in and around south tyneside (1 Viewer)

[echo24]

Spent the afternoon sat in Clara Vale hide and had the place completely to myself..

Anyway Blue, Great, Long Tailed, Willow & Coal Tits, GS Woodpecker, Blackbirds, Greenfinch, Chaffinch, Pheasant, Magpies, Carrion Crows, Goldcrest, Treecreeper, Redpoll, Jay, Nuthatch, Wood Pigeon, Kingfisher, Wren, Dunnock, Moorhen, Robin and a few other species out towards the river..

Great set of photos, Derek:t: John and me missed the LT Tits, Treecreeper, Redpoll & Dunnock yesterday and my post from last night forgot to mention the Kestrel we saw - so with that in mind, I think that's 30 different species from the hide in 2 days - not bad eh!

Cheers, Dougie:t:

 

[degsy_safc]

Great set of photos, Derek:t: John and me missed the LT Tits, Treecreeper, Redpoll & Dunnock yesterday and my post from last night forgot to mention the Kestrel we saw - so with that in mind, I think that's 30 different species from the hide in 2 days - not bad eh!

Cheers, Dougie:t:

Thanks Dougie,

You've done a cracking job with your pics today as well. Funny you mentioning the number of species over the 2 days - i was thinking the same myself. In fact there were also a few birds that i saw towards the river so its gonna be nearer 35 in total - a cracking place :t:

 

[The gaffer]

Sad tale

Travelling up the A19, this afternoon having visited Dalton Park (accruing brownie points ), when a female pheasant hit the windscreen. I didn't think that these birds weighed very much but when it hit I thought a gun had gone off (or the airbags) and that the windscreen was coming in.

Underpants changed when I got home!!!:eek!::-O

Brian

 

[seggs]

Weekend outings

Time was tight this weekend so had to fit in what i could, tried Trow after work Saturday and turned straight back around in the car as i did today because of the numbers of people in the Quarry.
Yesterday
Marsden old quarry- both adult Little owls were out(spare yous the pics!) within 10 feet of each other,larger amount of thrushs about stripping the trees of berries these included 6+ Song thrush, little else here.
Whitburn Obs to the end of the Rifle range fields- 93 Ringed plover in the now ploughed field next the the obs. 3 Partridge also.
Hundreds of Golden plover,Lapwings,Turnstones and Starlings along with a few Snipe in the fields south of the obs.
Birds in these numbers i am always blew away with!..:t:
Cleadon lane flash- 60+ Redshanks, 10 Curlew, 150+ Lapwings and one Ruff, also a first for me here a Heron feeding on the edge of the east flash.
Boldon flats- Water completely dried up:-C , 12 Wigeon(in flight) and 40+ Curlew.
Today...
Started at Clara vale(IN THE MIST:-O) at 9.45am and stopped here for 2 hours(time was tight )
Kingfisher fished twice from the distant perch on the bigger pond, it landed once on a closer perch again on the bigger pond for a second or two before being distured by a woman in the hide moving about!:eek!:s..t happens
Still nice to see the bird even if it did not come close enough for a good pic. another woman visitor was blown away by the view thro- my bins...and wished she had brought here compact digi camera.ahherm...
Lots of active birds feeding here, Blue,great,2 Willow and 3 L.t.tits, all the normal birds really you expect to find at a feeding station, 2 Goldcrests were in battle mode, and Jays heard, excellent couple of hours, even if the Kingfisher did not pose for me, but thats my luck with this bird.:-O
Up north latter to see my daughter, the bribe of ice -cream from cresswell is not working anymore!..:-O met Mick and his friend (Sorry bad with names, sound lad!) at the parking spot for cresswell hide chocka here today!, did you, see any thing?
Back to S.T.
The Cleadon lane flash only had the normal waders and no Ruff.
Brief view of a Barn owl at Boldon at 4.30pm, before meeting Pete again.:t:
The once flooded field at the Academy void of life, 4 Skylarks flew over.
Few pic,s from my outings.
Pic 1...Golden plover floating in to land at Whitburn
Pic 2 .. love this shot...Pheasant in the mist at Clara vale
Pic 3 ..Nuthatch, not the best.
Pic 4 ..Wren, nice setting
Pic 5 Best i could get with the Goldcrests

 

[seggs]

Spent the afternoon sat in Clara Vale hide and had the place completely to myself..

Anyway Blue, Great, Long Tailed, Willow & Coal Tits, GS Woodpecker, Blackbirds, Greenfinch, Chaffinch, Pheasant, Magpies, Carrion Crows, Goldcrest, Treecreeper, Redpoll, Jay, Nuthatch, Wood Pigeon, Kingfisher, Wren, Dunnock, Moorhen, Robin and a few other species out towards the river..

