Northumbrian Birding (1 Viewer)

[seggs]

The Whoopers did me a good turn by flying off from East Chevington while I was there this afternoon, otherwise all was quiet. Brief views of an otter at Druridge at midday.

brilliant....love this pic..:t:.and great to see their are returning to the area..

 

[Barred Wobbler]

Better views of otter at Druridge this morning, but it only spent a few moments on the island.

 

[seggs]

up north

had a few hours spare ..as i was in the area i checked out a couple of sites..
duridge first...very quiet..few shoveler and wigeon close to hide..no otter whilst here ..about one ..ish...nice to see you again gordon!.. camera ok..after its fall!(so far)..
cresswell next...
gob-smacked!! hide gone!...:eek!:
hopefully not a tin one going up in its place!
scan from the road...and the bridle-way..
wigeon 150+..20+shoveler..6+dabchick..
a red headed smew ..could be the one from the last few winters..
1 scaup..
and 1 wimbrel..
a flock of 40+ mixed finchs on the dunes opposite here..gold,green.. and linnet mainly..
60+pinkies amoung 100+ greylags in the field south of the pond..
3pm 13 whoopers over nursery park ashington..(south)
dusk cresswell 52 whoopers on the pond..
and a merlin on a wire near the lynemouth end of the coastal road..
nice afternoon again..

 

[The Liverbirder]

Otter Spotter

Not much with feathers at Druridge Pools yesterday or today, however this afternoon the Otter(s) activity between 2.30 and 3.30 pm was superb, including the Otter v Eel battle, which, once again, was well and truly won by the Otter. And Mrs M's first Otter experience was well worth the wait!

 

[tony robb]

had a lovely walk up to Darden Lough which is a few miles west of Rothbury...loads of Red Grouse on the moorland also had a lifer with excellent views of a female Merlin....after a 2 mile uphill trek (it felt like 10) reached the lough to discover 3 mallards which took flight and disappeared over the ridge...leaving me with a completely empty lake....made my way back down spotted a few stonechat and a single buzzard..then caught sight of a smallish warbler flitting through the heather, its head, wings and chest were greenish and its underside very white..it was very flighty and continually flicked its light brown tail which was like a dartford warblers in shape...have looked in my british bird book and can`t find anything that looked like it..

 

[MH68]

Just a quick hello, to ask any members visiting Gosforth Park to keep an eye out,and report in the logbook any Grey Squirrels they see on or adjacent to the reserve.Someone in their infinite wisdom has apparently released a number of Greys into the reserve and the warden and others are trying their utmost to locate and capture them before any damage is done to the existing Reds.The mentality of some people is staggering at times!!
Recent reports from the reserve include several sightings of a Goshawk (unknown whether its an escape or a wild bird,though highly likely the latter) and plenty of sightings of Bitterns recently.

Thanks in advance for any help with the afore-mentioned problem....

Mark H

 

[jerkin]

Bad news regarding Grays,but have been in the area for at leased a year.at Arcot.Goshawk is likely wild no reports of a lost bird but have been a pair seen in the Green belt won't elaborate on this.

 

[Keith Reeder]

Someone in their infinite wisdom has apparently released a number of Greys into the reserve

You've got to be kidding, Mark!

What kind of idiot would pull a stunt like that?

 

[MH68]

I was pretty gobsmacked when I was told yesterday too Keith. It begs the question why were they trapping Greys if the plan was to release them???
Apparently when questioned about it the person released them there as "there were already Squirrels present" !!!! Unbelievable!! What chance have our native Reds got with imbeciles like that around?!......

Mark H

(edit) attached a pic I got yesterday...

 

[Barred Wobbler]

I was pretty gobsmacked when I was told yesterday too Keith. It begs the question why were they trapping Greys if the plan was to release them???
Apparently when questioned about it the person released them there as "there were already Squirrels present" !!!! Unbelievable!! What chance have our native Reds got with imbeciles like that around?!......

Mark H

An illegal act. If the person was questioned about it, then presumably they have been identified, so what is being done about this environmental vandalism, do you know?

