Durham Birding (4 Viewers)

[The Chairman]

Crimdon Dene this pm 2 Snow Bunting on waste ground, 2 Little Auk and 1 Pom Skua chasing gulls,25 RB Merganser,13 Goldeneye.Blackhall Rocks 1 GN Diver, 250+Eider ,small number of Common Scoter and 2 Bewick's Swan

2 Little Auk chasing gulls..........now there's a novelty???????????????????????3

 

[The Chairman]

Pablo Hugelist reports a sighting of a lowland Hen Harrier late afternoon today in the area of Seaton Pond. Also LEO there.

 

[craigthirlwell]

Rainton (again)

Much better light this morning. Six owls on the posts and another 2 hunting the old tip. Unfortunately one guy got a little close and sent them scattering at one point.
The birds didn't seem to be botherd by the clay pigeon shooting nearby.

 

[DEREK.C.]

Quick look in at Hartlepool Headland today , 64 Purple Sandpiper along the pier. Med Gull on the sea, single Grey Plover with 80 Knot further along. 2-3 Rock Pipits about. Still quite a few Little Auks about , although they are not flying over the roof tops this week.
40 Eider on the sea with another 185 at Blackhall on the way back.

 

[harrier olley]

I'm an ex Durham boy, exiled up to Aberdeen. Does anyone work brasside pond these days? I always go and have a look there when I'm back in town, but I don't think I've ever seen another birder there!

Mark

Mark the guys who tend to watch brasside are Steve Skelton and Steve Evans i do very occasionally but not sure whats around at present. Check out our reserve at Castle Lake Bishop Middleham when you drop down from bonny Scotland you will have a good day i can assure you-grid ref NZ 327313 for Town End farm and walk through the farm gates then 100m over the hill, good luck.

John Olley Conservation Officer DBC

 

[seggs]

Quick look in at Hartlepool Headland today , 64 Purple Sandpiper along the pier. Med Gull on the sea, single Grey Plover with 80 Knot further along. 2-3 Rock Pipits about. Still quite a few Little Auks about , although they are not flying over the roof tops this week.
40 Eider on the sea with another 185 at Blackhall on the way back.

hi derek
fantastic number of purple sands..
is this amount normal at high tide here?
................
passed by boldon flats today..10-30ish..
a large flock of pinkies heading north-westerly and quite high. ..est.130+.in formation.
greylag numbers not as big as the prevoius day..60+.

 

[StevieEvans]

Pablo Hugelist reports a sighting of a lowland Hen Harrier late afternoon today in the area of Seaton Pond. Also LEO there.

Seaton Pond is 1 mile west of Seaham
MAP www.multimap.com/map/browse.cgi?lat=54.8326&lon=-1.4006&scale=25000&icon=x

The bird is a ring-tail (female type in colour)....theres masses of rough grassland both to north (Sharpely fisheries, Warden Law & Houghton Rough Dene) and south (Dalton Moor) of here.

Following on with the owl theme, S.Pond holds 1-2 SEO every winter - the other 4 species all breed in the area.

-

Dusk at Rainton saw a Jay heading south for at least a mile untill lost to view & a large mixed flock of approx 1,000 Fieldfare & Redwing again heading south - at first thought these were gonna be Starlings, but there were approx 200 in the Phragmites roost.
A fem Sparrowhawk still hunting as the light went at 16:20.
A roadside SEO at Chilton Moor marsh on way home.
Cheers
SE

 

[StevieEvans]

Brass

I'm an ex Durham boy, exiled up to Aberdeen. Does anyone work brasside pond these days? I always go and have a look there when I'm back in town, but I don't think I've ever seen another birder there!
Mark

Mark, are you the lad who did the study on Coots ?
I'd say "Watched sporadically" - certainly no longed "worked".
Considering the place is part of a larger SSSI, the place is in a mess, water quality is dire (blue green algae etc), over half of all Typha nesting habo has gone in last 10yr.
8pr GCGrebe colony has collapsed to 1pr, Coot population is down by 75%, wintering wildfowl esp. diving ducks are now limited. Water Rails (from a winter population max of 21 are down to the odd single) few & far between now etc.
Still a nice walk round, Tree Spugs appear to be on way back as is Barn owl. Oystercatchers breed annually on small Oak clad island. Common tern have prospected & copulated... Still plenty of Green Wpkr, Willow tit & Bullfinch.

Gets the odd unusual bird, last couple of years have seen Bewicks, LTDuck, Ice Gull, Mandarin, RTD etc but not so regularly now.
Cheers
SE

 

[rokermartin]

2 Little Auk chasing gulls..........now there's a novelty???????????????????????3

Pom was chasing gulls not the Little Auks,they were flying north.

 

[Mark Lewis]

Hi Steve, well remembered...that was me, coot boy!

Thanks for filling me in re Brasside....shame its in such a state. I'll be down at some point over christmas but it might not be as enjoyable as days gone by knowing that its all going a but tits up there. Funny you should mention mandarin, I had a drake there back in february...same bird as you?

 

[JBee]

The greatest entertainment was had watching 2 weasels fighting with each other about 15 feet away. No photos, sorry, blame JBee!!

Are you sure I should take the blame Craig ?
I managed OK today

 

[StevieEvans]

Hi Steve, well remembered...that was me, coot boy!

Thanks for filling me in re Brasside....shame its in such a state. I'll be down at some point over christmas but it might not be as enjoyable as days gone by knowing that its all going a but tits up there. Funny you should mention mandarin, I had a drake there back in february...same bird as you?

