Durham Birding (48 Viewers)

[Ray.Scott]

Hartlepool Pilot Pier.
2 med gulls, RT diver, RB merganser, guillemot, rock pipit etc, red necked grebe seen by others earlier in the morning.
BT diver still at the Marina.
No sign of the Bean goose from Greatham car park.

 

[ColinSev]

Teesdale Black Grouse

Had a drive up Teesdale this morning for Black Grouse, too late for the lek (if it happened) and it took some time to finde the Grouse but eventually found 9 males feeding. 3 of them came to withing 40 yards. They looked great in the sunlight.
Later in another area I saw 5 crossbills flyover and a distant displaying Goshawk.

 

[AndyMc]

BBC 7.30 - Inside Out
The plight of our Hen Harriers..............

There's yet another E-petition on the go:
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?p=2672091#post2672091

 

[Andy K]

Cheers Andy Mc, signed and shared on my facebook page too.

 

[Ray.Scott]

Had a drive up Teesdale this morning for Black Grouse,

Nice one Collin, makes a change to see them close :t:.

 

[AndyK]

Had a drive up Teesdale this morning for Black Grouse, too late for the lek (if it happened) and it took some time to finde the Grouse but eventually found 9 males feeding. 3 of them came to withing 40 yards. They looked great in the sunlight.
Later in another area I saw 5 crossbills flyover and a distant displaying Goshawk.

Were these the ones in the dales? A few of us are going up in march from the yorkshire forum to try for the BG & hopefully goshawk & crossbill too.

 

[ColinSev]

Andy K, goshawk is in secret location, BG and crossbills were about 9 mile west of Middleton in tees dale. Again I can't be too specific about these as they were not on normal lek grounds. It is trial and error with the BG and is a case of keeping an eye out for them.

 

[AndyK]

No problem Colin, thanks.

 

[2slo]

Derwent reservoir today. Greenfinch and a group of nine Fieldfare. Two seen here:

 

[2slo]

Correction to the above. What I thought was a Greenfinch is actually a Siskin (I hope |:S|):

 

[FoghornKinghorn]

Correction to the above. What I thought was a Greenfinch is actually a Siskin (I hope |:S|):

View attachment 430690

Yep, a Siskin.

 

[2slo]

Yep, a Siskin.

Thanks, hard to tell on the camera LCD |=)|

 

[dannyboy]

Scaup

Scaup still at Chester le Street Riverside

 

[IanF]

Hartlepool Marina - 8.30am - Black-throated Diver.

Hartlepool Harbour - Red-necked Grebe spent the morning mostly below/opposite Pilot Pier. Black-throated Diver swam into harbour around 10.00am and swam out 20 minutes later heading south. Red-throated Diver x2, eider x4, Red-breasted Merganser, Guillemot x2.

On the beach - ringed Plover, Purple Sandpiper x4 one colour ringed - Spitzbergen Sept. 2011, Curlew, Redshank, Turnstone, Oystercatcher, Knot, Med. Gull. Sparrowhawk male flew across mouth of harbour towards Albion Terrace.

Newburn Bridge - Med. Gull.

Seaton Common - Glaucous Gull x1.


Video clip - Purple Sandpiper

Video clip - Red-necked Grebe

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[degsy_safc]

Canny day between Hartlepool & Saltholme - RN Grebe, very distant then seen heading east and out to sea approx midday, however the Red & Black Throated Divers came pretty close - also had good views of Oystercatcher, Knot, Redshank & Cormorant .. Some nice light for photographs for a change..

Couple of pictures from this morning...

 

[seggs]

Canny day between Hartlepool & Saltholme - RN Grebe, very distant then seen heading east and out to sea approx midday, however the Red & Black Throated Divers came pretty close - also had good views of Oystercatcher, Knot, Redshank & Cormorant .. Some nice light for photographs for a change..

Couple of pictures from this morning...

Pic 4 does it for me Derek..:eek!::t:

 

[Mickr]

A Red Kite taken today in the county, it looks like it's carrying its lunch which is probably part of a bird. It would be helpful if people could report any Kite sightings, especially for the next few months so that they can be monitored. http://www.friendsofredkites.org.uk/page21.htm

 

[degsy_safc]

Pic 4 does it for me Derek..:eek!::t:

Cheers Steve - nice to see them both together mate - the close views more than made up for the freezing tootsies :-O

 

[Ray.Scott]

Managed an hour at Chester river yesterday:
The usual ducks, swans and gulls, plus the female scaup gave excellent views and a pair of goosander, which eventually flew up stream.

 

[IanF]

Seaton Snook - am - Long-tailed Duck x2 in Seaton Channel. Slavonian Grebe feeding back and forth along the edge of the beach, Grey Plover x2, Bar-tailed Godwit x2, Red-breasted Merganser x23, Red-throated Diver x2, Goldeneye x1. Snow Bunting x5. Skylark singing/soaring over Power Station Field.

Seaton Common - Curlew c.50, Fieldfare c.40, Meadow Pipit x2.

Scaup still on east pond at RSPB Saltholme. Goldeneye x3, Great Crested Grebe two pairs displaying.

Video clip Long-tailed Ducks - http://youtu.be/JQwk7yVqw8Q

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