Saturday at Howick

Headed up to Howick on Saturday to twitch the Deaths head Hawk-moth being shown by Stewart and Jane at the Village Hall.   Prior to that John and I stopped off at the path along the cliffs just outside Howick and immediately spotted a Stonechat in its normal pose on top of a bush.  We were distracted though by a number of Goldcrests which were hopping around also.  When we had our fill of the gorgeous Goldcrests we turned to look at the stonechat which was being harassed by a Dunnock and a Robin we both looked at each other with looks of amazement and after a few minutes of humming and hawing we went back to the car to get the Collins.  We started going through but still couldn't decide on what it was although Stonechat and another bird were favourites (not mentioning the other candidate though).  Just then a friendly face turned up, so I shouted and he came up and looked at my photograph (as the bird had buggered off by then).

A couple of seconds hesitation and he said yes it was a Stonechat.  

I nodded knowledgably, wondering if I had a page missing out of my Collins or there was a 

special section on Birds who grew Santa Claus's beard for him in his off season I had missed.  Anyway we then headed up to Howick where we also showed some more of the pictures I took, to some of the experts gathering there.  There were, thank god, a few puzzled looks before most of them gave the verdict of Stonechat also.  A couple more pics, taken in different lighting circumstances, completely untouched by photoshop or whatever apart from a couple of sharpening tweeks  and 1 click of exposure change.

and here is a Stonechat which we saw later on in the day

Anyway the reason we were up there was this little  Big Beauty:

Tom T arrived bringing another great species with him,

the Hummingbird Hawk Moth

The following is a picture of both together

 (don't think there will be many of these around)

Finally

Atropos - The Movie

Howdon Wetlands

Last Sunday I had an early morning start at Howdon Wetlands.  High Tide was a couple of hours past as the sun rose so a lot of the Birds had headed off but there were still a few left.

Some of the 27 Grey Herons 

 and down in the old Dock............

Meanwhile just outside the hide a Wren was doing a bit of displaying

A Fox was also out having a wander round and attempting to hunt for quite a while and whilst I was videoing it a flash went through the viewfinder which I realised immediately was a Kingfisher and sure enough a few minutes later it flew in and perched about 10m from the hide for a good 6 minutes

(note the kingfisher at 2:40)

St Marys On A Nice Morning

Last Saturday Mr Sedgedunum Warbler and I headed to St Marys for a early morning wander.  Not a great lot but hadn't done a video for a while so here is one of a few things we saw

also a couple of photos, the first are a few shots of a Kestrel and Magpies
who spent a little while trying to figure out who was King of the Castle,
think the Magpies won in the end.

Meanwhile down on the shore a few things were dropping in as the Tide ebbed

Nothing Else But Big Waters Last Weekend

The Fantastic Five went for their usual wander around Big Waters last Sunday and what a good day it was with plenty to see.  I only had Mr Nikon out on a couple of occasions as the Bird Watching and the inane chatter going on meant I couldn't do more than one thing at a time (its hard to concentrate when one gets old - isn't that right Alan?).  Anyway here are a couple of the pics I took at their usual "amazing quality"

Now, I think you can deduce what they are now guys

Grey Heron on his, now daily, vole hunt

A few of the flock of about 50 Golden Plover which

circled Big Waters for about 20mins 

A late Comma in the Big Waters car park or perhaps it was

brought here with the car from warmer climates (SG=Glasgow),

on second thoughts possibly not

If you haven't seen a Grey Heron for ages just look in a 3 Acre 

field that has 1 pile of shit in it and Walla, there it is

A severely cropped pic (aren't they all?) of a Grey Wagtail

Plenty more was seen but I haven't got the time to go through the little book, so 
do yourself a favour come along and see for yourself where Mr J will welcome
all his old pals with open arms as he doesn't leave there very often nowadays (could
be something to do with the range of the bracelet possibly (just kidding)).

Howdon Wetlands and Big Waters on Friday

Managed to get to Howdon Wetlands and Big Waters on Friday for a couple of hours before heading to the Doctors.   Howdon was my first stop with a fair bit on view including Curlew, Redshanks, Teal, Tufted Duck, Snipe, Grey Heron and one of the Foxes having a wander round looking for an early morning Tit Bit. 

One of the many Grey Herons

 Fox on the Prowl (see video below)

 Cormorants galore on the Tyne behind the Hide

 Curlews coming in for a wander round

Short Video of the Fox Pouncing

I then shot off to Big Waters for an hour or so before commencing on a day of "Doing Non Wildlife Things" .  The numbers on the pond were building up but still couldn't catch a view of the elusive Pintail that I have been shown pictures of but never a view to be seen.  Did manage to get Kingfisher though, once a reliable bird to see but this year has been very scarce.  A few Snipe on the North Scrape were the only waders around although a few Lapwing did fly around but plenty of Wigeon, Teal, Mallards, Gadwall, Little Grebes and 7 Shovellers that dropped in but placed themselves directly behind the reeds again.  Ian D came in and a pleasant 30mins ensued discussing the major issues of the day and wondering if we were going to get to grips with the new Dr Who (strange watching him and no profanities).  A couple of Yellowhammers did appear in the Feeding Station along with the reliable Willow Tits and many others making it very busy at times

Tree Sparrow

 Chiffchaff

 Kingfisher

Yet another bad shot of a Shoveller

As I put my stuff into the Car a honking noise made me look up and there was 5 Greylags coming into the pond and also the birds of the day a couple of Whooper Swans but they were down onto the pond before I could get the picture machines out and unfortunately I had an appointment to get to.

Last Weekend in September -

No wonder the Kingfishers have been a bit scarce lately as some new inhabitants

move into their Domain

A fantastic Sunrise viewed from Cresswell

The water level at Druridge Pond has reduced drastically showing

some rocks I don't ever remember seeing before

One of the Big Water Cygnets testing out its wings

Waited ages for the 5 Shoveller to stick

their heads up for a pic but this was all

I could manage

Its been a while since I put one of my favourite views up so here it is

Finally we went to Cambois for the first time for ages and the weather was
so calm it was unbelievable.  The man made objects tended to be the centre of 
attraction wherever you looked so like them or dislike them they still make
a canny subject for a picture.