Durham Birding (2 Viewers)

[StevieEvans]

Been for a ride on the bike today up Weardale and Teesdale among the birds seen were several Buzzards in Weardale ( surprisingly a common sight this year in Weardale ), my first Spotted Flycatchers of the year by the river at Frosterley, 3 Yellow Wagtails at Grassholme reservoir, Male Redstart and Nuthatch by the Tees at Bowlees, A Little Owl sitting on a roadside telegraph pole at Newbiggin, Tree Pipit on the edge of Hamsterley Forest and a male Cuckoo at Dryderdale.

Hi John
Nice ride out.
Interesting Little Owl sighting, this is the most westerly location for them in Teesdale.

Welcome Daz
Some good variety on that list.
Pity about the swan nest, where was it? (thankfully that sort of thing isnt as ripe as it used to be.)
What kinda habitat was the Y / G Wagtail seen....?

~

Pair of Hobbies hunting Swifts this morning over Roker, continued the amazing Raptor-Run.

Skelly
Lambton Bridge - this afternoon.
Dipper still taking food to nest
Grey Wag pr + fledged young
2M 1F Goosander

Bishop Middleham Area (3 pools) - this afternoon.
Shelduck - pr with 9 chicks (couple of days old)
Shoveller - 3pr + 3M (2 of the Males very aggressive; Shoveller drakes defend territories)
Gadwall - 6pr+ (still on increase & expanding range)
Little Ringed Plover - 2M at 2 sites
Heron - 1 juvenile
Good no's of Swallows, Sand & House Martins (HM's collecting myd for nests)
Corn Bunting - only 1singing at StoneyBeck, but 4 singing Castle Lake
Yellow Wagtail - 2 StoneyBeck & 6+ Castle Lake, (several in & out of crops)
Tree Sparrow - 6 each at both Stoney & Castle Lakes
Small nos of Reed Bunt, Yellowhammer, Linnet, Skylark, Chaffy, Bullfinch, Goldfinch,
Little Owl - 1 ad in usual tree at Stoney & 1 heard at Castle Lake.
Stock Dove - 2 pairs seen
singles of Kestrel & Sparhawk - both M's

SE

 

[Daz]

Stevie,

The Swan Nest was at a place known as Thompsons Pond, A.K.A. the Wellfield pond, at the bottom of Moor Lane Wingate. These Swans have been nesting here for the last 13 years. I have my suspicions who has done it, but obviously no proof.

The Wagtail was seen near a stream close to a bridge near the Coast road entrance to the dene.

D.

 

[Skelly]

The House Martins at Bishop Middleham were quite obliging when I stuck the camera out of the car window.

There's a pair already in a nest on the house next door to me and a pair currently constructing a nest. There was nearly a battle when a third HM tried to muscle in on the nest.

B

 

[StevieEvans]

Unfortunate

Just had a check of Whitburn Birding's submission pages .......

Oh dear........

SE.

 

[IanF]

Oops!

Someone's been naughty!

 

[Gill Osborne]

Whoops - has somebody been telling porkies then

Fascinating reading about the various moth species though...what fantastic names they have! I wouldn't know one from t' other LOL Not my strong point...think I need to go on a moth trapping night at some point.

* or take moths up instead of birds...let THEM come to me instead of me chasing after them like that 'avocet' at Hauxley yesterday!!!* :storm:

Gill

 

[StevieEvans]

Enjoyed a full evening of birding, adding 2 yr ticks (spotfly & Nightjar)

from the old R.Wear bridge at Sunderland Bridge. NZ 265 376approx.
Spotted Flycatchers - x2, both flycatching, 1 upstream & 1 downstream.
G.S.Wpkr - pr taking food into easily observed nest hole in small dead Ash tree, just upriver (viewed from bridge)
Goldcrest - singing male
Nuthatch - 1 ad feeding & calling
Grey Wagtail - Male collecting food
Pied Wagtail - pr on bridge
Mistle Thrush - 1 carrying food
Jay - 1 heard only
Heron, Dabchick & Moorhen- single adults.
Swallow, Jackdaw & Feral Pigeon - all nesting under A 167 road bridge

walk to Croxdale Hall
Treecreeper - single adult
Bullfinch, Goldfinch & Stock Dove - pairs seen
Spotted Flycatcher - pair close to traditional nest site
Long tail Tit - family of 5+ at riverside
Blackcap & Garden Warbler - both singing at Hall

