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

Northumbrian Birding (1 Viewer)

just spent an hour at castle island, which was quite busy, lots of mud there atmo.

2 sub race canada geese there amoungst 100 flock of `regular` types. WIll try and work out what they were for the little info online: the white band on face was narrow, with more browny plumage below the black neck, one birds had yellow ring around the eye, about 10% smaller than the other birds, also were nervous or my prescence.

3 little gulls, 1 black tailed godwit, 1 common tern, 2 singin lesser whitethroats north sideo of river.

update: possibly Taverner's Canada Goose, best i can find that matches.I think the white on the face was even narrower than pic below:

http://www.camacdonald.com/birding/Hotspots/CanadaGoose.JPG

OFcourse, highly likely to be `plastic` or semi feral. worth a pic though if any one with a camera has some free time....
 
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woodhornbirder said:
just spent an hour at castle island, which was quite busy, lots of mud there atmo.

2 sub race canada geese there amoungst 100 flock of `regular` types. WIll try and work out what they were for the little info online: the white band on face was narrow, with more browny plumage below the black neck, one birds had yellow ring around the eye, about 10% smaller than the other birds, also were nervous or my prescence.

3 little gulls, 1 black tailed godwit, other birds of note.

update: possibly Taverner's Canada Goose, best i can find that matches.I think the white on the face was even narrower than pic below:

http://www.camacdonald.com/birding/Hotspots/CanadaGoose.JPG

OFcourse, highly likely to be `plastic` or semi feral. worth a pic though if any one with a camera has some free time....
Click to expand...

Were they possibly just juvenile Canadas? When they are not fully grown, the facial patch is ill defined and smaller, the body plumage is browner and obviously they're a little smaller than the adults. I was watching very similar birds at Bishop Middleham this week thinking how different they looked to accompanying adults.

If they were full adults, the gene pool of many feral flocks isn't pure. A flock I regularly watch at Herrington CP contains birds most winters with solid chin straps (a quoted feature of Taverners) and varying breast colours and sizes. I've never seen any with white neck rings there though.
Feral flocks are a bit of a mess!

Mark
 
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`juvenile Canadas? `

last years brood you mean? Unless they fledged in march this year, they looked too developed to be this years young.ALthough i suppose mid april was 9 weeks ago.....

`Feral flocks are a bit of a mess!` yup!

I had the gut feeling that the flock werent local breeding birds, they were acting like a grp of birds that had recently flown in. The local geese ignore people on the river bank, as tehre are constant stream of daog walker. joogers and assorted yobs/birders/rif raf and other malingerers!

I thought it odd that one of the birds had a distinct yellow eye ring. I doubt a younger bird of same type CG would be differnt this way, but this species seems so variable and interbreed its hard to know!
 
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woodhornbirder said:
`juvenile Canadas? `

last years brood you mean? Unless they fledged in march this year, they looked too developed to be this years young.ALthough i suppose mid april was 9 weeks ago.....
Click to expand...

No, I meant this years young. Canadas (and Greylags) seem to vary quite a bit with laying times. At a moorland res. last week, I saw Greylags which were 3/4 grown (not far off flying) and also fluffy goslings. Same situation with Canadas last week - 'nearly as adult' juvs and also fluffy goose-lets. Not sure how long it takes juvs to get from fluffy and cute to big and noisey?

Not aware of any significance with eye rings and no mention in BWP. Certainly not a racial feature.
 
Who Says Groppers Are Shy?

I was standing chatting to another birder at East Chevington this morning when I became aware of the sound of a grasshopper warbler reeling somewhere behind me. I turned around to see if I could spot it and saw this.
 

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I'd have more chance of seeing a gropper dancing on the top of a fencepost than I'd have of seeing any work come out of that set of underachievers today, that's for sure.
 
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As I arrived at East Chev this morning Barred Wobbler informed me that the visitors centre at Hauxley burnt down this morning. :C

On a brighter note, we almost have mud on the North pool at East Chev and as a consequence there were four Black-Tailed Godwits (three in summer plum), about ten Curlew and a nice Roseate Tern in the growing Tern roost.

The Green Sandpiper was still at Backworth pond this morning as well.
 
Apparently the fire occured late last night. The fire service turned up at about 11.30 and the cause is so far unknown. I've not been myself, but I'm told the centre looks almost normal from the car-park, but beyond that it is gutted.

