Grey Plover and Kingfisher at St. Mary's

We popped down to St. Mary's for a hour this morning and got some nice surprises. The bay was full of waders. Ringed Plover in their numbers coming very close, dunlin and golden plover very close too. All the usual birds but there was 2 rarer ones. There was a bar-tailed godwit at the end of the bay. We also saw my favourite wader fly past us, Grey Plover. It flew around for a while before landing at the far end. We thought it wasn't going to come very close but if you just sit on a rock, it will come very close. We were very impressed! I was also impressed with the photos that the D90 takes in the dull weather. Just as we were leaving the bay, a kingfisher flew past us. A very rare sighting for St. Mary's!

Grey PloverGolden Plover

Ringed Plover Bar-Tailed Godwit

A few photos 8/1/10

This is just a little update of what is around:

Fieldfare in my garden after throwing some apple out (thanks Tim!)

Blackbird in my Garden Golden Plover came surprisingly close at St. Mary's Skylarks still at St. Mary's. (Better light than yesterday)

5 inches of snow in my garden!

My first post of 2010

We went to St. Mary's at the weekend (sorry haven't had time to post since then!) and the birds were nowhere to be seen. However, some of the scenes there were amazing, like the snow on the rocks etc. The only birds we saw of note where 3 skylarks in the carpark which was a little different. However, not much else to report except a garden tick. I thought this was quite unusual. I saw a grey wagtail in my garden. I haven't got a pond so I'm not sure why in came but it stayed for a couple of days then moved on. Another garden tick was a fieldfare. I know how unrare they are but I have never had one in the garden before Skylarks

Snow on the causewaySnow in my garden. Grey Wagtail (in my garden)

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Big Waters (well a tiny bit!)

Sorry about the lack of blogs, haven't been out much! Just arrive back from Big Waters. The pond is completely frozen apart from a tiny bit of water in the middle. There was a flock of fieldfare in the trees on ur way into the reserve which set us up for a good day birding. We made our way to the members hide after that. As we went in, Alan Johnson (the warden for Big Waters) told me to look at the top of a tree over in the corner of the pond and when I did, I saw that there was a female sparrowhawk sitting there! A good start. That would explain why there were no birds at the feeders. However, she soon left and the little birds returned in their numbers. There was 5 robins, blue tits, great tits, coal tits, blackbirds, a wren, chaffinches, greenfinches and goldfinches. As we sat and took many photos, the woodpecker dropped in. But very briefly. After that it went a bit quiet for a while until 2 nice surprises turned up. These were a male bullfinch and a male siskin. There was also 2 pheasants that strolled in towards the end just as we were leaving to watch Newcastle on the telly! A good day!

Robin Bullfinch Siskin Wren

A nice surprise at Killingworth Lake

We went to Killingworth Lake and St. Mary's today. We went to look for the goosander at Killingworth and when we got there, we saw them straight away in all different places. As we were walking along to watch a male goosander at the other end of the lake, I was watching the ducks sitting on the bank next to the road and then a smaller duck left the bank and swam past us within 3 feet. I knew as soon as I saw it that it was a female mandarin duck. It was brilliant to watch it in the water then it climbed onto the bank again in front of us. After getting loads of photos of it, we went to see the goosander and then off to St. Mary's. The tide was nearly in at St. Mary's and there was very little rock but there was still quite a variety of waders. These included over 50 ringed plover, redshank, turnstone, curlew, oystercatcher and also 3 knot which were a little different. A nice end to the day!

Mandarin DuckGoosander Group of Waders: Top Left (Ringed Plover) Middle Top (Dunlin) Top Right (Redshank) Front (Knot)

A life tick day!

Today we were looking for a life tick - snow goose. We started of the day at Holy Island for the bearded tit. We watched for about 30 minutes and after no luck we went back to the car to beat the tide. On the way back we saw 3 sparrowhawks, a kestrel and a peregrine which was lovely to see after no bearded tit! On the way off the island, we saw a baby seal lying in the sun on the sand really close to the causeway which was lovely to see. Next we headed to Budle Bay. Unfortunately, the tide was right in and everything was on the sandbanks miles away. That wasn't much good so we went onto the best place of all - Stag Rocks. First we went to the rock itself to see 60 purple sandpiper which was brilliant and very photogenic. Next we scanned the sea after being told there was 2 slavonian grebes. I scanned it with my scope and saw them straight away. Two birds birds which were slavonian grebes. While we were watching them, I saw a little black and white bird and when I showed my dad, we decided that was the black guillemot that had been around for a while. We also got told there was 3 red-throated divers. SO we looked for them and eventually I did see 1. And right at the end of the sea watch, I saw a duck with a black and white head flying in towards the shore and when it landed I identified it as my first long-tailed duck. A very good session of sea watching in a new spot! And on the way out we saw a Brent goose fly past the shore which was very close but I only saw it at the last minute so no photos but good purple sands! No snow goose but better!

167 - LT Duck

168 - Slavonian Grebe

Purple Sandpiper Grey Seal

Saturday's Shields Sabine's

I went to North Shields Fish Quay in search of the juvenile Sabine's Gull. I had never seen one which gave me even more reason to go to see it! When we arrived we saw the group of birders looking around so we went and asked them and they pointed out my first ever Sabine's Gull. I took a few photos but unfortunately it didn't land but it was still great to see a new species and so close (about 10 feet away to be precise!)

166 - Sabine's Gull

Sabine's Gull