and today I had this cracking Northern Wheatear at Ryhope Little Dene
It appeared quite large and bright so may well be a Greenland Wheatear.
Saturday 24 April 2010
Spring Migrants
A recent trip to the Blast Beach and Hawthorn Quarry (2nd April) produced this lovely Black Redstart!
and today I had this cracking Northern Wheatear at Ryhope Little Dene
It appeared quite large and bright so may well be a Greenland Wheatear.
and today I had this cracking Northern Wheatear at Ryhope Little Dene
It appeared quite large and bright so may well be a Greenland Wheatear.
Sunday 31 January 2010
A little cracker!
There's been a Black-necked Grebe at Silksworth Lake for a while, so, now that the crowds of unruly birders have died down, I thought I would go along and have a look for it.
The lake was mostly frozen but there was a large area of open water very close to the road and the footpath which goes round the lake.
The Black-necked Grebe (and all of the other birds on the lake, including 3 species of gulls, Tufted Ducks, Mallards, Coots and Moorhens) seemed entirely oblivious of any people or dogs walking round the lake and were coming as close as the very edge of the water.
I've never seen BNG this close before - it was an absolutely gorgeous little thing, actively feeding the whole time I was there. It jumped right out of the water during each dive, the only exception being when it was being hassled by Black-headed Gulls. Then it submerged as fast as possible and re-appeared some distance from the gulls. They followed him for a while but soon gave up.
The light was fantastic so I hope this photo shows up well ...
The lake was mostly frozen but there was a large area of open water very close to the road and the footpath which goes round the lake.
The Black-necked Grebe (and all of the other birds on the lake, including 3 species of gulls, Tufted Ducks, Mallards, Coots and Moorhens) seemed entirely oblivious of any people or dogs walking round the lake and were coming as close as the very edge of the water.
I've never seen BNG this close before - it was an absolutely gorgeous little thing, actively feeding the whole time I was there. It jumped right out of the water during each dive, the only exception being when it was being hassled by Black-headed Gulls. Then it submerged as fast as possible and re-appeared some distance from the gulls. They followed him for a while but soon gave up.
The light was fantastic so I hope this photo shows up well ...
Sunday 17 January 2010
Whitburn Steel pipits.
I went looking for the Water Pipit recently reported from Whitburn Steel. I did see the Water Pipit but, as can often be the case with the most interesting birds, it gave only brief views and flew off before I could photograph it. I got lots of Rock Pipit photos though. Here are a few which illustrate the variable appearance of these birds (and in the sunlight - none of them had dark legs!):
These birds are fairly dark-looking and what I would think of as typical for Rock Pipit (the last six are probably same bird).
This bird is perhaps a little paler:
... and this bird was particularly pale:
These birds are fairly dark-looking and what I would think of as typical for Rock Pipit (the last six are probably same bird).
This bird is perhaps a little paler:
... and this bird was particularly pale:
Saturday 2 January 2010
Happy New Year
I found a Great Northern Diver at Sunderland South Dock on New Year's day. Some of us had been musing that this was a good potential site for divers to turn up, so it was nice to see a prediction come true.
On the same day, there was a remarkable southward passage of Skylarks. I counted 2610 in 70 minutes over the docks. The movement was most noticeable between the heavy snow showers but they kept coming no matter what, in flocks of up to 200 birds.
The accepted explanation for this appears to be that, in cold weather, birds move towards the coast and south.
Today there were much fewer Skylarks on the move but I did have a fly-over Snow Bunting and I managed to get a video of the Great Northern Diver using my new camcorder. This was taken at 70 x zoom and so the quality isn't too bad considering!
On the same day, there was a remarkable southward passage of Skylarks. I counted 2610 in 70 minutes over the docks. The movement was most noticeable between the heavy snow showers but they kept coming no matter what, in flocks of up to 200 birds.
The accepted explanation for this appears to be that, in cold weather, birds move towards the coast and south.
Today there were much fewer Skylarks on the move but I did have a fly-over Snow Bunting and I managed to get a video of the Great Northern Diver using my new camcorder. This was taken at 70 x zoom and so the quality isn't too bad considering!
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