Afternoon in Cleveland

Today dad and I took my gran back to her house in Hartlepool. We called at Saltholme to have lunch and then went birding.  We did not see the Curlew sandpipers but did see a Marsh harrier. There were also lots of Common terns and Reed buntings about. Gran then took us to Crimdon Dene an amazing Little tern colony which she knew well but I had never been to. Both Little terns and Ringed plover were great to see in a fenced off area of the beach. Whilst walking back to the carpark we saw a raft of 27 Common scoters (26 males/1 female) quite close in. Dad and I then went and dropped gran off and set off home, thus ending our day of birding. Or so we thought. Whilst driving along the A171 through the edge of the Dalby forest we saw a Goshawk high above the road. An excellent bird to end an excellent day.

Little tern 

Ringed plover

Marsh harrier

Marsh harrier 

Ringed plover chick 

Little tern

Reed bunting 

Ringing then birding at Tophill Low

This mornings ringing session was highly successful with 57 birds. These included 9 Blue tit pulli, 21 Long-tailed tits and (best of all) a Reed warbler control. The Reed warbler had a Belgian ring on as the ring said Brussels on it. This meant the bird was ringed outside the UK, presumably in Belgium or Africa, but we will for know for certain when the BTO get back to us. Whilst ringing we heard a Cuckoo frequently and we saw a Peregrine and a Little Egret (both flew south). I also found a Wren nest and it will be good to monitor the progress of this little bird.
Below are some pictures from ringing, then below that is the second part of the post.

Controlled Reed warbler

Belgian ring

Lesser whitethroat

Wren nest

After ringing we went to South Marsh East. The marsh hosted some good waders from the west hide- 1 Green sandpiper, 1 Ruff, 4 Little-ringed plover, 2 Ringed plover, 1 Oystercatcher and lots of Lapwing. There was also a whole host of other birds from the west hide including 2 Shelduck with many chicks and 2 Common terns. The Shelducks hated the Black-headed gulls approaching their chicks and aggressively chased the gulls away, to the point where one gull was bleeding from the wing! We then went to the East hide. There we got amazing views of the female Red-crested Pochard with 2 young, unfortunately we did not see the male. A Kingfisher briefly made an appearance and we heard the Cetti's warbler briefly. A Yellow wagtail on the access road flew away from the car as we left was the last notable bird of the morning (even though we saw two on the way in). Below are some pictures that I took.

Red-crested pochard

Green sandpiper

Ruff

Shelduck and Black-headed gull (with bleeding wing)

Black-headed gull and Common tern

Red-crested pochard 

Red-crested pochard

Patchwork Challenge 2016 May roundup

The first of the 8 patch ticks for the month were on the 20th May at Hunmanby Gap. A bit of seawatching was rewarded with a Manx shearwater and a Puffin, both of which flew north.

House martins

Song thrush

Stock dove 

On the 28th I managed to get 6 new species at the Gap that morning. The first tick was two Shelduck, they sat in a field before flying inland. Then 4 Goosanders flew south, something I didn't expect. Another bird which I did not expect was a Red-breasted merganser which flew north just a few minutes later. Within seconds of each other an Arctic tern flew south whilst a Common scoter flew north. The on the way back to the car a Rock pipit on the cliffs topped things off, leaving me with 96 species and 115 points. Also present was a Red-throated diver sitting in the Bay.

Goosanders

Red-throated diver

Swift

Brockholes and Saltholme

On Friday 28th May (after a successful morning on the patch and in Filey (previous post)) the family and I set off to Bolton as we were staying with relatives for the weekend. On the 29th we went to Brockholes nature reserve. It was very busy as it was an incredibly warm day. We walked a long the Ribble river where we saw three great birds: a Kingfisher, a Goosander and (best of all) a Little gull.

On the 30th we set off to Hartlepool to pick up my gran so that she could spend the half-term holidays with us, this meant a quick visit to Saltholme. The reserve was closing soon so we only managed to visit Saltholme hide. On Back Saltholme there was a Spoonbill, but it was distant and sleeping and I had already seen a more active one in Filey just a little while ago. The hide also had feeding Avocets and Common terns. Some Great-crested grebes then drifted close. Even though the weekend wasn't predominantly a birding one, it still produced some great birds.

Little gull

Goosander

Kingfisher

Avocets 

Reed bunting

Common terns

Moorhens and a Coot

Distant Spoonbill

Great-crested grebe

Great-crested grebe

Patch then Filey

This morning dad and I got up at 6:30 (would have been earlier if I hadn't had concerts the last two nights) and headed down to Hunmanby Gap. There we added 6 birds to Patchwork challenge. They were-
4 Goosanders (south)
1 Arctic tern (south)
1 Common scoter (north)
1 Red-breasted merganser (north)
1 Rock pipit
2 Shelduck (flew inland off a field)
Leaving me on 96 species and 115 points.

Also present was a Red-throated diver though this was not an addition as we had seen them in winter.

We then went to Filey as a Red-backed shrike had just turned up at the tip. We looked where it had been see but didn't see it. We then saw it at the other side of the field to where it was meant to be. A distant female but still a good bird.

Red-throated diver

Goosander

Red-breasted merganser 

Chiffchaff

Distant Red-backed shrike

Shelduck

Rainy trip to Filey Dams

I was taking a break from revision when I saw that a Spoonbill had turned up at Filey Dams. This was great as it is only a couple of miles away. It was pouring down with rain but my dad took little persuasion. We headed over and there it was, looking rather miserable in the rain but nonetheless splendid.

Spoonbill, as are the following 

Afternoon on the North York Moors

There had been up to 10 Dotterel present on Danby Beacon (North Yorks) for a number of days so the family and I went to see them. It had been a year and five days since we had seen one there. We set off and saw 2 Merlin from the car between Scarborough and Whitby. We got to Danby Beacon and there were 5 female Dotterel feeding in front of us. Unfortunately they were slightly more distant than last time and they were annoyingly hard to photograph as there was a very strong heat haze. However they still remain my favourite wader. There were also Curlew, Red grouse and Meadow pipits present. We then drove to the ruins of an iron works at Bank Top above Rosedale where there were 5 Golden plover and lots of Red grouse and Lapwing.

Dotterel

2 Dotterel

Dotterel

Golden plover

Red grouse

Pheasant

Curlew 

Golden plover

Curlew