Gill Osborne's 2009 List (2 Viewers)

[Gill Osborne]

I'm getting worse!!!

I'm beginning to rethink my id of Lesser Whitethroat from Tuesday afternoon! There have been a few reports of lessers being around in various local areas so I guess I'd just convinced myself that what I was looking at was a lesser instead of a common :smoke:

So I think I'll scratch it off my Year List until I can get back up to Druridge (tomorrow afternoon or Sunday) and get a positive identification :t:

*sigh* this brain-turning-to-mush is happening more and more at the moment......it's either old age kicking in (at 41!!!) or I'm just in need of a holiday!!! Roll on Saturday 13th June so I can knock off work at 9.30am and have a whole blissful week of birding without any phones ringing or ratty customers or reps harassing me to give them big orders :storm:

Year List now back to 110 :king:

 

[Gill Osborne]

Sunday, 17th May
Druridge Pools, N'land

111: Common Whitethroat
112: Spoonbill

Solved the problem of last week's mis-identification - twas a Common and not a Lesser :smoke: Got the id sussed in my head now though and the song too :t:

Also had my first Wall butterflies of the year and yet more great sightings of the otter :t:
Such a lovely warm early-summer day....it was a shame to have to head back home! :smoke:

 

[Gill Osborne]

Tuesday, 19th May
Rothbury

113: Bullfinch
114: Garden Warbler


A quick trip to Rothbury proved very fruitful with another two year ticks :t: A walk along the river had numerous willow warbler, chaffinch and blackbird in song. A family of two adult and five young Long-tailed Tit were active in shrubs around me and having them flitting about with constant high-pitched calls and feeding their young just feet from me was one of the loveliest - and most relaxing - experiences I have ever had :t: Good day! :king:

 

[Gill Osborne]

Monday, 25th May
Craster, Northumberland

Had a fabulous day out birding and picked up a few I should have had by now. This is just the basics - I'll do a proper post later on this evening :king:

115: Kittiwake
116: Shag
117: Guillemot
118: Razorbill

Boulmer, Northumberland

119: Arctic Tern
120: Whimbrel

 

[Gill Osborne]

Saturday, 30th May
QE2 Park, Northumberland


121: Barnacle Goose


A single one feeding on the banks of the lake with a mixed flock of mute swan, canada geese, moorhen, black-headed gulls, rook, jackdaw and carrion crow. No leg rings and no sign of wing clipping and, when a woman offered food to the various birds, the barnacle gave her a very wide berth! A lazy migrant perhaps that cannot be bothered to head north? :-O

 

[Gill Osborne]

Sunday, 31st May
A1068, opposite Shortridge Hall turnoff

122: Little Owl ~ sunbathing on top of a stone bus shelter at 8.50am in bright sunlight!!! :king: Completely unexpected...I had to turn the car around and go back for another look :t:

East Chevington

123: Marsh Harrier
124: Reed Warbler *Lifer No. 199* :loveme:
125: Greenshank
126: Little Gull

Druridge Pools

127: Wood Sandpiper


Cresswell Pond

128: Tree Sparrow


Also had my first Cinnabar Moths at Druridge and three HUGE Woolly Bears that were over 2inch long!!!!

 

[Gill Osborne]

Wednesday, 3rd June
Ingram Valley, Northumberland

129: Red-legged Partridge
130: Whinchat

 

[Gill Osborne]

Hahaha finally caught up with the buggers!!!! :-O

Sunday, 7th June
Alnwick Moor

131: Red Grouse *Lifer No. 200* :loveme:

 

[Gill Osborne]

Thursday, 11th June
Bassenthwaite Lake, Cumbria

132: Jay
133: Osprey

 

[Gill Osborne]

Tuesday, 16th June
Patterdale, Cumbria

Our second trip to the area in a week! Whilst Neil was busy helping our friend do some building work on his garage I took myself off for an hour or two's birding on the banks of Ullswater o I set off at 2pm and got back at *cough* 7.30pm!!! :-O Well......I always get distracted when out birding
I had a fabulous few hours in boiling hot sunshine and showed some gorgeous birds to a lot of walkers passing by :t:

134: Redstart
135: Spotted Flycatcher
136: Tree Pipit *Lifer No. 201 :loveme:

 

[Gill Osborne]

Tuesday, 23rd June
Cresswell Pond

137: Grasshopper Warbler :t:


I went to Druridge hoping for a cuckoo but it was absolutely dead bird-wise - and no otters either!!! :smoke:

I did have a lot of butterflies though! Meadow Brown, Ringlet, Common Blue, Large Skipper and a single Painted Lady :king:

I then popped along to Cresswell and whilst chatting to a lady with six adorable chinese crested a male Grasshopper Warbler flew onto a nearby hawthorn shrub and started reeling in full view! First one I've ever seen clearly :t: A couple of other birders had never seen one before and were very pleased when I told them what it was.

Still need that darned cuckoo though! :smoke: I won't give up!!!!! :-O

 

[Gill Osborne]

Sunday, 28th June
Newton Links, N'land

138: Little Tern

 

[Gill Osborne]

Sunday, 30th August
Canongate Bridge, Alnwick

139: Kingfisher o


After a dismal couple of months I'm feeling a lot better and back in the fray once more :t: Today is the first day of a fortnight off so planning to do LOTS....obscene amounts...of birding!!!

Now how do I tell Neil.....

 

[Gill Osborne]

Well...the poxy Lakeland weather has been just a tad annoying this week as it has been very heavy rain a lot of the time :C But today wasn't too bad so we headed out to Haweswater to look for the eagle.

Saturday, 5th September
Haweswater, Cumbria

140: Goosander
141: Raven

Planning an early start tomorrow to head down to Leighton Moss and the Morecambe Bay area :t:

 

[Gill Osborne]

Sunday, 6th September
Leighton Moss, Lancashire

142: Marsh Tit

 

[Gill Osborne]

Thursday, 17th September
Cresswell Pond, Northumberland

143: Merlin ~ flew in and caught a small wader! :t:

 

[Gill Osborne]

Sunday, 27th September
Cresswell Pond, N'Land

144: Glossy Ibis *Lifer No. 202* :loveme:

 

[Gill Osborne]

Well.......8.50pm, pitch black outside so I guess this is a Goodbye to birding in 2009 :smoke:

Final year total WAS better than in previous years at 144 :t: BUT i did somehow manage to miss out such easy birds as Great Crested Grebe, Black-necked Grebe, Goldcrest, Red Kite, Puffin.......far too many to admit to! :-O Learnt from this though.....catch the winter birds in the first three months of the year because you cannot rely on them to show towards the end of the year
I haven't done as much birding this past three months as I could have but tomorrow is another day....and another year :king:

So here's to 150+ birds in 2010 o