Well thats my luck!:-O left the hide at 11.45am and only 2 visitors whilst i was here both women on a walk, and you get a Lesser Redpoll! in the afternoon!...:-O typical...lol..

 

[seggs]

Hi Steve, that's correct, walk past the burger van along the path then left at the top and half-way along the next stretch was where I saw it, but obviously it'll be very mobile, it was the call that put me onto it and it was with Long-tailed & Great Tit's. Hope it stays so I can get a better look but 99% sure it was a Y-b W.

Nice one Neil, YBW. are a very mobile bird at the best of times, never mind doing your neck in looking up!:-O

 

[seggs]

Travelling up the A19, this afternoon having visited Dalton Park (accruing brownie points ), when a female pheasant hit the windscreen. I didn't think that these birds weighed very much but when it hit I thought a gun had gone off (or the airbags) and that the windscreen was coming in.

Underpants changed when I got home!!!:eek!::-O

Brian

Hope the birds ok?? changing of under garments is a acceptable percidure in wildlfe watching!:-O we have all done it!:eek!:

 

[degsy_safc]

Well thats my luck!:-O left the hide at 11.45am and only 2 visitors whilst i was here both women on a walk, and you get a Lesser Redpoll! in the afternoon!...:-O typical...lol..

Hi Steve - did you enter your sightings in the hide book? I was really pleased to read that the Goldcrests had been seen earlier in the morning - that focussed me on deliberately looking for them, i saw 3 seperate individual birds and 4 Redpolls.

It was weird later in the afternoon as there seemed to be a feeding frenzy about 16:15 and it was difficult to pick a subject to focus upon. There were so many birds in the Hawthorn bush, Great, Blue, Willow, Coal and LT Tits, Goldcrest, Chaffinch, Greenfinch & Nuthatch all at the same time - what would cause this?? Ohhhh and this was the same time the Kingfisher arrived, although it didn't take to the closest perches as it got spooked by a Magpie and headed off to the middle perches on the big pond.

The Redpolls were in the trees to the right front hand side of the hide up a height, the pic isn't great as i had to give it a pretty heavy crop. Saw the Redpolls about 14.30 and all 4 of of them flew off towards the river...

I arrived there approx 12ish so must have just missed you by 20 mins or so .....

 

[The gaffer]

Hope the birds ok?? changing of under garments is a acceptable percidure in wildlfe watching!:-O we have all done it!:eek!:

Judging by the bang when it hit (and what was left on my windscreen) I think I can safely say that it did not survive the encounter:-C.

Can anyone give me directions to the hide at Clara Vale? I have looked for it before but could not find it. Where do you need to park the car? If you don't want to publicise the directions by all means send them via PM.

Thanks

Brian

 

[degsy_safc]

Judging by the bang when it hit (and what was left on my windscreen) I think I can safely say that it did not survive the encounter:-C.

Can anyone give me directions to the hide at Clara Vale? I have looked for it before but could not find it. Where do you need to park the car? If you don't want to publicise the directions by all means send them via PM.

Thanks

Brian

Brian send me a pm with your email and i'll send you a map i did for someone else

 

[seggs]

Hi Steve - did you enter your sightings in the hide book? I was really pleased to read that the Goldcrests had been seen earlier in the morning - that focussed me on deliberately looking for them, i saw 3 seperate individual birds and 4 Redpolls.

It was weird later in the afternoon as there seemed to be a feeding frenzy about 16:15 and it was difficult to pick a subject to focus upon. There were so many birds in the Hawthorn bush, Great, Blue, Willow, Coal and LT Tits, Goldcrest, Chaffinch, Greenfinch & Nuthatch all at the same time - what would cause this?? Ohhhh and this was the same time the Kingfisher arrived, although it didn't take to the closest perches as it got spooked by a Magpie and headed off to the middle perches on the big pond.

The Redpolls were in the trees to the right front hand side of the hide up a height, the pic isn't great as i had to give it a pretty heavy crop. Saw the Redpolls about 14.30 and all 4 of of them flew off towards the river...

I arrived there approx 12ish so must have just missed you by 20 mins or so .....

