Northumbrian Birding (1 Viewer)

[markEll]

sounds very promising. Definately myself and possibly my two youngest daughters (15&16yrs old) may be interested if there's room on one of the trips, not sure which yet as would have to consider the dates. Even though im not a very experienced birdwatcher I would love to learn more from people on the trip.

thanks for the info martin, its appreciated.

 

[level seven]

Ringtail harrier, presumably hen, flying south-east over Holywell Pond at about 12:15 today.

 

[StevieEvans]

Hi Mark

It's a 44ft converted lifeboat......
30 seconds later, to find yourself at least 20ft above the surrounding sea :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

martin

Martin, i was going to try & talk myself into this one..... seeing as im not a great fan of seacraft..........
But,
those green bouncing smilies have made my mind up for me ! :-C
have a good trip
Steve

 

[martin kitching]

Martin, i was going to try & talk myself into this one..... seeing as im not a great fan of seacraft..........
But,
those green bouncing smilies have made my mind up for me ! :-C
have a good trip
Steve

green bouncing smilies?????????? That's an mpeg from the pelagic that DenisJ was on

No, seriously, even if you aren't a great fan of boats I would still recommend the evening pelagics. We did have one year where we cancelled the evening trip because of the weather but every other evening trip has been in very calm conditions. A couple of the lads who have signed up already really don't like boats but enjoy the evening pelagics so much that they come on one every year. It's a really nice sociable evening out (and we always go for a curry and a few beers afterwards - anyone on the trip who wants to is welcome to join us for that).

cheers
martin

 

[Great Northern Skiver]

Had my first attempt at seawatching yesterday, inspired by recent post on here and LSB's website.

I went to St Mary's about 3pm, set up my scope and literally watched the sea for about an hour. I saw some lovely cormorants, a few boats of different sizes and the odd gull. After an hour I'd had enough of the boy racers behind me, so I gave up.

Were the conditions just wrong (very sunny, sea totally flat) or was it the time of day I was there? I've never done it before, and didn't really know what I was doing so the chances are that I was doing it all wrong!

Any tips would be greatly appreciated!

Kit

 

[Surreybirder]

Conditions are everything in sea watching! I'll leave it to the experts to say more, but I think you tend to get the best sea watching in the worst weather!
Ken

 

[Franky70]

Had my first attempt at seawatching yesterday, inspired by recent post on here and LSB's website.

I went to St Mary's about 3pm, set up my scope and literally watched the sea for about an hour. I saw some lovely cormorants, a few boats of different sizes and the odd gull. After an hour I'd had enough of the boy racers behind me, so I gave up.

Were the conditions just wrong (very sunny, sea totally flat) or was it the time of day I was there? I've never done it before, and didn't really know what I was doing so the chances are that I was doing it all wrong!

Any tips would be greatly appreciated!

Kit

You generally need Northerly or North easterly winds to make seawatching worthwhile from Northumberland. If you can get onto St.Mary's Island itself, there is a seawatching hide behind the lighthouse so you can avoid the boy racers. Good luck!

 

[LSB]

The best winds for seawatching are North and East winds and any combination of them both. Also seawatching mid afternoon is quiet, the best times are early morning or late afternoon 4-5pm onwards. The hide is usually open when the shop is or you can buy a key from there too. (£7 last time I checked).

 

[Great Northern Skiver]

Thanks for the tips guys-I'll keep trying!

 

[markEll]

A walk in Gosforth Park today, saw a deer, long tailed tit, and spent a little time watching a GS woodpecker nest. Very enjoyable, so much so that i decided to go back there at teatime with my other half, one of my daughters and the dog for a nice evening walk. Didnt anticipate what we might find this time though, ahem!, from about twenty yrds, a bird of a different sort, on all fours being photographed deep in the wooded area, if you'll pardon the expression. Very embarrassing, for us mainly, as they either didnt see us, or didnt mind being seen. We just walked off in a different direction, not much else we could do.

 

[Franky70]

A walk in Gosforth Park today, saw a deer, long tailed tit, and spent a little time watching a GS woodpecker nest. Very enjoyable, so much so that i decided to go back there at teatime with my other half, one of my daughters and the dog for a nice evening walk. Didnt anticipate what we might find this time though, ahem!, from about twenty yrds, a bird of a different sort, on all fours being photographed deep in the wooded area, if you'll pardon the expression. Very embarrassing, for us mainly, as they either didnt see us, or didnt mind being seen. We just walked off in a different direction, not much else we could do.

That's disgusting, absolutely shocking. Can't believe what people get up to these days!..............................................please pm me with exact location and sordid details!

 

[Stewart J.]

Kingfisher on South Tyne near Haltwhistle this morning unusual for this time of year. 6 Buzzards in air over a 1 mile stretch of the river also nice to see.

Brief view of a Red Kite over High Wood and Highwood Farm west end of Hexham mid afternoon.

