Durham Birding (1 Viewer)

[Stewart J.]

Oi!

"Northumbrian"?

Born in Sooth Sheels, me!

Sandancer eh?

Stewart (real Geordie) :bounce:

 

[Keith Reeder]

Sand Dancer - and therefore True Geordie - born and bred..!

(Oh, let's not do that one again, Stewart!)

 

[Stewart J.]

Sand Dancer - and therefore True Geordie - born and bred..!

(Oh, let's not do that one again, Stewart!)

Couldn't resist it mate, just knew you'd bite.

Good birding

Stewart

 

[StevieEvans]

I See theres loads going on, on the North'd Thread then ;-)

Called in after work for the dusk roost at Brasside
40 Goosander inc. 17 adult males & much displaying
30+ Cormorant
1M 7F Goldeneye
4M 1F Pochard
1 GCGrebe
6 Dabchick
1 + 1 H Water Rail
Tawny Owl perfectly silhoutted at kennels against the pink sky.

SE

 

[Keith Reeder]

Pretty quiet, Stevie - but I've posted a question over there http://www.birdforum.net/showpost.php?p=481056&postcount=499 that you might be able to help with...

 

[Skelly]

9 Fieldfare at Rainton Meadows this afternoon.

Also 200+ Greylag Geese and 50+ Canada Geese.

B

 

[Ross Ahmed]

Hi all, how's it going?

Looks pretty lively on here so thought I would join in!

Possible 2w Laughing Gull reported today at Escomb Lake.

 

[IanF]

Calor Gas, Port Clarence
60+ Waxwing
Fieldfare c.30
Redwing c.20
Loads of Pink Foot and Greylag
Sparrowhawk
Kestrel
Redshank
Teal
Oystercatcher

Had a look around the area for roosting LEO's but no joy.

Cowpen Bewley Woodland Park
No sign of the Redpoll, LTT or Siskin that were around yesterday - infact very quiet.

In the feeding station were -
GSW
Treesparrow x8
Yellowhammer x2
Greenfinch
Marsh Tit
Willow Tit
Blue Tit
Coal Tit
Great Tit
Goldfinch
Wren
Chaffinch
Goldcrest
Bullfinch pair

The GSW was regularly on the trees nearby calling and drumming. It seems to have a favourite empty nestbox that it liked drumming on.

 

[Keith Reeder]

Hi Ross, and welcome to Birdforum - hope you enjoy your time here.

 

[pauliev69]

Hi Ian
the GSW was around on Sat and drumming, seems to favour that area, yet to see a Bullfinch in the feeding area look forward to that
Nice pics, good to see the Waxwings are still around

 

[pauliev69]

Yes hi Ross welcome to BF and this thread

 

[DaveB]

A quick visit to Escomb turned out to be a 2 hour am and 1½ hour late pm stay.

Over 300 gulls were resting on the ice that had formed on escomb lake. Checking these out with just bins at approx 75yds was quite daunting but light was on my side (for a change). One gull really stood out from the rest:

Obvious black legs, dark shadow behind the eyes and plenty of BH Gulls for comparison. I know this bird was something different and immediately thought of Laughing Gull. I requested confirmation from another birder who lives ten minutes away, but couldn't get there in time. The legs of the gull were sinking into the ice very quickly and when the ice beneath the bird did eventually melt, the gull took off. I followed it for 3-4 minutes before losing it amongs the BH Gulls not to be seen agian. When the bird did lift its head out of its body before taking off, the bill did appear to be larger but did not notice any further facial characteristics.

I have put this down as a 80% possible and will hopefully get there agian on Tuesday.

6 Lesser Redpoll (site first, for me), 2 Goldeneye, 20c Tufted, 30 Goosanders (8 drakes), a female Sparrowhawk and a Tawny Owl at dusk.

 

[StevieEvans]

Hi all, how's it going?

Looks pretty lively on here so thought I would join in!

Possible 2w Laughing Gull reported today at Escomb Lake.

Now then.
What kinda nice Xmas present you gonna find us all then.......? ;-)

Eppleton Hall
2 GSW, 1 Treecreeper, 1 Willow Tit, 4 Brass Monkeys 8 Tree Spar boxes up.

West Rainton
fem GSW & 10 Tree Sparrows from the comfort of someones dining room table, oh how the other half live !

Rainton Meadows
ad fem Sparrowhawk & fem Kestrel hunting in tandom, real team work (years since ive seen this)
200+ Greylag & 150+ Mallard 6 Pochard
SEO pellet nr car park, masses of Kes pellets under nest box. Poss roadkill Barn Owl ? on A690on way there (couldnt stop).
17 Siskin over.

Amazingly (on what felt like the coldest day of the year...) a reliable report of 2 Common Sandpiper on R.Wear between Durham & Chester!!
(1 did winter but that was about 20 year ago)

Steve E

 

[Keith Reeder]

SEO pellet nr car park

So put me out of my misery then Steve: what's this one?

 

[russkie]

Rainton Meadows pm

5 SEO

 

[IanF]

Zinc Works Road 09:30
Stonechat
Reed Bunting
Sparrowhawk
Teal
Wren
Curlew
Pheasant x 14 (an unusually high number in one group for here)

Seaton Snook 10:00 - 11:45 - (high tide was c.06:00am)
Merlin - chasing Twite until I arrived when it headed off up Greatham Creek.
Twite x66
Red-throated Diver x3 (could have been more but no scope)
Great Northern Diver x1
Guillemot x6
Red-breasted Merganser c.12+
Oystercatcher
Curlew
Redshank
Rock Pipit
Cormorant
Great Crested Grebe

Cowpen Bewley Woodland Park - 13:30 -14:30
Met up with Pauliev69 for a wander around the reserve.

Feeding station -
Great Tit
Blue Tit
Treesparrow x10
Yellowhammer x3
Chaffinch
Greenfinch
Willow Tit

Reserve itself in addition to the above -
Waxwing x10 (seldom seen in the Park)
Great Spotted Woodpecker
Goldfinch
Shoveler x20+ (very high number for here)
Mallard
Gadwall
Coot
Moorhen
Pochard
Wren

 

[Stewart J.]

What a lovely sequence of pics, flight one is a cracker


Stewart

 

[pauliev69]

Nice captures Ian, the Twite being my favourite BTW that confirms for me I saw them at Cowpen

 

[Skelly]

Leo at Waldridge Fell this evening.

B

 

[piecatcher]

Hi everyone, I was up in Alnwick while working at the weekend and managed to skive off for a couple of hours, I went to Hulne park for a couple of hours hoping to see a Hawfinch, but didnt see any. Has anybody had any luck with them recently at this sight?. Im thinking about driving up there from Newcastle tomorrow and having another look then popping into Hauxley or Cresswell on the way back.

A very merry christmas to you all
Stephen