Aye Derek that was my entry in the book at the hide you have read( i had 2 Goldcrests), shame i missed you by such a short time, i had to drag myself away!:-C as time was tight.
Strange really the feeding patterns here as in most feeding stations, it did go quiet abit at times whilst i was here, but was frantic feeding at other times by all the residents. The late afternoon feeding frenzy could be the birds having their last feed before settling down for the night as the days are getting shorter.
Interesting about the L.T.Tits here, i do not know how many are around the area, but most sites i have visited this year have good numbers indicating a excellent breeding year, but very few seen this day by both of us.
Also Bullfinch, i only seen two imm. Female birds.
Did you check the other feeding station out in the wooded area? did not go there myself yesterday, just thought about really tonight and wonder if its being used/topped up with seed etc.

 

[seggs]

Judging by the bang when it hit (and what was left on my windscreen) I think I can safely say that it did not survive the encounter:-C.

Can anyone give me directions to the hide at Clara Vale? I have looked for it before but could not find it. Where do you need to park the car? If you don't want to publicise the directions by all means send them via PM.

Thanks

Brian

I had to ask a local yesterday, as its only my 3rd visit in 6 years!:-O
Knew the area but not the main turn off from the Gateshead to Prudoe road.

 

[degsy_safc]

The late afternoon feeding frenzy could be the birds having their last feed before settling down for the night as the days are getting shorter.

Could well be as it certainly quietened down after that bout of feeding

Interesting about the L.T.Tits here, i do not know how many are around the area, but most sites i have visited this year have good numbers indicating a excellent breeding year, but very few seen this day by both of us

Hmmmm, i only actually counted 2 LT Tits but am confident i heard more, how many more i wouldn't like to guess, but they were quite noisy.

Also Bullfinch, i only seen two imm. Female birds.

I didn't see any Bully's, although the week before i did see one male & female together.

Did you check the other feeding station out in the wooded area? did not go there myself yesterday, just thought about really tonight and wonder if its being used/topped up with seed etc.

Didn't visit the other hide as it is still too dark for piccies, plus last week Gordon told me that he had not started feeding there yet.

 

[NeilF]

Just heard from RBA probable Yellow browed warbler at Barmston with tit flock, north end of pond sounds like the path which runs along by the burger van, in a westerly direction.

Hi chaps, sorry forgot to report back in regarding the above, no sight nor sound in three hours searching yesterday morning, never mind hopefully a few will turn up down our stretch of coastline in the next few weeks.

 

[seggs]

This afternoon

Trow very quiet only the Trowl and a couple of Medpips and Wrens in the main area, the mound was just as bad 1 Stonechat.
Guillemot close in at Frenchmans and a few Shags.
Trow point rocks abit better first Purple sandpipers of the Autumn here for me today and 3. Also a Curlew with the normal waders.
2 Dunnocks and a robin around the Mango pub, small amounts of Goldfinch in the scrub area behind the car park.
Tuftie numbers building on the Marine pond, guesstimate 25+
1 Chiffchaff and 1 Goldcrest among a mixed tit flock in North Marine park.
...........................
Great to see the sea defence looks almost complete at Trow, all the heavy machinery has left the site and it looks like they are about to grass the area above the heavy boulders. So hopefully it will not be long before we can enjoy the bays again.:t:

 

[jason-t-71]

Had a Gray Wagtail outside work today. It was feeding on insects for about 20 minutes then nicked off. Short but sweet! Obviously just passing through cos the nearest bit of water to work is way off (boldon flats).

 

[seggs]

Had a Gray Wagtail outside work today. It was feeding on insects for about 20 minutes then nicked off. Short but sweet! Obviously just passing through cos the nearest bit of water to work is way off (boldon flats).

Nice sight at work Jason, ive had them in Sunderland and Newcastle city centres whilst grafting, also the odd one,s in S/Shields town centre near Yates, the Sunderland birds used the flat roofed top areas around the Bridges which held a small amount of water regular for feeding ect, you could almost set your watch by their arrival!:-O Same time most days last year on my breaks these looked to be family parties. even some of my work mates at the time were looking out for them!:-O..(non birders)
.........
Was the bird on the pavement at the Nook? or on the back entrance.

 

[jason-t-71]

Hi Steve, it was out the backlane. I was helping to load our delivery van with meds when I heard it fly over and land on the roof of the shop next door! Like I say it hung around the rooftops for about 20 minutes then flew off heading towards the coast. Pied Wags are fairly common round the shopping area, not seeming to be bothered by the public but its the first Grey Wag Ive seen here. It was a lovely little surprise.

 

[seggs]

2 Pinkies reported today on the Rifle range field at Whitburn at 11am. Not a mega but nice to see all the same, not seen any in our area so far this Autumn myself..:-C

 

[The gaffer]

Magpies

This morning there were 15 magpies feeding in a group on our estate. Are these imports or do they get gregarious during the winter? I tried one for sorrow..............etc but gave up at 7:-O:-O

Brian