Thursday to Sunday

After failing to find the elusive Sea Eagle on Thursday pm (although I did see a Little Ringed Plover and a pair of Wheatear) and Friday am I headed off to the Kirkley Area and came across one of highlights of the weekend a pair of Long Tailed Tits building their self contained bungalow for themselves and the bairns.  For about 30mins I stood and watched them working tirelessly never stopping for cuppa.

I then came across a Stoat which was weaving about through a number of holes/tunnels in the bank on the side of a road.  It (cant assign gender as dont know difference) was quite obliging stopping every couple of feet and shoving his head through the roots and branches ensuring I had enough light.

John (Segedunum Warbler) in the meantime found what was possibly its mate about 20metres up the road but unfortunately it was not of this world (or possibly because I have not looked anything up yet it was a case of last one standing keeps the territory).
Saturday morning up early to St Marys and got found Chiff Chaff, Wheatear, Reed Bunting and a Goldcrest amongst the usual suspects.  I also came across this weird looking Frog at 07.45 which just appeared out of nowhere in full plumage and walked out in the North Bay (always thought this species were supposed to knock around in pairs).

At 08.45 I then went to the cemetery to have a look for the Black Redstart, unfortunately someone didnt leave till 09:04 arriving at the cemetery at 09.07 with a parking ticket so for all you guys and gals out there dont rely on that 5 minutes grace as there is no such thing, remember the Wardens are faster off the starting blocks than Lindford Christie.  Anyway in the cemetery, after not too hard a search 2 of the aforementioned stunning little birds, I was going to show the obligatory picture of it sitting on the gravestone but methinks there is enough of them floating around.
I then popped up to Big Waters which was a bit overflowing with water and if I had been there yesterday I would have had to have brought my mate Moses along to part the waters as it was knee deep on the boardwalk in some places.   Did see a few things though including a couple of Snipe, Sparrowhawk, Kestrel and quite a few Teal moving around so no hope of a decent count.  After Big Waters decided to pop up to Kirkley again to check how the LTT's Bungalow was getting on and as you can see contracts had been exchanged and the alterations finished.

Popped down to Prestwick Carrs to try and catch the Barn Owls but the only thing I caught was a one of worst "downpours" I have came across this Winter. 
Sunday morning off to Geltsdale with Segedunum Warbler, god it was bloody freezing but us Geordies are hard.  The Hilltops were still covered with clouds and/or mist.

Despite this we managed to catch some Meadow Pipits, Skylarks, lots of Curlews calling but only the odd one seen.  Got to the Tarn and saw, Golden Eye, Teal, Mallard, Mute Swans and the Black Swan.  Could also hear Snipe calling but no sign of them.  Got to the Information Point, not a soul there but all open, the feeders were all empty also so left a few treats for them and within seconds the passerines were there gobbling them up.  As we left we spotted a couple of Hen Harriers and a couple of Buzzards and they kept appearing every few minutes for the next 90mins.  We bumped into a nice chap called Lee who was starting work at Geltsdale for the RSPB as a surveyor on Tuesday and was out for his first wander around and was amazed to spot the Hen Harriers before he commenced work (Good Luck in your job Lee and it was a pleasure to chat to you).  We also saw lot of Canadas, Lapwings, Oystercatchers, Kestrel, Stonechat, Wheatear and a strange looking Pipit type bird with very long legs, yellowish colour on head and two yellowish/brown eye bars and a Dipper.  The normal great, blue and coal tits, chaffinches, house sparrows were also present.  Not a lot of pics from there as most stuff is quite far away but it is an awesome place and a great walk.  We then went to Talkin Tarn and the only thing I can say is dont, too many people, too many dogs, millions of midgies (god knows what it will be like when it wars up) and only Mallards on the lake although judging from the following pic some of them have been playing away from home.

On the way back we stopped off at Whittle Dene, unfortunately there seemed to be a major fishing match on but despite this we saw a couple of Great Crested Grebe, 2 Little Grebe, Goldeneye, Oystercatcher, Teal, Mallard, Mistle Thrush and lots of Corvids.   Then on to Prestwick Carrs to see if we could see any Owls and sure enough we saw 3 Barn Owls and also bumped into Dick City Birder.