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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Northumbrian Birding (13 Viewers)

Red-necked grebe in Amble this morning - the sheltered harbour between the jetty and the small beach (forget the name temporarily) and ringed mediterranean gull (YJU7) on the grass with the black-heads.

Drake pintail (at least one) on the budge fields with much increased numbers of ducks in general - lots of wigeon, teal and shoveller.

Small groups of Whooper swans at Ellington and just off Sheepwash Road and a single at Bothal Pond.
 
Great North Park

Female Peregrine waiting on over Gosforth Park Hotel then shot off across wind down the A1 toward FawdonB :) Report of a large Female Goshawk in the area,sorry I have no more info at present
 
13 Purple Sandpipers at Goswick early afternoon but no sign of Green-winged Teal at the Lough in fleeting visit. I was part of a walking society today so not really enough time to birdwatch properly.
 
Superb shots Gordon.

East Allen Valley, waders starting to arrive with good size flocks of Lapwing and Golden Plover, Black Grouse starting to gather but difficult in todays high winds and at times blizzard conditions (they tend to shelter in high winds) some good flocks of Fieldfare and interestingly a group of 19 Skylark dropped into a roadside field during a heavy snow shower at Haggburn Gate (W of Allendale).

First Curlew of year bubbling and a pair of displaying Lapwing in same area.
 
Vipers said:
Cracking Shots Gordon!! :t:
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Thanks, Gents; considering your photography prowess, the compliments are very much appreciated. :t:

I guess after several 000 attempts, getting a few decent captures has been earned. That said, the stoat was within 12 feet for what seemed like an hour but would have been a minute until it saw Yours Truly, whereby it did its 'back legs' tricks and then away it went. Made a change for the camera to be in the hand and not the boot of the car! :-O
 
had a walk over Simonside hills yesterday..nothing exciting loads of crossbills,siskins,tits and GSW..hiked up to the ironage fort lots of skylark about as well as Buzzards dualling overhead,stopped off at Arcot on the way home(whats going on there new fences and gates?)..final stop was the Village Hotel Pond where a fine Goosander was on show
 
Oh, how I wish I was a better birder!

Was out on my bike for a couple of hours Saturday afternoon, and had some good sightings in and around Bothal/Ashington/River Wansbeck, and then several species I just could not identify!

Started off with a field full of fieldfare (50+), redwing (10+) and starling (100+) on the way down into Bothal off the Morpeth-Ashington road, but then saw a flock of around 50 smaller birds swooping around in a non-stop display. Watched them for fully 20 minutes and still no idea what they were! Finch/bunting size, and continually "dancing" and swooping together over a fallow field. I was a good 200m away, so could not hear any calling or song, and my binoculars must need a good clean as I could not get a prolonged good view of them (and I was kind of looking into the sun....ahem!). They occasionally swooped down altogether, seeming to pause over the weeds about to land, before lifting again en-masse and carrying on with their swooping! Lovely to watch, frustrating not to have a clue!

Further round through the village to Bothal lake, there were again a good number of wigeon and a solitary goldeneye, and the fields across to Ashington held 6 Whooper swan and a mixed flock of geese, again too distant for my amateur knowledge and cr@p bins to identify!!
 
lazza. I was out yesterday and looking at the same fieldfare/redwing flock with my 10 yo son who is just getting into birding. We had a flock of maybe 25 linnets behaving as you describe, over the cabbage field on the left before the first right bend in the road. The thrushes were fantastic in the good light, weren't they? My son was impressed - he couldn't recall seeing either species before.
 
Negrounder said:
lazza. I was out yesterday and looking at the same fieldfare/redwing flock with my 10 yo son who is just getting into birding. We had a flock of maybe 25 linnets behaving as you describe, over the cabbage field on the left before the first right bend in the road. The thrushes were fantastic in the good light, weren't they? My son was impressed - he couldn't recall seeing either species before.
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THANKS :) That's exactly where they were. Linnet seems to fit, as they did seem to have a rufous coloration as they turned in the sunlight (although I was not even sure of that!)

Yes, the thrushes were beautiful, and as you say, great light for picking out the colours. I was surprised how approachable they were, as I stopped several times at the gaps in the hedges and the birds were just on the other side. Also, for me, the first time I have really heard the Fieldfare's chuckling sound. Did you also get some mistle thrush in the flock? Was not sure if I picked a couple up to start with, but then could not find them!
 
Went out to check on the Bothal Linnets this morning, and there was still a flock of around 15 at the far side of the fields, and a separate, larger flock which settled in trees nearer to the Morpeth-Ashington road. And without a bike in tow this time, was able to walk a little along the footpath, and with Negrounder's advice in mind, confirmed both flocks of birds as linnets.

On Bothal pond, a second goldeneye (female) has arrived, and also my first Shelduck of 2012. There were also around 50 lapwing and a couple of (juvenile?) cormorant in addition to the usual groups of Wigeon and Canada Geese.

Over towards Ashington, the 6 Whooper swans are still on the fields, and had been joined by around 50 whitefront geese. My identification capabilities rather let me down again, so I am not sure which race, but I would probably say mostly Greenland, as I think they were mostly orange billed (is that diagnostic?). Also my first singing skylark of the year.
 
Sorry I didnt reply earlier lazza. Didn't catch the mistle thrush, but then again with two 10 year olds in tow, we didnt have time to pick carefully through every bird!

Glad you saw the linnets - nice to get a decent flock - best I've seen for ages.

Re the whitefronts. Most of the whitefronts around this winter have been European, rather than Greenland. The bill colour never looks terribly pink to me on Euorpeans - usually only very diagnostic if you can happen to get both forms in one flock (which is not at all easily done, and indeed Northumberland may be one of the most likely places for this to happen).
 
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