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Durham Birding (9 Viewers)

Tunstall resevoir this morning,picked up most of what we went to see (no wood warbler). After getting on to a couple of Redstarts we bumped into a really decent local patcher ( a guy from Wolsingham, unfortunatly we didn't get his name). He went well out of his way to ensure we got the Pied Fly and then put himself out even further to put us onto a Tree Pipit, which we wouldn't have found in a million years! Whoever you are a big thanks!!!!:t::t:. It's things like this that turn a good day into a great day!
Got some excellent views of W@B's "high rise hen" :-O, then bumped into Degsy-SAFC great to see you again Derek!!
Popped into Low Barnes on the way home' poor turn out really. I think most birds were in the shade sheltering from the heat. We did however get a few, the highlights being..... Garden Warblers, Sedge Warblers, single male Blackcap and a Goldcrest.
All in all a day made great more by the people we met than the birds we picked up.

Regards

Mick
 
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Called into Houghton Gate this evening, pretty quiet;
15 Greylag's in the field, 2 Common Tern's on the waters edge, a juvenille Redshank flexing it's not yet fully developed wings, singing Mistle Thrush & Whitethroat plus most of the regular stuff
 
picture of high rise hen

Got a coot down Brasside not happy with a nest - it's building a Log Cabin!!;) first pic..
Also three pair of swans nesting here.
Regards Alan.
 

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Wear sunscreen.....

:stuck::stuck:8.00am, 1 hour spent at a midgey infested Backside Pond.... the water was dire, a few geese, tufties, coot, swan etc.. Before and after the pond not so bad with Willow Wobs, ChiffChaff, Garden Wob, Blackcap, Jays, GSW, Nuthatch, Bullfinch, Pied Wag in tree feasting on large juicy caterpillar, A Great Tit nest building in red nest box.. 31 Sp in total.

Next to Hoton Gate...20 minutes and 23 species including Wood Sandpiper, Ringed Plover, Common Terns, Curlew, Pied Wagtail.

Then Rainton Meadows (again) and surrounding areas, Sedge Warbler doing a fantastic impression of Blackbird! , Whitethroat, Garden Wob, Then circling Joes Pond at a height, Although i cant be 100% certain,(Defo a Skua) pretty sure a Pomarine Skua, the trailing spoon style tail the key id point before it flew off toward the coast via Hoton! Futher round Kestrel, Long Tail Tit, then out of bounds a bit, Curlew, Lapwings, Heron, Yellerhamma, and my bird of the day, Wood Warbler.. then back on site with Willow Tit, Shoveler, Little Ringed Plov and Gadwall. Left RM rather pleased and rather sunburnt....nice white strip round the back of my neck where the strap of the bins had been !
 
Had a look down Salthome this morning with young Kieran and his dad, Derek. Must have just missed you Joe.
Beautiful morning and loads about again, 8 Little Gulls,3-4 Ruff including two splendid males, 2 Red Knot , 2 Little Rings and a Wood Sandpiper . A few summer plumaged Grey Plover also about.
Found the Spoonbill asleep on Cowpen Marsh, with a few Whimbrel also there.
Next had a look round to North Gare, where we found a Temmincks Stint, a lifer for all of us. Managed a pap pic, on full zoom.

Much the same around at lunchtime - Yellow Wagtail x5, Ruff x3 (m&f), Knot, Garganey drake, Little Gull x7. Spoonbill immature - four black primaries visible when stretching - presumably moved from Cowpen Marsh - I had a ride up there afterwards just in case there was two but so sign. Peregrine juvenile.
 

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a little better effort this time!

2 whinchats on cleadon hills at 6pm..
not stunners....like the one at teeside..
but..great all the same..
report on the below thread.
..................
lamesley..4pm..l.r.plover..(thanks will@bill found the place at last!)
nice spot!:t:
 

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bin less

........<snip>..........Then circling Joes Pond at a height, Although i cant be 100% certain,(Defo a Skua) pretty sure a Pomarine Skua, the trailing spoon style tail the key id point before it flew off toward the coast via Hoton!
.....<snip>........and rather sunburnt....nice white strip round the back of my neck where the strap of the bins had been !

theres only one thing worse than a phone call interrupting a blissful bout of sun worship............ recieving said fone call whilst ones optics have been accidentally (confiscated)..............well, TWOK'd :-C by a certain person who shall remain brainless (sorry nameless...) !!
but on the plus side (if i can hope to salvage one!) i havnt got a white neck band.... & did come into close contact with a Skewer later in the day;)

Grate B@sturd FYI
Uk400
with the POMARINE SKUA passage continuing unabated, with a further 40
or more birds passing Seaford Splash Point (East Sussex) this morning (up to
70 per day have been passing this promontory all week).

Birdguides
Good numbers of POMARINE SKUAS (low hundreds) were seen over the course of the week, mainly along the south coast………

------------------------------------------

Our Blackies (nesting under the tipper body) hatched out on Wednesday night - We took them for a drive out 8am-2pm on both Thursday & Friday....
both afternoons the hen was sat waiting & came to attend to them almost before the ignition was off

Last nite @ 2am, sounded like someone being strangled out the back.
Opened the attic window to see the Barn Owl wafting about where the field corner joins our neighbours plot & a cat making a terrible noise. (just wish it had been an Eagle owl, 'stead of a Barnie...)

