Durham Birding (2 Viewers)

[Ross Ahmed]

Sandhaven Beach on good form early morning with large gulls perhaps into 4 figures and Common Terns maybe just into 3 figures, and amongst these wer ad & juv Roseate Tern, 12 Little Gulls and a Little Tern. Waders included a Ruff, 2 Knot, c20 Sanderling and a Snipe overhead.

 

[Mark Newsome]

Decent seawatching at Whitburn in first couple of hours this morning, including 68 Little Gulls, 1 Sooty Shearwater and 4 Roseate Terns. Yesterday's volume was better with 158 Little Gulls, over 300 Manx Shearwaters, 1 Sooty Shearwater, 500-600 Common Terns and 12-15 Roseate Terns in the area during the day. Skuas are still well down on normal (or what used to be normal), but Arctic and Great Skuas are still daily in small numbers.

 

[The Chairman]

Just a reminder for those of you who aren't Durham Bird Club members or missed it in the recent Lek that there is an "Intoduction to Seawatching event" scheduled for next week Sunday 19 August 2007 from 10am-12 noon at the Whitburn Observatory.

It is designed primarily for new or inexperienced members or simply those who would like to brush up on their seabird identification skills. Obviously we can't influence the weather so don't know what will be passing on the day but there is bound to be something. There will be a few "old hands" around to offer assistance if required and anyone thinking of attending is invited simply to turn up on the day. If you have a telescope and tripod please bring them along as sometimes birds can be quite distant.

The Observatory is situated at the south east corner of the nature reserve and is accessed following the footpath from Whitburn Country Park where there is plenty of parking available. The car park in the south east corner is the closest to The Obs. and don't forget to keep an eye open for passerine migrants in the coastal park.

Hope to see you there

 

[StevieEvans]

Hardwick Hall

Early morn visit with child
2GSW, 5+Treecreeper, Green Woodpecker heard, many Goldcrests & Coal Tits
Tawny Owl 1 mobbed by sev ssp close to middle car park
8-10 Spotted Flycatchers
3pr Dabchick 2pr with young (1 clutch of 5), Swan family reduced by 2 down to 10 cygnets, 2 recent Mallard broods, Moorhen with tiny chicks.
1st yr Heron missing out on an easy meal & taking no notice of four day or so old Coot chicks on bankside. A dozen Herons in trees near colony. Another Coot still incubating, with 60+ on new lake.
SE

 

[allan rowell]

Castle Lake ( part two )

Had a look through this afternoon, and eventually found the Egyptian Geese amongst 350 Greylags. Managed a few distant shots ( 200 yards), so they arent much cop.
Pretty aggressive birds these, the male was attacking a dozen Greylags at a time.
2 Greenshanks also there, 3 Ringed Plover, 3 Juvenile Little Rings. 6 Snipe and 40 + Pied Wags.

Hi Derek,
this is the fuller list from the morning,
SNIPE 15
GREYLAG GEESE 190
RINGED PLOVER 1
MOORHEN 1
LAPWING 17
LITTLE GREBE 5
PIED WAGTAIL 4
EGYPTIAN GEESE 2
MUTE SWAN 10
WHINCHAT f/j 1

and if I missed something, I had something in me eye, honest !
Allan

 

[dampflippers]

I saw my first jay in S. Tyneside today along Cotswolds Lane.....is it unusual to see it here?

 

[DaveB]

Bishop Middleham & Etherley Moor today

The two Egyptian Geese were amongst at least 180 Greylag Geese in a field close to the A1 flashes.

A Greenshank and at least five Ringed Plovers (including four juveniles) were on Castle Lake. Other birds in the area brought the total number of species seen to a total of thirty two.

The Tree Sparrows on Etherley Moor are now feeding young for the third time this year. A Great Spotted Woodpecker visited the feeding station this morning and a Willow Warbler was in the garden two days ago. Starling numbers are slowly increasing, with a count of at least 70 on the wires yesterday evening.

DaveB

 

[seggs]

I saw my first jay in S. Tyneside today along Cotswolds Lane.....is it unusual to see it here?

well done on your first jay for s.tyneside first off..
the nearest ones ive had to here were in the plantation which runs between station burn and boldon (old pit area)...last year.. and i know of a few more reports in this area...so yes uncommon around these parts but not unheard of..

 

[DEREK.C.]

Ringed or Little Ringed

I know theres plenty of wader experts out there, (and i`m not one) ,but i thought these were Little Rings at Castle Lake yesterday.
Two people told me they were Ringed Plover, its not very often i`m right but am i wrong again ?:brains:

 

[Ian Hamiltan]

little rings for me to

 

[seggs]

i would have said little ringed too....but the nagging doubt is breast bar seems too board for this...?

