotland visits, this time to the Uists, this short-eared owl was taken by the road on North Uist.

A photograph of a parent and juvenile tree sparrows at Big Waters. After spending so long without a decent photo of a tree sparrow, this opportunity came along.

A recent one, taken at the start of the month at the redeveloped Gosforth Park, fantastically cut back and allows views of birds like this secretive bittern, I was lucky enough to photograph this bird at about 10 metres.

Now for my favourite bird of all time, the kestrel. This female showed very little fear of me as I followed it around the car park at Big Waters watching it catch worms and mice in the wooded area next to the car park.

This bird has always been the one I couldn't not get, no matter how long I tried for, so I visited my local patch, St. Mary's, which provided me with an opportunity I couldn't refuse, a low-flying swift.

My only mammal pf the collection is this wood mouse photographed at Low Newton, again showing no fear whatsoever as this photo is taken with a 18-105mm lens, at 105mm this photo is uncropped, I had never seen a wood mouse so close which made the experience so special.

Another of my favourites from the year, taken at Northumberland Park was this beautiful drake mandarin, another bird that showed little fear of people.

For a lot of May, June and July, I was attempting to photograph this species in many different locations, including St. Mary's, Druridge Pools and finally where this photo was taken, Arcot Pond.

I thought it would be rude not to include this beauty in my collection, this desert wheatear at Newbiggin I have photographed on many occasions and never ceases to amaze me how approachable this bird is, such a stunning bird as well.

And finally my favourite image of 2011. We have had many rarities in Northumberland this year including, Greater Yellowlegs - Hauxley, Desert Wheatear - Newbiggin, Lesser Scaup - Marden Quarry, Eastern Black Redstart - Holy Island and many more but my favourite photograph of 2011 was taken 5 minutes from my house at St. Mary's Island. I felt that the colours, light and the pose of this stunning bar-tailed godwit couldn't be beaten...

Happy New Year and Good Birding to all in 2012!

Arcot and Killingworth 1/8/11

After not going out for a while, I decided to pop down to Arcot to look for the grasshopper warbler after reading about it John's blog. As soon as we pulled up we could hear it reeling and sure enough, we saw it straight away sitting on top of the bush next to the track. As we got closer and closer, it continued reeling and let us get very close. Without disturbing the bird, I got plenty of photos and videos of it then left it to it's business. We looked for the little egrets that were reported as well but there was no sign of them. On our way back home, we stopped in at killingworth after seeing the little gulls last week, I went back with my camera. As we drove past, I could see both of them with the terns right next to the road so we parked the car and walked along. They provided excellent views I have never had of little gulls before. A successful day birding!

Grasshopper Warbler

Little Gulls