A mixed day's birding (1 Viewer)

After reading an article about Castle Eden Dene in this month's Birdwatching I believe, I decided to have a trip up there this morning. Normally I'd have gone swimming on a Sunday morning, but as the sun had come out I decided to have a trip out birding instead. The day seemed to start off well with four Kestrel before I'd even left Billingham - every one of them a female. Sure enough the fields beside Samsung revealed the usual half a dozen Partridge too.

I headed up the A19 towards Peterlee turning off for Castle Eden and then parking at the entrance to the castle on the south side of the Dene. There was a heavy frost and the village gardens of Cold Hesledon seemed to be teeming with birds - that should have set the alarm bells ringing!

Setting off down the nature trail into the dene below the castle I think I must have walked a mile before I actually saw a bird. There were the odd Wren, Blue Tit and Great Tit calling and several trees with Woodpecker holes looked promising but not a bird in sight. Two miles later and I'd seen each of the above except the Woodpecker, along with a few Blackbirds and Song Thrushes. Sure enough when I returned to the car the gardens were still full of feeding birds. I guess a cold January day wasn't such a good one for a visit to the dene.

I then headed back south taking the coast road to Hartlepool. I quick visit to the Headland yielded Eider, Purple Sandpiper, Turnstone, Oystercatcher, Redshank and Cormorant. I called in at the Marina where a Great Northern Diver had been reported yesterday on Birdguides, but all I could find were a Guillemot, Red-breasted Mergansers, Cormorants and the odd Curlew.

Sticking on the coast road I headed through Seaton Carew where the waders were on the grass behind the promenade where they normally gather to feed when the tide is in. Continuing south I headed back to Port Clarence and the old Hargreaves Quarry to try once again for a photo of a Long-eared Owl. This was the third time I'd tried for a photo.

I located three of them in no time at all and managed to get within 40 yards for a photo. Luckily two were perched in the same tree and I managed a couple of shots of them though partially obstructed by the branches.

At least it was a good ending to a mediocre morning.

Nice shot of the owl Ian, the Dene will be a more productive area later in the year.

Spent the day in the Druridge bay area myself triyng to get a few shots of birds, but very cold and windy so only a distant shot of whoopers for my troubles.

Your day didn't turn out half-bad, did it?

I really like the shot of the owls. I'm still waiting to find them in the wild for myself.

It's been a bright sunny day here today, and I probably should have gone out to see what I could find, but it was just too cold. I think our high was about 17F, and it's to drop into the single digits tonight. Brrrr!