Gossy bagged

At a northumberland location i had 2 goshawks displaying and a possible 3rd bird, also in the area sparrowhawk, 2 x raven, buzzard, kestrel, red grouse. Went to prestwick carr aswell and had 3 redstarts, grasshopper warbler, 2 yellow wags and a whitethroat. Back around gateshead tomorrow looking for more migrants :0 whinchat! Marsh harrier! Who knows what i'll get ;)

Record shot of a female goshawk, 1/2 mile away

Warblers

Not much about yesterday and today but managed to get 2 British year ticks and 3 for my Gateshead year list, 2 x Garden warbler were at far pastures and a single Reed warbler was at Birtley reed beds, also a Lesser whitethroat was at the entrance to the reed beds. Weather for rest of week is sunny with southerly winds, except tuesday when the winds are westerly. I think i'll have a shot for goshawk tomorrow as the wind direction isn't any good for migrants :( here is a few shots from today.

Garden warbler x 2 at far pastures

Blackcap x 2 my garden

Swallow at goodshields lake

Nordic jackdaw x 3 still at shibdon pond

Derwent cp

Had a walk around the derwent cp this morning and added sand and house martins to the foot list :) 3 roe deer were about, whitethroat, blackcap, willow warbler, chiffchaff, grey wsgtsil, red kite, lt tit were some of the walks highlights.

foot list and garden list ticks

Had a walk to shibdon pond this morning and added willow warbler/blackcap/sedge warbler/whitethroat and swallow to the foot list, also added house martin and swift to my garden list :) back on the foot list tomorrow along the derwent cp to far pastures and back. Also in the garden a pair of sparrowhawks displaying, blackcap/willow warbler/willow tit/chiffchaff singing.

Rain, packing and a swift

Rain again today :( so thought it would be a good chance to pack my caravan ready for my hols :) got a text from the centurion saying he was going to far pastures, i decided to have an hour down there for a bit fresh air :) 3 pairs of blackcaps, a few willow warblers and chiffchaffs singing, but not many hirundines about except a Swift :0 which was new for the year. That was about it for me and of i went home for lunch leaving the centurion to get some new ticks for himself :0 ?

2 target birds and a 4 bonus birds

Left the house at 7am this morning with 2 target birds to get Spotted crake and Pectoral sandpiper? as soon as i opened the door i had the first of my bonus birds Chiffchaff singing in the garden along with willow warbler and male blackcap still on the fatballs. first stop was druridge pools nr where i waited for 2 hours before getting a few seconds on the Spotted crake :) other birds of interest were a Grasshopper warbler, 3 calling water rails. Next i stopped at cresswell where i had 5 avocet and 10 yellow wags and 2 white wags, the pager reported the Pectoral sandpiper was at backworth pond which i got straight away, whilst i was at backworth an Iberian chiffchaff came on the pager at boldon flats, not the best bird but a lifer all the same :0 i got the bird straight away which was showing on and off in the hawthorn hedge, very hard to get a photo but managed a few record shots, The last bonus bird off the day was a Lesser whitethroat calling at the end of the lane next to the reserve. a cracking day out with 5 new year ticks :)

I had to photoshop a branch out of this shot which was across the Iberian Chiffchaff, lol

2 distant shots of the Iberian Chiffchaff

No spotted crake but spotted a harrier

A look around gateshead this morning was very quiet :( 15 white wags at kibblesworth grange pool was the highlight of the morning, 5 redpolls, 2 siskin, chiffchaff and a female blackcap were in my parents garden. A spotted crake came on the pager this afternoon, so of i went to druridge pools nr, but no sign of the bird :( but a cream crown marsh harrier put on a show which was new for my british year list.

4 british year ticks

Had a morning around gateshead today, 3 yellow wags and a white wag at kibblesworth grange pool, 4 yellow wags at flash pool and a white wag at lamesley water meadows, also 2 wheatears at burdon moor and a little owl at ravensworth fell, a cracking buck roe deer and a hare was also at ravensworth fell. Decided to have a trip up to druridge bay beach this afternoon with the dogs, they loved a good run along the beach and a quick dip in the sea. Had a whimbrel and 2 sandwich tern fly past which were new for the year, a drake garganey was at the budge screen, which also was new for the year. Stopped at creswell and had 5 avocets which was my final year tick, didnt go for pec sand as it was last reported in the morning but when i got home it came on pager :( might go for it tomorrow:0 ? What a twitch ;0

Another garden tick

Had a nice blackcap in the garden this morning feeding on fatballs :) other photos were taken in my parents garden.