 

[IanF]

I know theres plenty of wader experts out there, (and i`m not one) ,but i thought these were Little Rings at Castle Lake yesterday.
Two people told me they were Ringed Plover, its not very often i`m right but am i wrong again ?:brains:

I'd have gone with LRP as well from the head markings and leg colour.

I had a look over there this morning as well. Not much around when I arrived but 200+ geese soon arrived in flights of 12-15 coming in from the east. No waders at all when I was there, just Pied Wagtail and Reed Bunting on the mud and a single Shelduck. Several Swallow and Sand Martin were flying about and landing on the fence in the water. 20-30 Goldfinch were feeding on the thistles. The Egyptian Geese settled on the bank by the sewage works.

By the River Skerne there were three Heron and a Kingfisher feeding between the A1 culvert.

 

[DEREK.C.]

:t: Thanks for the replies.
Excellent pics of the geese Ian, just wondering how far were you away when you took them. I was 200 + yards off yesterday ,much to far for my little FZ50 .

 

[IanF]

:t: Thanks for the replies.
Excellent pics of the geese Ian, just wondering how far were you away when you took them. I was 200 + yards off yesterday ,much to far for my little FZ50 .

There's a cattle feeder by the end of the track at the sewage works. They were taken from there. Canon 20D+400mm lens+1.5x converter with camera on tripod - around 80-100yds - they're a straight crop with no resizing. Light was pretty poor.

 

[StevieEvans]

Invitation to see Castle Lake - Closer still..........

..........just wondering how far were you away when you took them. I was 200 + yards off yesterday ,much to far for my little FZ50 .

Derek Y dont U Come down next Saturday 18th August & get real close....... ( stand on the tip of john olleys peninsula (steady on...!) & check out the possibly ripped & slightly lil' ripped pullovers )


In seriousness:-
An open invitation for next SATURDAY 18th August, at 9AM to let people see whats going on & is planned for the site over the next few months...

also a bit of voluntary preparatory work ( vegetation management, sand martin bank creation & stone picking / barrowing ) before next stage of main works.

Meet before 9 at south west corner of Bishop Middleham Village at NZ 327 313 Town End Fm, park on green adjacent to Churchyard.

Contact J.Olley or SE for info or simply turn up.

079 79 60 1231

 

[Ross Ahmed]

Nice mix at Whitburn Steel this evening incl 4 Roseate Terns, Greenshank, adult Mediterranean Gull and 2 Little Gulls. The Merlin was again hunting the Rifle Range, and 220 House Martins gathered here.

 

[Mark Newsome]

Usual reminder...

...about sending records in to DBC. July saw the lowest number of people this year sending records in to the club, with few people sending in records from 'hotspots' such as Sth Tyneside, Gateshead and Bishop Middleham (only 3 Sth Tyneside based observers sent records in last month!). We all like seeing a high quality quarterly 'Lek' magazine and an annual report crammed full of info, but this can only happen if you pass your records on. No use moaning that there's no mention of birds in your local area if you never send records in!

Many areas of the County are still threatened or lined up for development. Just take a look at what has happened at West Pastures, Boldon, over the last 12 months - gone from an ancient grassland with high populations of many farmland birds plus breeding Long-eared Owls, to severly damaged farmland complete with ripped out scrub woodland and 'official' gypsie camp. The DBC can only object to and advise on proposed schemes if we have the data to back it up.

So if you've never sent records in before or have 'lapsed', now's the time to start again. You can either send records in by paper record cards, using the electronic spreadsheet (available from DBC website) or better still, direct onto BirdTrack, so that the BTO can also use your sightings to build up the national picture. If you do send your records direct to the DBC, the data will be exchanged back to the BTO, so full use will be made all round.

If anyone needs help sending records in, drop me a PM/email. Cheers, Mark.

 

[dampflippers]

Seggs- the jay was pecking on the grass verge next to the plantation fairly near the industirial units (but on the other side of the road)

 

[Bonsaibirder]

Saw this on another thread - thought some people might be interested:

Hi,
I've just had a call to say there is a Buff breasted Sandpiper near Greatham Creek, Cleveland

 

[DaveB]

South Shields

At least two Roseate Terns were amongst Common Tern (20+), Arctic Tern (10+), Sandwich Tern (10+) and Little Tern (3) on Sandhaven Beach this morning.

Gulls included Great Black–backed Gull (20+), Lesser Black–backed Gull (10+), Herring Gull (100c), Common Gull (2), Black–headed Gull (100c) and Kittiwake (5). Waders included Oystercatcher (2), Common Redshank (2), Turnstone (1) and Sanderling (10+).

Other species seen this morning included Cormorant (30+), Eider (7), Guillemot (5), Carrion Crow (7), Starling (50c), Linnet (10+) and Goldfinch (70+).

DaveB