Cowpen Bewley Woodland Park, Billingham. UK (1 Viewer)

[IanF]

Mid-afternoon on a sunny Saturday probably isn't the best time to go birding but I had a look around anyway - seeing more birds than I expected but fewer dragonflies.

Sedge Warbler, Whitethroat and Goldfinch were all by the car park. A single Grey Wagtail juv. was below the hump bridge again with Mallard x15 above the weir.

Not a great deal seen until reaching the scrapes by the main pond apart from loads of Meadow Brown butterfly and a few Ringlet. A few tatty Speckled Wood still around.

A Broad-bodied Chaser male was quite active over the scrapes and also a Common Hawker. A few Common Darter, a Ruddy Darter and also several Damselfly -Common Blue, Emerald, Azure and Blue Tailed. A swarm of blue ones was over the bay of the main pond. Also in the small hawthorn trees a juvenile Great Spotted Woodpecker. No sign of the Sparrowhawks now - presumably they've all fledged and earlier disturbed.

It was nice to meet Ray there and Francis one of the voluntary wardens.

No Kingfisher seen though loads of kids along the beck and no Little Owl either.

 

[Ray_S]

Hot Hot Saturday!

Yes Ian it was good to meet you again, next time its your turn for the ice-creams
Mainly went today for bugs, etc. as I was testing out an extension tube. Found a spider having lunch!
Never managed to get that elusive dragonfly to land so gave up eventually.
I too went back via the beck and spotted the group of kids having fun jumping into the beck from the concrete weir.
There was a yellowhammer in the Hawthorn by the bridge over the beck making lots of noise.
I have included a pic of the caterpilars I was talking about, the week before there were hundreds of them all over the yellow flowers, now only a few,the closest I can get to an ID is for the Cinnabar moth, I think I have seen a few of these and I mistook them for Burnet moths at the time but I now see they are slightly different. Back to moth hunting next time!

 

[IanF]

A little late getting up this morning so I settled for another wander around the Park.

Sedge Warbler x2 still singing by the car park and a Grey Wagtail juv. still by the hump bridge. A Grey Heron seems to like the area 100yds down stream from the bridge as I've seen one here a few times now. Today it was stood in the beck rather than on the bank.

Sparrowhawks were back in place as well with the mother sat on the dead tree. For a while she seemed to be choking badly until she eventually coughed up a large pellet finally throwing it out as she took off. The young were in the bushes by the dead tree.

Also in that corner was a Great Spotted Woodpecker juvenile again which was joined by an adult.

The scrapes held two Common Hawker again - both females and were battling on several occasions. Several Common Darter and loads of smaller dragonflies.

No sign of the Kingfishers but as mentioned before it's seldom I see them in the morning.

On reaching the cycleway I met another birder and we wandered along to see the Little Owl. One took off from the nest tree as we approached flying across to the beck side trees. We carried on along the cycleway seeing Yellowhammer and Whitethroat and on reaching the tree favoured by the Tree Sparrow another one flew out also heading over to the beck.

Retracing our steps my companion spotted another Little Owl sat near the top of the first tree we came to. It proved very obliging for photos and views.

Nothing else new seen on the way back to the car park.

 

[Ray_S]

Fleeting visit over lunchtime as it was blazing sunshine again, burnt yesterday so learning my lesson today
Mainly after bugs again.
Went straight across to the meadow and found common blue and painted lady, then by the pylon could hear and eventually found a grasshopper.
Plenty of darters at the scrapes, not sure if one of them is a yellow winged darter or not!

 

[IanF]

Fleeting visit over lunchtime as it was blazing sunshine again, burnt yesterday so learning my lesson today
Mainly after bugs again.
Went straight across to the meadow and found common blue and painted lady, then by the pylon could hear and eventually found a grasshopper.
Plenty of darters at the scrapes, not sure if one of them is a yellow winged darter or not!

Lol! I leant that too! Hence the floppy hat I wear now

Great macro shots. Not sure about the darter seeing it from that angle. Yellow-winged would be unusual - a large area of yellow on the wings themseleves would clinch it though. My gut feeling though is Common Darter especially wwith the yellow leg markings.