7 Blackcocks in a hillside field near Allenheads - interesting and getting late for a gathering. Several males displayed (lekked) to each other as we watched. 10 - 12 Snipe also displaying in same area. Lot of Hares in fields.

At Coanwood Lough this evening 2 broods of Wigeon (3 & 7 ducklings) and 3 Tufted Ducks with broods.

Stewart

 

[Vipers]

I'll see you there tomorrow night Franky.

 

[tony robb]

what a coincidence....that im on my way to gosfor..........byeeeeeeeee

 

[Stewart J.]

Out helping check out Nightjars locations in Slaley forest last night [there is an article to be published soon on their colonisation of this area (local and possibly national press) and guided walks are to be arranged].

First bird heard at 21.35hrs then others shortly after. We had a total of 4 and possibly a 5th singing along with Woodcocks roding, Cuckoos, Tree Pipits, Snipe displaying and Tawnies all over the place, a great night.

Anyone wishing to join a very informal walk looking for these wonderful birds led by a very knowledgeable local naturalist (small parties so book) check out the link.

http://www.ladycrossnaturereserve.org.uk/Pge_Walks_Talks.htm

Stewart

 

[Keith Reeder]

Funny how things work out!!

I was involved in a small crash yesterday - no serious harm done, but I'm a bit battered and bruised - so I left work early today at about 1 o' clock.

Rather than waste the weather I decided to have a little wander about with the camera on my patch - the farmland around Blyth golf course.

Plenty of the usual suspects of course, whitethroats and yellowhammers in every bush, and loads of newly fledged birds including some fresh out of the nest coal tits being unfeasibly cute.

As I was pottering along on a farm track west of the golf course, a bird caught my attention as it flew into the hedges - initially I thought of wheatear.

Then I saw it properly - a male red backed shrike!

Although I don't "list" as such, he was a patch tick, a year tick, the first male I've ever seen, and my first self-found shrike!

Took my mind off my aches and pains, as you might imagine!

I mooched around for a while trying to get a decent picture (and failed - crappy record shots attached instead), then something made me remember my little mantra: "always look up".

I did - and bugger me if there wasn't a white stork up there, slowly gaining height as it headed south!

A lifer, patch tick, self-found - you name it - and an even better antidote!

Not a bad few hours, bearing in mind I should have been in the office when I was finding these birds..!

 

[Stewart J.]

Nice ones Keith, cracking finds even better when your on a sickie. Hope your recovery is swift.

Good birding (not that you appear to need my wishes )

Stewart

 

[Keith Reeder]

Cheers Stewart.

Just for the sake of clarity (never know who's reading! ), it wasn't a sicky, it was my own time, and I can vouch for how effective at easing aches and pains finding interesting birds is!

 

[markEll]

I was involved in a small crash yesterday - no serious harm done, but I'm a bit battered and bruised - so I left work early today at about 1 o' clock.

Rather than waste the weather I decided to have a little wander about with the camera on my patch - the farmland around Blyth golf course.

Plenty of the usual suspects of course, whitethroats and yellowhammers in every bush, and loads of newly fledged birds including some fresh out of the nest coal tits being unfeasibly cute.

As I was pottering along on a farm track west of the golf course, a bird caught my attention as it flew into the hedges - initially I thought of wheatear.

Then I saw it properly - a male red backed shrike!

Although I don't "list" as such, he was a patch tick, a year tick, the first male I've ever seen, and my first self-found shrike!

Took my mind off my aches and pains, as you might imagine!

I mooched around for a while trying to get a decent picture (and failed - crappy record shots attached instead), then something made me remember my little mantra: "always look up".

I did - and bugger me if there wasn't a white stork up there, slowly gaining height as it headed south!

A lifer, patch tick, self-found - you name it - and an even better antidote!

Not a bad few hours, bearing in mind I should have been in the office when I was finding these birds..!

heartwarming stuff. nice that days like this happen.

 

[stew the smew]

Out helping check out Nightjars locations in Slaley forest last night

Had a fantastic evening tonight. The site was absolutely alive with churring, impossible to estimate how many but they were very lively.

As I watched a roding Woodcock land about 20ft away from me I got the first nightjar fly through my field of vision, clapping it's wings loudly, unfortunately it disappeared into a dense platation and while it was very vocal i couldn't see it after that.

Having watched another couple of woodcock land in the same area i turned to head back to the car and got the most amazing views of a nightjar displaying between the road and the trees about 10 metres away from me.

Thanks to clear skies and the bright moon it was visible without the binoculars and continued for about 20 minutes, sitting on the road frequently and providing excellent views.

After it had flown back onto the site, i continued down the road only to see another one on the road up ahead. This one flew away fairly quickly however when I got adjacent to where it had been I stopped to listen to some more churring and was amazed when one reared up from the ground about 10ft from me, hovered and flew straight towards me. It got so close I felt the draught from it's wing as it veered away from my face but it landed right in front of me on the road, maybe 5ft away and just started churring away.

A couple of minutes later it was up again an disappeared back from whence it came.

An amazing sight.