It's only a couple of years old.
 
On another brighter note, I'd been wondering in the past few days if the severe floods of 2008 had damaged the prospects of the colony of banded demoiselles on the Coquet just above Warkworth. They like slow-moving water with a silty bottom and the place where they had been recorded in the previous 5 years or so had developed from a gravelly condition over time. The floods washed a considerable amount of silt (and the nearby Black Bridge) away and the gravel river bed is refreshed further downstream. I worried about the prospects.

Happily I found about a dozen male banded demoiselles and couple of females this afternoon, so they've survived.

I also saw a single male at a pond I visited earlier looking for other stuff, I wasn't aware that they were at that site.

Good news.
 

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With reference to Hauxley the NWT team asked me if I could get some information out so here is the full text of their news release from this morning:

Northumberland Wildlife Trust’s Hauxley Visitor Centre has been destroyed by fire.

The Fire Brigade was called to the site between 1am and 1.30am this morning (Monday 28 June). It took the crew an hour to put out the blaze. Fire Investigation officers are currently at the site sifting through the debris.

The Visitor Centre was open to visitors all year round and offered
magnificent panoramic views across the whole of Druridge Bay. On a clear day, visitors could see Souter Lighthouse near South Shields, 25 miles away.

A huge variety of birds from all over the world visit Hauxley throughout the year to rest, feed and nest, which means that no season is the same.

The Centre was very popular with bird watchers, tourists and residents of the area. The building was also used for education classes and by community groups such as the Astronomical Society. It is estimated that over 10,000 people visited the building each year.

Hauxley Nature Reserve forms part of a suite of reserves across the Druridge Bay area. Each site is distinct and helps form a chain of land managed for wildlife along the coast which is part of a living landscape.

The Reserve was purchased by Northumberland Wildlife Trust in
1983. Prior to that date, the area was part of the Radcliffe
open-cast coal mine. The Reserve covers an area of 21 ha and comprises a large lake with five islands surrounded by woodland.

The Hauxley site is best known for its birds but also plays host to some fabulous flowers including: kidney vetch, viper’s bugloss, bloody cranesbill and northern marsh orchid, making it an ideal place to spot a large variety of butterflies.

The fire is believed to have started in the office area of the timber built centre and spread rapidly throughout the rest of Centre. The building has been totally gutted and will need to be demolished.

The Centre held records of wildlife sightings along the whole of Druridge Bay which had been collected over many years. Vital survey and research information has also been lost in the blaze.

There has been a history of arson in the area with bird hides at the wildlife charity’s East Chevington reserve in Northumberland and Big Waters on the outskirts of Newcastle being set alight and last year, the Visitors Centre was broken into.

The incident has left staff at the Trust and bird watchers across the Region deeply distressed and, to add insult to injury, the building’s turf roof was home to a number of nesting birds and their chicks.

It is even more upsetting as Tony Tynan, who founded Northumberland Wildlife Trust almost 40 years ago, celebrated his 80th birthday on Saturday (26th June). His family have already begun preparations for the installation of a Sand martin bank at the Hauxley site to encourage these birds to nest there.

Mike Pratt, Northumberland Wildlife Trust Chief Executive said:
“This is horrendous blow for the Trust, its supporters and the wildlife on the site which will undoubtedly have been traumatised
by the blaze and increased human activity.”

He continued: “Our immediate focus is in make the site safe but we will then look to the future and the re-construction of this important site that so many people enjoy; we will be launching a public appeal to help us achieve this.”
 
Hauxley shame

What a shame - just heard about this. I can see why arson is suspected due to the track record in this area. If it is, I just can't get my head round why some people would s**t on their own doorstep like this.

You almost hope it's some freak electrical fault so you can retain your belief in people and have some hope that exposure to wildlife would actually benefit them. Idealistic I know.
 
Andy Atkinson said:
What a shame - just heard about this. I can see why arson is suspected due to the track record in this area. If it is, I just can't get my head round why some people would s**t on their own doorstep like this.

You almost hope it's some freak electrical fault so you can retain your belief in people and have some hope that exposure to wildlife would actually benefit them. Idealistic I know.
Click to expand...

The BBC report last night was emphasising the arson angle, but the fact that the press release says "The fire is believed to have started in the office area of the timber built centre and spread rapidly throughout the rest of Centre. " seems to indicate a less controversial source.

Let's hope so.
 
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