Mark Harper
World Birder
Last weekend I moved into my new home on the Shearwater estate in Whitburn, County Durham. It is on the edge of Whitburn Coastal Park and about 300 metres from the sea, which can just be seen through a gap in the houses from the spare bedroom. There is great potential for a good garden list, as in the last two years I have seen over 170 species within a mile of my new house. In fact the previous owner was a birder and recorded Barred, Yellow-browed and Greenish Warblers all in the garden, despite having a cat and the garden being largely paved over with just a few trees. It is my intention to create a more wildlife friendly garden and hopefully this will bring in a few good birds. I will be keeping a record her of the improvements to the garden and the species seen in and from the garden.
Not much time to look for birds in the first few days other than brief tea breaks in the garden. I did however eventually get around to setting up the telescope in the spare bedroom to add a few seabirds to the list.
The list so far:-
1. Starling
2. Woodpigeon
3. House Martin
4. Herring Gull
5. Sparrowhawk
6. Feral Pigeon
7. Carrion Crow
8. House Sparrow
9. Linnet
10. Goldfinch
11. Swallow
12. Black-headed Gull
13. Magpie
14. Jackdaw
15. Collared Dove
16. Blue Tit
17. Tree Sparrow
18. Greenfinch
19. Gannet
20. Kittiwake
21. Sandwich Tern
22. Great Black-backed Gull
23. Swift
24. Guillemot
25. Fulmar
26. Manx Shearwater
27. Arctic Skua
28. Common Tern
Not much time to look for birds in the first few days other than brief tea breaks in the garden. I did however eventually get around to setting up the telescope in the spare bedroom to add a few seabirds to the list.
The list so far:-
1. Starling
2. Woodpigeon
3. House Martin
4. Herring Gull
5. Sparrowhawk
6. Feral Pigeon
7. Carrion Crow
8. House Sparrow
9. Linnet
10. Goldfinch
11. Swallow
12. Black-headed Gull
13. Magpie
14. Jackdaw
15. Collared Dove
16. Blue Tit
17. Tree Sparrow
18. Greenfinch
19. Gannet
20. Kittiwake
21. Sandwich Tern
22. Great Black-backed Gull
23. Swift
24. Guillemot
25. Fulmar
26. Manx Shearwater
27. Arctic Skua
28. Common Tern