Billingham Beck Ecology Park

[scaly_piscine]

Finally got a half-decent action shot of a kingfisher (1/3000 sec with a 70-300mm lens & Canon 40D - will get a prime lens eventually). Been trying for a couple of weeks but the weather/Scrabble tournaments/annoying dog-walkers/luck have been against me.

From going down there daily I'm pretty sure there's a breeding pair of kingfishers with just the one young 'un which I got here (there's an adult partially obscured to the left of the photo, holding a fish - had to focus on the dull one didn't I...) I also think one of the young 'uns from around March/April time hangs out on their own. Saw loads of red admirals, commas and hawkers about whilst hanging around the concrete bridge with the green painted railings from where I took the photo. Haven't seen much of the heron lately, but I'm sure it's still around somewhere.

[Marmot]

Good to see you have started a patch report for the Ecology park. The last time I ventured there was at the begining of the year when Bramblings were hanging around the feeders.

Good to see that we have had Kingfishers breeding here as well as Cowpen Bewley.

Don't know if you ever check the Church out on Norton Green this is a good area to check out. And of course we had that first for the real rarity for the UK with Humes Warbler last year.

[scaly_piscine]

Nah I avoid the church, will probably wander over that way when the Christmas tree is out though.

Saw a lone kingfisher a few times today, even managed to sneak up on their favourite spot and be unnoticed for a split second (branch was perfectly placed to be in the way, so didn't bother taking a photo). It nearly always anticipates me first when it's in that tree.

The bushes near the concrete bridges are absolutely swarming with red admirals, you can literally see dozens of 'em. Not seen anything like it. Is pretty grey out there too (as per usual).

[scaly_piscine]

Still tons of red admirals in those bushes, were a fair few commas mixed in today as well. Not seen the parents/young 'un group of 3 whiz past for a bit, the lone adult has passed by a fair few times though. Also scared it off three times when I had a wander around a bit after sunset - was just light enough to make it out from about 20-30 feet away.

Saw a few wrens and a woodpecker. A fair bit of mouse activity, as well as one that's made its way into the kitchen downstairs...

Will add some photos in later, really need to get a decent monitor connected to this computer so I can view photos properly.

[scaly_piscine]

Not much luck lately, still not seen the kingfisher family/breeding pair for a while with a lot of near misses with the lone adult.

Got a few shots of a grey wagtail. Still plenty of mice squeaking about.

Saving my luck for Sunday, hopefully.

[Marmot]

Love the Wagtails.

Congratulations on winning the UK title. Maybe with the prize money you can either get a new monitor/lens or both.

[scaly_piscine]

Thanks, that reminds me I got some better wagtail photos later last week (should be sharper) - in the process scared off the lone adult kingfisher (seemed to be hanging around the north side a lot last week). On Tuesday I think the young kingfisher may have flew past me (seemed pretty dull and reacted quite slowly, but not 100% it wasn't an adult.) Hopefully the rain will stop sometime soon and I can get down again - suppose the north east was due a good soaking. Beck didn't look right when you could see the bottom of it anyway.

[scaly_piscine]

Very busy lately, so not had time to sift through stuff. Got plenty of grey wagtails if I ever have time to pick the better photos out.

Anyway it seems like the young kingfisher has been kicked out sometime in the past few days. Saw them a few times yesterday, got pretty close without getting a shot off. Still seeing a lone adult in it's usual spots (it's getting predictable, sneak up on its favourite tree, it flies out to the right just past the bridge, then I peer over the edge of the bridge and get a moment to look at it through some branches before it flies off again).

Also had a good 'wtf' moment when a cormorant's head popped out of the water (wondered what caused those ripples), flew off shortly after. First time I've seen one of those. Also got a few pictures of a stoat? or similar. If I'd had a 10 foot pointy stick I could have prodded them instead of trying to move around to get a clear shot prompting their stylish dive.

[Marmot]

MIght be worth putting the "Stoaty" thing in the Mammals and Sea Life section of the threads and mark it up for ID. I was thinking towards a Mink or Otter.
http://www.birdforum.net/forumdisplay.php?f=422

[IanF]

A great find. Looks more like a mink to me. One was trappped at Cowpen Bewley WP a few weeks ago whilst they were trying to catch the terrapin.

[yukonite]

A great find. Looks more like a mink to me. One was trappped at Cowpen Bewley WP a few weeks ago whilst they were trying to catch the terrapin.

cant tell how big it is from the pic,got a ferrets face but they sink.

[scaly_piscine]

I uploaded the original size (cropped but not shrunk) photo to Picasa here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/PrUM1VaDUFFOFjEUC7wnFQ?feat=directlink

Which should give a better sense of scale. To me it looked maybe 3 foot long when stretched out including tail, had a big wide tail when it went under. The colour is somewhat drained out on the photo, the colour on the top left of the head is more representative.

I've had another run-in with what may have been the same animal earlier in the year. It was pushing a bundle of twigs/nesting material. It came out of the water and was as big as what I described above. I think I took photos of it pushing material, will have a dig around at some point.


As for today's daily venture (just went to the south side) just the usual, disturbed a kingfisher from his favourite tree, then had an adult whiz past me later on (could have maybe got a photo of it flying past if I'd thought about it - sun had just came out and lit a small patch it flew through). Couple of herons were flying about in the pond. One landed whilst the other flew off.

[Shaggy2070]

Three feet long and a wide tail sounds like an Otter???

[scaly_piscine]

Nothing spectacular lately. Food is being put on the feeding tables and so on now, plus some of those green ball things. See the odd yellowhammer and bullfinch, lots of the usual stuff like blue tits, great tits, chaffinches. Saw a weasel chasing a rabbit the other day, although they didn't seem to be going very quickly. Have stuck with the northern side more lately because I've less time and it is more accessible after lots of rain - it was about one middling downpour away from flooding a few days ago. Hope the weather has calmed down by Friday, flying out from Newcastle then.

Edit: Famous last words, flooded a little overnight - but the paths are all still okay for the time being. Adult kingfisher flew by me on the way home. Was annoyed by another set of idiots walking their dog where they're not allowed to. Do these people ever get prosecuted/fined etc? I have photos of them and their car registration. Would love to see morons like that get locked in one day.