Brandon Village - West Brandon - Morley Lane
Little Owl - one a point blank range, adjacent to graveyard
Curlew - pr which appeared to have young, by their actions
Kestrel - hunting Male over young conifers
Long-eared Owl - hunting Male over field headland
Green Woodpecker - calling bird heard twice
Meadow Pipit - 3+ displaying
Grey Partridge - 1 pair
Lesser Redpoll - a noisy single flew overhead
Woodcock - single roder

Hamsterley 3 seperate areas (dusk till 23:15)
Nightjar x 7-8 churring / contact calling (3 seen)
Tawny Owl - 3ads seen, several juvs & many adults heard
Woodcock - 1 on ground in car park, 1 roding & 1 in flight.
Snipe - 3-4 heard drumming & 'tick-tocking'
Long-eared Owl - silhouetted adult seen, it/another heard

SE

 

[StevieEvans]

Stunning male RED BACKED SHRIKE at Whitburn.
Still present at 2PM, favouring the Northern End of the 2nd mound to the south of the Lighthouse.
Seen on fencing, feeding on a variety of different coloured caterpillars.
also Kestrel, Linnets, fledgling Meadow Pipit, Reed Bunting, Starling families.


Hi Gill,

Whoops - has somebody been telling porkies then

You'd think so wouldnt you......... but thats not the case !
Unfortunately this type of character assasination is one of the pit falls of internet sites... envy is a terrible thing.....
& has the potential to spoil what is a 1st class local website.
SE

 

[Barred Wobbler]

Stunning male RED BACKED SHRIKE at Whitburn.
Still present at 2PM, favouring the Northern End of the 2nd mound to the south of the Lighthouse.
Seen on fencing, feeding on a variety of different coloured caterpillars.
also Kestrel, Linnets, fledgling Meadow Pipit, Reed Bunting, Starling families.


Hi Gill,

You'd think so wouldnt you......... but thats not the case !
Unfortunately this type of character assasination is one of the pit falls of internet sites... envy is a terrible thing.....
& has the potential to spoil what is a 1st class local website.
SE

The shrike at Whitburn has just been reported on Birdguides as a Woodchat, after previously being reported as a female, then a male Red Backed. Surely a mistake?

EDIT. They've just corrected it. It's not a woodchat anymore.

 

[Gill Osborne]

You'd think so wouldnt you......... but thats not the case !
Unfortunately this type of character assasination is one of the pit falls of internet sites... envy is a terrible thing.....
& has the potential to spoil what is a 1st class local website.
SE

I thought it must be somebody just getting a tad jealous.....really sad isn't it! Gosh, if I was envious of every bird that others had seen and I'd dipped out on I'd be in a permanent state of envy!!!

You certainly seem to get some super birds down that way - I MUST pay a visit soon! And the website IS extremely good - I'm sure most folk just ignore the occasional whinging comment! It's just human nature after all....

Gill

 

[StevieEvans]

Heres a picture of a male Linnet, er sorry no a female, er sorry male Woodchat.....


Alan,
I think BirdGuides should be crediting peoples Text alert accounts when they're getting it wrong like that....

Yes Gill,
Mark Newsomes site is excellent & its realy creating a great amount of interest & enthusiasm for birders in that part of Durham.

Houghton Gate
Redshank with small chicks at Houghton Gate & Oystercatcher pair watched changing over incubating duties at the nest.
SE

 

[Stewart J.]

(Yes Gill,
Mark Newsomes site is excellent & its realy creating a great amount of interest & enthusiasm for birders in that part of Durham. )

Any chance of posting a link for us peasants out in the sticks.