Have those Blackcocks been at it again today....?
i can see why they wouldnt want to publicize the B.Race too much........ i mean who knows what spurious twaddle might otherwise end up on Birdguise.
Steve
 
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I before E accept after C

theres only one thing worse than a phone call interrupting a blissful bout of sun worship............ recieving said fone call whilst ones optics have been accidentally (confiscated)..............well, TWOK'd :-C by a certain person who shall remain brainless (sorry nameless...) !!
but on the plus side (if i can hope to salvage one!) i havnt got a white neck band.... & did come into close contact with a Skewer later in the day;)

Shame about the missus foolishly stealing the bins...ooops :brains:

PS... all the kids have these bright red and white stripe round the back of thier necks nowadays, its all the rage!
 
Houghton area Local Patch

Spotted Flycatcher at Joes was the only obvious passerine passage migrant, there was still a Yellow Wag in the Piebald horse field, although this may be staying with us....
All 8 of the breeding warbler species seen. Numbers of all up on last weekend, with Lesser Whitethroats holding territory in just about every suitable area of habo visited. (6males seen/heard), although there are generally several other territories close by.

Pools - LRP & Common Sand as usual.
Couple of Ruddy Ducks & Dabchicks. Single drakes of Shoveller & Gadwall with a late pr of Teal too.
What looked like a Swans egg on the largest island pool II ?
female Long-eared Owl brooding 2+ small young. Juvvy Mistle Thrushes fledged. Personal site record of 5 House Sparrows (previously only seen 1-2)

NeilF said:
......a juvenille Redshank flexing it's not yet fully developed wings,
Neil, saw a Redshank fluttering its wings as a prelude to mating today.

Pleasant family visit, we even had a pair of bins each .
 
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StevieEvans;1195537All 8 of the breeding warbler species seen. Numbers of all up on last weekend said:
Lesser Whitethroats[/B] holding territory in just about every suitable area of habo visited. (6males seen/heard), although there are generally several other territories close by.


What looked like a Swans egg on the largest island pool II ?
female Long-eared Owl brooding 2+ small young. Juvvy Mistle Thrushes fledged

I had 7 of the Warblers today.. still no Reed Warbler for me. Is the best place for these at Joes Pond?

A good few hours round RM and nothing too exciting seen, Lesser Whitethroat probably my bestest bird of the day.:t:

The egg on island has been there at least the last few days.... Never seen any birds on it tho

Nice to meet Matt and his dad...Good luck with the Spoonbill! :t:
 
spennymoor daisy field,saturday afternoon.
willow warbler,chiffchaff,whitethroat,garden warbler,grey wagtail and a peregrine falcon which circled it way up very high before stooping of towards tudhoe at breakneck speed
 
I took part in Teesmouth Bird Club's 'Greenabella Marsh Huntsman Tioxide Sponsored Bird Count' today - just the morning session.

Species seen by me - Dunnock, Redshank, Avocet, Stonechat, Little Ringed Plover, Mallard, Starling, Blackbird, Blue Tit, Swallow, Common Whitethroat, Linnet, Lapwing, Curlew, Black-headed Gull, Herring Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Oystercatcher, Yellowhammer, Meadow Pipit, Common Tern, Coot, Moorhen, Willow Warbler, Grey Heron, Skylark, Carrion Crow, Jackdaw, Shelduck, Canada Goose, Greylag Goose, Gadwall, Stock Dove, Magpie, Reed Bunting, Sedge Warbler, Reed Warbler, Goldfinch, Pheasant, Kestrel, Whinchat, Robin, Wren, Pied Wagtail, Marsh Harrier, Tufted Duck, Red-breasted Merganser, Cormorant, Swift.

50 species - though midway the total was around 73 with half a day still to go - so plenty of time to reach the magic number of 80 species to attract the maximum sponsorship of £2,000 for the club - else it's £25 per species.

Best sighting was of a Marsh Harrier which was mostly over the Long Drag Pools and a fox which came wandering towards me across the marsh.

Edit: The total in the end was 81 species - pretty good for a marsh area!
 

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Steve.........Redshanks are 'at it' at Washington!!.. well sort of. Got rather aggressive in the end.
Regards Alan
 

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tunstal resv....

lovely sunny visit to "the must go to place at the moment"..
only managed 2 redstarts and 2 pied flycatchers..all males..great all the same!
but also had..
2 garden warblers..1 spotted flycatcher..1 blackcap(male)..
loads of gsw...including a one digging out a nest hole..2 nuthatch..
and a great supporting cast of the commoner birds..no wood warbler..
ps.
not recommended if you have a bad neck!..:-O
 

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low barnes

dropped into here after going over the moors..stanhope to high force..
not alot on this route..couple of red grouse and sure i saw a red kite(def. not buzzard..pos.harrier?) but it flew over the top of the moor before i could stop the car and id.
around low barnes..loads of commoner stuff..
3 blackcaps..2 treecreepers..1 c.sand ..to note.
 

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