 

[Ray_S]

Yeah, I wasnt sure about the darter either, but it was the first one I had seen that had a yellow cast to the wing centres, it looks very similar to the BDS image:

www.dragonflysoc.org.uk/photos/syflam1.jpg

 

[IanF]

Yeah, I wasnt sure about the darter either, but it was the first one I had seen that had a yellow cast to the wing centres, it looks very similar to the BDS image:

www.dragonflysoc.org.uk/photos/syflam1.jpg

The Common Darter has a small area of yellow on the wing centres as well but on the YW it's much larger. I'm still trying to pick up the intricacies of the ID features as well. I'll probably just start to get the hang of them when they all disappear again

 

[IanF]

Very dull and misty this morning but still quite warm.

Not a great deal seen between the car park and the main pond. The pond held the usual Tufted Duck, Mallard, Coot, Moorhen and Mute Swan pair. No sign of the Sparrowhawks on the dead tree but as I walked around towards the hide corner one of the juveniles was sat on the 'Car Park 615m' finger board. It flew off to the right. Reed Wablers were calling in the corner of the pond plus a Robin and a Wren.

Claxton Beck was pretty quiet as well with the most noteworthy sightings being a pair of young Grey Wagtail perched on the new pipe.

I reached the cycleway at the same time as a couple of TBC members who'd come to see the Little Owl so we wandered along the track together. One was sat in the tree by the gate so we got a good look at it before moving closer. Eventually it flew off to one of the other trees. We then came across another one a juvenile this time that gave even better views from a much closer distance. It moved between the trees but never flew off.

Yellowhammer, Linnet and Whitethroat were in the hedges.

I then headed along the path towards Greatham a couple of hundred yards to check on the Tree Sparrows. A more remarkable sight though were four Kestrel sat amongst the stubble of the recently harvested field. One was sat on a post by the plastic wrapped haystacks and the others on the laid straw piles. Presumeably the youngsters from the nests nearby practicing their hunting.

Also in the same field was a large flock of Lapwing number 300+. Overhead several flights of Greylag Goose - in groups of 3, 5 and one group around 25.

Much the same seen heading back over with the Little Owl juv. still giving good views. Also several House Martin, Swallow and a few Swift overhead as the skies brightened.

Walking back alongside Claxton Beck a juvenile Great Spotted woodpecker passed overhead going upstream and nearing the wooden bridge and adult GSW flew into the trees on the side of the hill.

By the time I got back to the main pond the sun had broken through. Several Common Darter and one Common Hawker were over the scrapes. Another Common Hawker was around the bench at the end of the wood heading onto the open field.

 

[IanF]

With the sun coming out at lunch time I figured I'd have a quick look back this afternoon hoping for Kingfisher and Common Hawker.

The Sparrowhawks were creating a racket by the main pond and one of the juveniles by the old hide/shed appeared to be chasing a mixed flock of Long-tailed Tit c.12, Blue Tit and Great Tit. They all landed in the tree beside me and stayed put!

Kingfisher was on it's usual perch again.

Common Hawker x2 over the scrapes plus two Ruddy Darter and several Common Darter and smaller dragonflies. A lovely emerald green coloured female Emperor Dragonfly was flying backward and forwards over the path by the pond - but never settled.

Quite a few tiny frogs and toads by the scrapes and what appeared to be a small lizard c.10cm long - never seen one here before.

 

[IanF]

A late evening visit tonight.

At 8:30pm three Little Owl were sat along the electrified fence posts in the horse field. The juvenile moved onto the fence behind the cycleway hedge whilst the two adults remained on the posts. Meanwhile a pair of Grey Partridge sauntered out of the long grass and were feeding on the ground between the owls.

Heading back to Cloff Bridge three pheasant were crossing the cycleway on the park side of the bridge. A young fox was checking out a family of Mallard on the beck by the new pipeline but ran off on seeing me.

 

[IanF]

Not too bad this morning after all the rain. Bright skies with plenty of sunshine between the broken cloud. A little windy and on the cool side starting off but by mid-morning it was quite warm.

From the car park to the sewage works - Sedge Warbler, Whitethroat and Goldfinch - still singing but not much. Common Blue Damselfly, Common Darter and Ruddy Darter on the scrape.

Boardwalk - Whitethroat, Sedge Warbler, Wren, Willow Warbler and Bullfinch. Mute Swan x4 on the beck with Moorhen, Mallard and a Grey Heron.

Both tracks between the beck and wood were flooded quite deeply and the grass inbetween soggy. The path through the wood though was remarkably dry in comparison. Quite a few birds flitting about but difficult to see but included at least Bullfinch, Blackcap, Willow Warbler and Robin.