Cheers all

Stewart

:hi:

 

[StevieEvans]

Hi Stewart

Sorry pheasant, i didnt think !

http://www.whitburnbirding.co.uk/index.htm

Loads of info & pics on there.
SE

 

[Quacker]

Lovely photo of my favourite bird Stevie. How that pretty fella was first reported as a female is beyond me. This was going out on the pager with me stuck at work.

As for the text alerts you mentioned, I've turned mine off because they were always too late (11pm in winter) or just reports of Waxwing all the time.

Now I have the pager - it's a bit better.

Steve

 

[Stewart J.]

Hi Stewart

Sorry pheasant, i didnt think !

http://www.whitburnbirding.co.uk/index.htm

Loads of info & pics on there.
SE

Thanks Stevie it is an excellent site.

Stewart

B

 

[IanF]

Now it's just a RB Shrike I don't mind so much missing it - Lol!

Nice photo Steve :t:

 

[Skelly]

Red Backed Shrike

Cheers for the info Stevie, managed to get a great view of the bird.

Also got my first Gannets for the year, flying south over the sea. Good numbers of Kittiwake, Fulmar and Herring Gulls. Also a few nesting Shags.

Elsewhere;

Boldon Flats

Pair of Grey Partridge
Greylag Goose
Canada Goose
Lapwing
Moorhen
Coot

Houghton Gate

Two pairs of Shelduck (One with young)
Oystercatcher
Redshank
Coot
Lapwing

B

 

[StevieEvans]

Fly-through ROSE COLOURED STARLiNG at .........
yes, you guessed......Whitburn
I think this was found by a Northumbrian BF member (JM ?)

Hopefully it'll be on "Look North" by the weekend
:- in someones garden with a short piece of footage showing loads of birders peering over the garden fence.....

Whats next then, Marsh Warbler, Spoonbill, Red footed Falcon....?

Houghton Gate
Plenty of young birds about, all these had young:-
Lapwing, Redshank, Shelduck, Mallard, Skylark, Mistle Thrush, Crow, Blackbird.
Surprisingly a flock of 38 Lapwings flew in to join the residents. These were all full plumaged adults....presumably failed breeders....?
The pr of Lapwing closest the road were launching a sustained airial assault on a cock Pheasant. The female Pheasant wasnt harrassed at all, but the Lapwings, especially the male tried his hardest to scare the cock Pheas.
The Pheasant didnt budge an inch, not even flinched even on the times when the diving Lapwing made contact !
Have seen this before several times, but the Pheasants usually either duck, run or jump
SE

 

[Quacker]

Went to see the Red Backed Shrike this evening - still showing well until we left around 8.20pm - this time it was showing near the pond, or the field to the left of the sea-watching obs as you approach it from the housing estate if you know the area. It's very mobile as often appears nearer the lighthouse a little to the north - it's roost site appears to be the latter.

There's a very obvious "shrike bush" about 50 yard are so into the field - these bramble nearby also hosts a Reed Bunting's nest so I guess mr & mrs Binting are fed up with Shrike, and Linnets perching on the doorstep.

No further sign of the Rosy Starling despite half of CO. Durham apparently searching for it today.

Steve

 

[StevieEvans]

Lambton Bridge, Ch-le-St
Had a pleasant 45mins mid evening.
Grid ref: NZ284524
www.multimap.com/map/browse.cgi?lat=54.8656&lon=-1.5591&scale=25000&icon=x

moulting drake Goosander hauled out on gravel, looking odd with dirty white flanks, blood red bill having lost its colour & green head both very drab & altogether lacklustre in appearance.
pr Tufted Duck
11M & 4F Mallard (also broods of 8 & 2)
pr Grey Wagtails & the pr of Dippers both still very active & taking food to their nests. (Dipper chicks very noisy now)
2 ad Grey Heron
1 Cormorant with an eel which was almost as thick as the birds head.
ad Kingfisher perched under bridge & then fishing downstream.
1 ad Moorhen
ad LBBGUll up & down river
Also Sand Martin, Swift, Song Thrush, Blackbird, Mistle Thrush, Great tit, Blue tit, Goldcrest, fledged Jackdaw
SE