Coot boy! lol, thats going back a few year now...
Mandarin also proved popular on river at Kepier, give me a buzz if u like when ur through over Xmas. 079 79 60 1231


Goshawk east through Hetton Bogs this morning.

Cheers
SE

 

[IanF]

North Gare Pier 2:00-3:00pm a couple of hours before high tide. Grey skies and a gusty onshore wind was really piling the sea up and over the beakwater.

Teal, Little Egret, Curlew, Wigeon and Mallard along the access road. Kestel over the dunes.

Knot, Oystercatcher and Redshank on the beach. Stonechat by the dunes and on the low lying sandy area south side of the pier.

On the sea RT Diver x4, Slavonian Grebe, Cormorant x8, Shag and Guillemot.

Turnstone and Pock Pipit on the end of the pier.

 

[harrier olley]

River wear Frosterly and Harehope Quarry NR

A brief visit to area after a poor day on the moors,

Dipper 3
Grey Heron 2
Kingfisher
Grey Wagtail
Pied Wagtail
Buzzard
Little Owl pair
Goosander pair
Mallard
Long Tailed Tit 10
Moorhen 4
Redwing 40
Fieldfare 20
Goldcrest
Treecreeper

A specieal request to any person who may know of a business or organisation who could donate towards a draw down payment of £1,200.00 this is the 10% of the £12,000.00 Durham Bird Club have kindly recieved from CDENT. This is required for us to proceed with the installation of bird hides at Castle lake nature reserve.

John Olley DBC Conservation Officer

 

[craigthirlwell]

Are you sure I should take the blame Craig ?
I managed OK today

Aye, ok. Cracking shots as ever John.
Look at the weasel's ears. They look like human ears just stuck on backwards.
It makes me wonder how many voles there must be if they are managing to support the owls, kestrels and weasels in the area.

 

[StevieEvans]

owl forum

Seaton Pond is 1 mile west of Seaham
MAP www.multimap.com/map/browse.cgi?lat=54.8326&lon=-1.4006&scale=25000&icon=x

Pablo & CW report no sign of the harrier, but 3 SEO about with another SEO at Houghton Rough Dene.

CW reports good no's of common buntings along the lane between Sharpley & Seaton Pond - with many stubble fields in this area, hopefully there'll be a Lapland Bunting or 2 in there somewhere.....

4 owl species at Rainton today.....no show from Barn...

at least 89 species recorded in Coalfields area today during Atlas fieldwork, 3 observers, Hetton beating Houghton 83-78 including ;
Kingfisher Dipper Grey Wag Woodcock Jack Snipe Green Sand Redshank Golden Plover Curlew
Goshawk Sparhawk Kestrel Peregrine Long-eared Owl Short-eared Owl Little Owl Tawny Owl
GCGrebe Dabchick Ruddy Duck Scaup Goldeneye Pochard Tufted Pink footed Goose Teal Wigeon Gadwall Water Rail
Chiffchaff Nuthatch Treecreeper Willow tit Lesser Redpoll Siskin Tree Sparrow Stonechat

cheers
SE

 

[The Chairman]

Pablo & CW report no sign of the harrier, but 3 SEO about with another SEO at Houghton Rough Dene.

4 owl species at Rainton today.....no show from Barn...

at least 89 species recorded in Coalfields area today during Atlas fieldwork, 3 observers, Hetton beating Houghton 83-78 including ;
Kingfisher Dipper Grey Wag Woodcock Jack Snipe Green Sand Redshank Golden Plover Curlew
Goshawk Sparhawk Kestrel Peregrine Long-eared Owl Short-eared Owl Little Owl Tawny Owl
GCGrebe Dabchick Ruddy Duck Scaup Goldeneye Pochard Tufted Pink footed Goose Teal Wigeon Gadwall Water Rail
Chiffchaff Nuthatch Treecreeper Willow tit Lesser Redpoll Siskin Tree Sparrow Stonechat

cheers
SE

This just goes to show whats out there in our County during the winter months. If you are an active birder in County Durham and haven't got yourself an area to cover for the new Atlas please please contact David Sowerbutts - details on the DBC website.

Your observations can be much more valuable than just a pleasant memeory for you and the information you collect really can count. Help us at DBC in our efforts to study and conserve the birds of County Durham by putting a little back - rest assured that every little bit bit of information received is logged and stored in our archive - information that can then be used to help birds in Durham which surely is what we are all out there to do, are we not?

Many thanks for your assistance on behalf of DBC but mostly on behalf of the birds

Cheers

B

 

[ALFIE TEMPLE]

c150 Geese flying south high over Sunderland approx. 3.00pm

 

[ALFIE TEMPLE]

Just read that 150 Pink Feet flew South over Cleveland around same time-surely the same birds as over Sunderland

 

[StevieEvans]

Whats it all about....

..........<snip>..........Help us at DBC in our efforts to study and conserve the birds of County Durham by putting a little back - rest assured that every little bit bit of information received is logged and stored in our archive - information that can then be used to help birds in Durham which surely is what we are all out there to do, are we not?

Many thanks for your assistance on behalf of DBC but mostly on behalf of the birds

:clap:


There a lot of stuff on this thread, but the next sentence stands out........
cheers
SE

............<snip>...........
But why, would you want to become so obsessed with birds, and not want to help them survive?.........