Northumbrian Birding (6 Viewers)

[degsy_safc]

Stoaty made an appearance and i had a good few shots of the Whoopers passing overhead..

 

[Boro Birder]

Nice afternoon, met up with a good few friendly faces i haven't seen for a while in glorious Northumberland..

The highlights being 46 Whoopers, Merlin, Sanderling, Redshank, Kestrel, Barn Owl & M&F Stonechat..

Quite a crowd present for barnie, so my theory of positioning myself away from the masses worked pretty well i think, reckon i had the best seats in the house :t:

Excellent pics Derek, hope you got my reply to your PM this morning, will be in touch mid-week pal.

Damian

 

[Mark Newsome]

Bit of a poor show from Birdguides today . . .

11.55 find a Bewick's Swan (county rarity) with 62 Whoopers at Widdrington Moor Lake

11.58 tweeted out by @MutSwan and at 12.05 by @joe_dobinson

17.03 Birdguides finally get round to adding it to the sightings list, 5 hours late :C

Out of interest, when did the the finders/observers pass the news on to Birdguides?

Mark

 

[Nutcracker]

Out of interest, when did the the finders/observers pass the news on to Birdguides?

Mark

Birdguides follow both those two twitter accounts; the Ross's Goose tweeted a bit earlier was put out straight away. The Bewick's was also picked up by the pagers straight away.

 

[Adam W]

It seems a little unfair to criticise Birdguides for not taking it upon themselves to put out news that people haven't actually reported to them regardless of whether they may or may not have been aware of it through other sources.

 

[Nutcracker]

It seems a little unfair to criticise Birdguides for not taking it upon themselves to put out news that people haven't actually reported to them regardless of whether they may or may not have been aware of it through other sources.

But it had been reported to them, through twitter.

 

[Adam W]

But it had been reported to them, through twitter.

As in someone sent a tweet direct to Birdguides for the purpose of reporting it to them? If so then fair point but I got the impression that Birdguides just happen to follow some people who tweeted about the sighting,If that's the case then I don't see why Birdguides should by obliged to report those sightings or be criticised for not doing so.

 

[Mark Newsome]

The original Bewick's tweets did not mention '@Birdguides'. As you say Adam, a little unfair to criticise. @Birdguides follows 3455 other Twitter users, and it is expecting them to monitor all tweets through the day and notice some local news of a county (not national) scarcity (not rarity). Someone may pick it up, but maybe just on a sweep of Twitter messages later in the evening. If it was considered that news needed to be officially broadcast immediately, there are other established routes.

Mark

 

[super-silly-um]

The original Bewick's tweets did not mention '@Birdguides'. As you say Adam, a little unfair to criticise. @Birdguides follows 3455 other Twitter users, and it is expecting them to monitor all tweets through the day and notice some local news of a county (not national) scarcity (not rarity). Someone may pick it up, but maybe just on a sweep of Twitter messages later in the evening. If it was considered that news needed to be officially broadcast immediately, there are other established routes.

Mark

Exactly. Nutcracker knows the score and should stop moaning :t:

 

[brianr]

But it had been reported to them, through twitter.

And your point is ?

 

[lazza]

A good selection of ducks at Bothal Pond, in misty conditions this morning, included 7 shelduck, 5 goldeneye, 3 pochard, 80-or-so wigeon, handfuls of teal, mallard and tufted duck, plus a single gadwall. 13 mute swans feeding on the grassy field to the east of the pond split up as I arrived, 8 taking off and heading south, the other 5 heading out onto the water, while it was also good to see several little grebe

 

[Michael A]

Little Owl

Seem to be quite a few pairs of these little chaps in the north east.
Watched this one today as it stood in the open preening for over 30 mins.
http://www.trampsandhawkers.co.uk/gallery/

 

[Steve_Halstead]

4 months to go....

Raptor points, kielder forest will be nice to see this time.

Boat trip to holy island

God, its getting me through the weeks just thinking about it!

 

[lazza]

Excellent views of a kingfisher on the Wansbeck in Morpeth this afternoon, on the stretch of river behind the new Morrisons up to the blue foot bridge, and also along the small burn that joins the Wansbeck at Tommy's fields allotments. Watched it fishing from tree branches for c15 minutes at 2pm today, and sitting on a rock at the river's edge eating a catch! A pair of goosander also fished downstream and several singing goldcrest could be heard along the path behind Morrisons. A grey wagtail was also still present on the gravel river's edge just upstream from the footbridge.

Heading home, I had my first chiffchaff of the year singing from trees in Allery Banks allotments.

All in all, a lovely, sunny Spring day out there!

 

[Ray.Scott]

Snow Goose in with skeen of pinkies, over Hauxley reserve, yesterday.
Barn Owl x 2 at Cresswell early yesterday morning in the heavy fog.

 

[MalR]

I love that barn owl shot, Ray. It's like a painting. Wonderfully atmospheric.

Malcolm

 

[Steve_Halstead]

Excellent views of a kingfisher on the Wansbeck in Morpeth this afternoon, on the stretch of river behind the new Morrisons up to the blue foot bridge, and also along the small burn that joins the Wansbeck at Tommy's fields allotments. Watched it fishing from tree branches for c15 minutes at 2pm today, and sitting on a rock at the river's edge eating a catch! A pair of goosander also fished downstream and several singing goldcrest could be heard along the path behind Morrisons. A grey wagtail was also still present on the gravel river's edge just upstream from the footbridge.

Heading home, I had my first chiffchaff of the year singing from trees in Allery Banks allotments.

All in all, a lovely, sunny Spring day out there!

Off the top of your head, where were the stiltie and the pratincoles last summer, was that cresswell lakes?

Cheers

 

[super-silly-um]

Nice contrast of seasons today. Fieldfare in field and Wheatear on the road at Fontburn Reservoir. Crossbills and Siskin in nearby forest.

Richard.

 

[The Liverbirder]

Off the top of your head, where were the stiltie and the pratincoles last summer, was that cresswell lakes?

Cheers

Collared Pratincole was at Castle Island 280714, the Black-winged beauty was 23 days earlier at Hurworth Burn Reservoir, Durham and also Holywell Pond about the same time. Stilt Sand was Cresswell and Druridge Pools from 290714 for about a fortnight.

 

[Roomy]

Long Tailed Duck

on the QE2 lake this morning