Nothing much else through Faith Wood and along the beckside until reaching the cycleway where more Bullfinch and Yellowhammer on it's usual bush by the bridge. Several Goldfinch were in the hawthorns.

The 'owl trees' were empty but the beckside trees held two adults sat in the sun. Three weasels and a mouse ran across the cycleway as I headed north. Swallow x3, Swift x4, House Martin x6, Sand Martin x3 were feeding over the fields. Yellowhammer, Linnet, Whitethroat and Wren were in the track side bushes.

The recently harvested barley field with the trailer held four Kestrels sat around on various rolls of straw. The first roll though had what appeared to be three Little Owl juveniles sat at it's base. They rooted around a while before seeing me and heading off towards the cycleway with two flying north and one south. Must be a population explosion! On checking the trees again I saw one adult in the tees by the farm and one juvenile back in it's usual tree.

I headed back down the cycleway and down the beck to the main pond seeing nothing fresh apart from Grey Wagtail x3 by the confluence of Claxton Beck which was in flood and Cowbridge Beck which was quite low and with clear water. A male Bullfinch was in the bush by the bridge.

The scrapes were pretty quiet with just a few small damselflies and Common Darter.

Three Sparrowhawk were in their usual corner with one sat on the fence and two others in the trees overhead. Also what sounded like an owl bark three times in the densest piece of wood between the track and the pond. I've heard it a few times the last couple of weeks but until today never got a glimpse. It's too dense to go into without creating a racket but I'm pretty much sure it was a Long-eared Owl from the glimpse I got but still not 100% sure.

Another Sparrowhawk juvenile was sat in the bushes in the north corner by the railway line.

Nothing unusual on the Pond itself - Mallard, Moorhen, Coot, Tufted Duck. Mute Swan, Little Grebe.

On arriving back at the pond by the sewage works/car park - two Common Hawker were chasing each other about. Shortly aftwerwards the thunder and rain arrived and I departed!

 

[IanF]

A revisit this morning. I had intended heading west to Bishop Middleham first thing but there's been so much to see here that I just went for anothe wander around here instead.

Much the same as yesterday for weather but perhaps a little brighter though a little windier too!

Straight along the cycleway towards the owls starting off with nothing much of note along the cycleway.

One Little Owl took of from the usual line of trees and headed over to the beck trees. Two juveniles were were sat at the base of the same straw rolls as yesterday. They must like it there - though not for much longer as the farmer was picking up the bales and carting them away starting from the far end of the field. Just three Kestrels sat on the bales today.

I had a look further along the cycleway past the farm but not more owls seen. Plenty of Tree Sparrow, House Sparrow, Linnet, Yellowhammer and Whitethroat. Numbers of hirundines was up as well with around 40 Swift, Swallow and House Martin overhead - though mostly Swallow.

Heading back down the cycleway I met ColinSev who'd located a pair of young Little Owl sat together in the beck bushes. Another juevnile was sat in the third tree along from the gate - almost obliging for photos as it remained in view but sidled behind some leaves all the time peering down at us.

Back along to Cloff Bridge and down alongside the beck. I was stood by the flooded weir when a Kingfisher came gliding upstream over the middle of the weir and contined out of view. Great views from just a few yards clear enough to see it was the female again.

Nothing much else before reaching the scrapes by the main pond apart from two Common Darter which also appeared over the scrapes but didn't hang around for long in the windy conditions. Ruddy Darter, Common Darter and several damselflies were present.

A quick check on the Sparrowhawks showed three sat around in the bushes - but non obliging for photos.

Nothing else new as I headed back to the car park.

 

[Shaggy2070]

what appeared to be a small lizard c.10cm long - never seen one here before.

I'm pretty sure it's a female Smooth Newt.

You seem to be seeing lots of things there Ian, I'll have to find time for a ride down soon.

 

[IanF]

I'm pretty sure it's a female Smooth Newt.

You seem to be seeing lots of things there Ian, I'll have to find time for a ride down soon.

Thanks for that. I'm sure it is as well now. Great Crested Newt I see often enough but I've never seen a common newt here before - at least out of the water.

It's certainly been a good place to visit this summer when things have been quiet elsewhere. I forgot to mention above another weasel seen today surrying across the cycleway.

 

[geordie graham]

I have to say Ian that your photo`s of the little owls are brilliant.The wife and I look forward to seeing them evertime we log on too the site.We are going to try and have a look around the park soon.