 

[MH68]

Well as far as I know Alan theres a very good chance there will be a prosecution, anything else I find out i`ll post....

Mark H

 

[Barred Wobbler]

Thanks Mark.

A prosecution's just what's needed, with maximum publicity of the right sort to make it known far and wide that it is actually a crime to release grey squirrels. I'm not surprised that there is widespread ignorance of this in the general population, due in no small measure to the television's insistence on showing us how "cute" the little sods are at every available opportunity in ads, and even nature programmes (Bill Oddie, I'm talking about you too).

I was more surprised to find some time ago that this same sentiment is held by many members of this forum who I would have hoped would hold a view more in sympathy with the preservation of the reds.

 

[MH68]

Indeed Alan. A lot of people seem to just accept that the Greys are simply here to stay and think no action should be taken.It`s even more frustrating in the case of G.P as theyve been so successful so far in keeping the Greys at bay, despite them being present in numbers in areas adjacent to the reserve.Knowing how much time, effort, and cost has been involved by those protecting G.P`s Reds its a kick in the teeth for this to happen and I honestly hope the person responsible gets the book thrown at them in court.
Even if the Greys are successfully captured and removed, theres always the chance they could have passed the Parapox virus onto some of the native Reds, so only time will tell what effect this idiotic act has on them.

Mark H

 

[craigthirlwell]

Is Paul Drummond still the warden at Gosforth Park?
I've heard that Grey's make good eating. I wouldn't mind having a go.

 

[MH68]

Hi Craig, yes he is although I dont have a contact number for him i`m afraid.

Mark H

 

[Quacker]

Hope you don't mind an interloper. If anyone hadn't seen it and fancied a "pop over the border" there is the annual (well, 3rd year running qualifies this) Red Kite BF meet - for Gateshead and surrounding areas.

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=100641

Cheers folks.

Steve

 

[Mike Cook]

Report in today's Daily Telegraph

Just a quick hello, to ask any members visiting Gosforth Park to keep an eye out,and report in the logbook any Grey Squirrels they see on or adjacent to the reserve.Someone in their infinite wisdom has apparently released a number of Greys into the reserve and the warden and others are trying their utmost to locate and capture them before any damage is done to the existing Reds.The mentality of some people is staggering at times!!
Recent reports from the reserve include several sightings of a Goshawk (unknown whether its an escape or a wild bird,though highly likely the latter) and plenty of sightings of Bitterns recently.

Thanks in advance for any help with the afore-mentioned problem....

Mark H

This is what the Telegraph said today.

Not only does the grey squirrel displace the native red by out competing it for food and giving it the squirrel pox virus, it causes mayhem by eating our native birds which the red squirrel, a vegetarian, does not eat.

So why then has Natural England been licensing the re-release of 257 grey squirrels into the wild over the past 18 months? That figure has been obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by a body called the European Squirrel Initiative, which thinks that Britain has been doing far too little to defend its native wildlife from the invading greys. And it looks to me as though they are right.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2007/11/08/earthlog108.xml

Not that this should apply to Gosforth Park!

Incidentally, this is the first time I've posted, so please excuse me if I've screwed this post up.

Mike

 

[Barred Wobbler]

The article goes on to make the following telling point;

"In their defence, Natural England say that wounded squirrels were handed in to animal refuges and in order to have "better relations" with those, they have been allowing the animal refuges to return grey squirrels to the wild when they recover - but only in areas saturated with greys where there is no threat to the reds.

There may be no threat to the reds - which I strongly dispute because 257 greys is a great deal more than the handful whose release in the early 19th century caused the invasion in the first place."


Nice one Mike. (Although I think the author has his centuries mixed up. I thought it was the early 20th, not the 19th).

 

[Ceejay2000]

Hi All,

The first Grey Squirrel authenticated introduction took place in Henbury Park Cheshire in 1876, and continued till the late 1920s.
That is until NATURAL ENGLAND decides to release some 250 odd over the last 18 months !!!!!!!!!

C

 

[gbstrat]

Hi, sorry I don't look in here much.

Was just wondering if any one knew what the gathering of folks at St Mary's lighthouse were looking for out at sea with some pretty serious looking optics?