Coffee and a warbler

Whilst having a coffee this morning i could hear the song of a willow warbler coming from outside :0 i grabbed my bins and to my delight, singing from the alders was a fine male willow warbler :) i usually get willow warbler here every year, maybe its the same male returning? Great to hear and see and a new garden year tick.

The ticks keep on coming

2 x ring ouzel pennyfine road whilst scanning for ospreys :) a male and female  flew past me heading for burdon moor, i checked burdon moor again but no sign. Also a possible female redstart flew past, but i wasnt 100% sure on this one :(. 6  white wags, 1 yellow wag in the sewage works/ lamesley area. Got a text from the centurion, he found sedge warbler and common whitethroat at shibdon taking him over the 100 :) well done, back onto your dragonflies soon :0 no sign of the birds when i got there, but the sun went in and the sedge stopped singing :( not to worry though, i would expect to get both birds soon.

White wagtail

Golden plover

Todays birding was always going one way after yesterdays fall of migrants, 2 wheatears at burdon moor and a common sandpiper at shibdon was the best i could do. Just checked forcast for the rest of the week, and its still set for southerlys apart from friday :) still time to get some more migrants this week? The wind might drop a bit on sun or mon, so might get that chance to go for goshawk?

Great days birding

Great days birding in the borough, with 4 new gateshead and british year ticks :) first off was a common sandpiper at shibdon (cheers george), next was a trip to watergate for a black necked grebe and another common sandpiper (cheers rob) also a common tern dropped in for a quick feed before heading off on its journey. Next was burdon moor where i had a peregrine fly over and 20+ wheatear, finished the day with a trip to lamesley water meadows where i had 2 yellow wagtails, 4 white wagtails, 10+ meadow pipits, wheatear, 2 gadwall. Looking good for the next few days aswell, bit rain tomorrow should ground a few things? :) also past the centurion at 4pm on his bike heading into the derwent walk, must be after some migrant action? ;) lol, good luck mate, i'll check your blog later to see if you have ticked anything

Thanks to paul davidson for this great shot of a yellow wagtail, the bird was about the same distance away as in my shot, but the shot was taken with the new canon powershot sx50 :0 great camera for distant birds, will be getting mine soon!

Good day for photos

A trip around the borough today produced:
Wheatear x 7 - burdon moor
Little owl x 2 - ravensworth fell
Hirundines 50 + house martin/swallow/sand martin - birtley sewage works
Gadwall x 2 - lamesley water meadows
White wagtail - Flash pool lamesley
Siskin x 5 - garden in ryton ( my parents)
Bullfinch x 2 garden in ryton
Goldfinch x 2 garden in ryton
Not a lot but a nice sunny day for some photos :)

Better than countryfile

Just had 4 x sand martin and 2 x swallow from my armchair :) and there is more flying past now, beats countryfile!

3 year ticks

Got 3 new Gateshead and British year ticks today, 2 x willow warbler, swallow and house martin were at birtley reed beds and the sewage works area, 50+ hirundines were counted. A water rail was calling at the reed beds along with 6 singing chiffchaffs, a juv iceland gull was reported at derwenthaugh this morning, the only bird we could find in the area was a juv hybrid glaucous x herring gull (viking gull). Also at shibdon was more hirundines, swallow, house martin and sand martin. A jack snipe was at ravensworth fell, but very quiet apart from that :( should get a few ticks this week i would think?

viking gull

l-r lesser black backed gull/herring gull/great black backed gull/viking gull

Dear, dear, dear

Not 2 deer but 3 deer in the garden today :) a nice buck with his 2 girlfriends, managed to get some shots this time and a bit film as they were feeding on the brambles. They spent a good 30 mins feeding before going back into the woods, great stuff :)

Buck roe deer

1st doe 

2nd doe