Graham

 

[IanF]

I have to say Ian that your photo`s of the little owls are brilliant.The wife and I look forward to seeing them evertime we log on too the site.We are going to try and have a look around the park soon.

Graham

A shame it wasn't today you were visiting. A real owl-fest this morning with five of them posing very well. As I approached their location in the distance I saw the five of them fly up to the trees from the recently harvested barley field. The bales of straw have all been collected but there are still several rows of barley straw. There's another field full yet to be harvested. The owls had been hunting in amongst the rows of straw but were disturbed by the farmer in his tractor as he turned over the straw to help it dry. By the time I reached the trees one juvenile had moved to the beck side trees but the adults and other youngsters remained - all posing well in the sun. After a while the adults moved onto the fence posts in the horse field to sit in the sun.

 

[IanF]

A fuller report of my visit this morning follows -

It was bright starting off with a fair amount of hazy sunshine though it wasn't long before the cloud cover built up making things decidedly dull.

A real turnabout with the birding today as well. In the kilometre between the car park and Claxton Beck other than in the beck itself I saw/heard precisely two birds - a distant Yellowhammer and a closer Chaffinch. Last visit there were dozens of birds about. I've no idea for the sudden change. Only two cars in the car park and no one seen in the first 30 minutes so it wasn't down to disturbance.

Cowbridge Beck from the board walk held the usual Mallard, Moorhen and Black-headed Gull.

On reaching Claxton Beck there were a few Blue Tit, Great Tit, Yellowhammer and Whitethroat in the bushes.

Even the cycleway bushes were pretty quiet with just the odd Yellowhammer and Whitethroat however the Little Owls saved the day giving some of the best views I've had of them so far.

On heading back down the cycleway a Stoat came scampering along the path towards me. I see at least one most visits but usually they're dashing straight across the tarmac rather than running along the cycleway. It approached to within 15yds before stopping and even then I think it was movement in the grass that caught it's attention rather than me as it stood peering into the long grass for several seconds - enabling a few photos - before disapearing into the grass.

A few Swallow and House Martin were also over head.

Small Tortoiseshell, Large White, Meadow Brown, Small Heath, Large Skipper, Common Blue and Comma butterflies were along the path.

Afterwards I headed back along to Cloff Bridge and down the beck to the main pond not seeing a great deal more.

The area around the scrapes by the pond held six or seven Common Hawker dragonflies with some flying high others low and others having battles every few minutes. Also present were Common Darter, Ruddy Darter and several smaller damselflies. Apart from the dragonflies the other noteworthy sighting were newts with seven Great Crested Newt in just one small scrape and two Smooth Newt in another all visible just below the surface. Presumably adults and young as there was quite a range in sizes.

The Sparrowhawks were in good voice with the mother sat on the dead tree surrounded by at least three of the juveniles all in the denser foliage of the surrounding trees. Only occasionally they sit in the open but never for very long. Every few minutes the young were calling.

Not much change on the pond itself. Mallard, Coot, Moorhen, Tufted Duck, Pochard, a Cormorant and an overfly of a Heron.

The straw bales the far side of the railway line held a strange sight - three Grey Partridge sat on top of them for some reason.

The scrape by the sewage works also held a few Smooth Newt and several Great Crested Newt.

 

[IanF]

A few more photos from today.

 

[barnstormer]

I was thinking of paying a visit to cowpen soon but i'm not sure of the location as regards the village itself, drove thru it the other day but didn't see any sign of the reserve.By the way what kit do you use for your birdie pics ?.

 

[IanF]

I was thinking of paying a visit to cowpen soon but i'm not sure of the location as regards the village itself, drove thru it the other day but didn't see any sign of the reserve.By the way what kit do you use for your birdie pics ?.

You're right it's not well signposted from the village itself. Better directions and access are - off the A1185 Seal Sands Road two kilometres east of the A689 Wolviston Roundabout junction on the north side of Billingham where the road goes over a bridge over a railway line. See map below.

The Little Owl are located under the 'To' of 'To Greatham and Hartlepool' which is on the cycle route on the first map and just off the top of the second map above Cloff Bridge.

At present I'm using a five years old Canon 20D together with a Canon 400mm f5,6 or a Canon 100-400mm f4,5-f5,6. Today I had the 400mm f5,6 but mostly of late I've been using the zoom lens as it's better suited for close up photos of dragonflies and butterflies.