Durham Birding (1 Viewer)

[Mark Newsome]

Also at Shincliffe - Fieldfares - I think! Poor quality as these guys are difficult to get close to.
Regards Alan.

Actually juvenile Mistle Thrushes Alan. The heavily spotted underparts on a cream background and grey-brown backs are a good pointers. Fieldfares would be exceptional (but not unheard of) at this time of year. The first won't be arriving back until late the second half of September at the earliest.

 

[Bonsaibirder]

Two Roseate Terns south (1 ad and 1 juv) were the highlight of an otherwise quiet seawatch thismorning.

Well done Steve with the phalarope!

Cheers,

 

[Ross Ahmed]

Look down Sandhaven Beach early am again with 'littlebrownthing'. Similar story to yesterday but without the Roseate Terns: 4 Little Terns, 2nd-sum Mediterranean Gull and an influx of 16 Knot.

Jarrow Slake quiet But 2 Common Sandpipers still present.

 

[Bonsaibirder]

16 Knot flew North past the OBS this morning (plus another 4 before that). A coincidence?

Cheers,

Look down Sandhaven Beach early am again with 'littlebrownthing'. Similar story to yesterday but without the Roseate Terns: 4 Little Terns, 2nd-sum Mediterranean Gull and an influx of 16 Knot.

Jarrow Slake quiet But 2 Common Sandpipers still present.

 

[DEREK.C.]

3 Black Tailed Godwit at Rainton Meadows today.C.Wilson

 

[rokermartin]

Whitburn 3 ad RoseateTern,1 ad Med Gull.

 

[DerekK]

Pecknell Wood

This is my very first post on the forum and therefore my first contribution. It is also an opportunity to thank all of the members of Durham Bird Club who
have worked so hard to produce the excellent annual reports, and the Lek magazines.
Most readers will not be familiar with Pecknell Wood, but it lies between
Barnard Castle and Lartington Hall and has a public footpath adjacent to Scur Beck running through it. I walk it on a regular basis throughout the year.
Today i had my first ever Kingfisher on Scur Beck (NZ039173), and a little later on the return of my walk a pair of Common Buzzards (NZ033175) circling and interacting overhead near to Pecknell Cottage.
Still on the return journey i had another sighting of a Kingfisher fishing on the River Tees (NZ045168).

 

[littlebrownthing]

Great day - much appreciated

Excellent days birding today! Thanks to Ross at Sandhaven this a.m. and to all at Castle Lake who guided me to three new lifers (Little Tern, Scaup and Wilson's Phalarope) and loads of other stuff. Love the fact that birders are always keen to pass on sightings and help out those less knowledgeable - thanks again you lot!
Chris

 

[IanF]

I popped along to Castle Lake at lunchtime for a look. The Wilson's Phalarope was still showing well on the edge of the mud below the hill by the sewage works. A little too windy for decent photos though.

A pair of Greenshank present as well.

 

[ted hilland]

phalarope

Well doneSteve and derek. As for Ross and his gull its just reward for hours of total dedication, very very well done lads keep them coming.

 

[JBee]

Other stuff like wild flowers and insects are taking up my time at the moment (along with missed days out because of the weather)
Still - just to keep my hand in here are a few swallows from last week

 

[JBee]

And a few swallowing swallows.

 

[seggs]

fantasic photos jbee..( as always) nice to see you back on the thread..

 

[StevieEvans]

County's Premier Site.......

Wilsons Phalarope for its third day at DBC's Castle Lake Nature Reserve mid-morning, viewable near sewage works just south of Bishop Middleham village at NZ329308.

Other birds there yesterday included :-
A decent sprinkling of waders with 5 Ruff 2 Dunlin 2 Common Sand 1GreenSand 12 Snipe 4 Greenshank 7 Ringed Plover zero? LRP ( presumably disturbed from favoured swg wks area by visitors...?) Curlew Lapwing 2 Golden Plover & Whimbrel reported going over
juv Cuckoo Little Owl Sparrowhawk all 3 Wagtail ssp Corn Bunting Tree Sparrow
400+ Greylags but no sign of the recent Egyptian Geese
Treecreeper Kingfisher 4 Willow Tit GSW etc along railway line to the south
plenty of Hirundines & the odd Swift - but no signs of Hobby despite birders being present all day.
Also a report of a very elusive Black necked Grebe on the main lake.

NB.
There will be some work being carried out on the lake from approx 09:15 on Saturday morning......
If the birds still there.... & anyones planning on visiting then they'd be wise to get there early as it may well be (unfortunately) disturbed......

THANK YOU to all those who have dropped coins in the conservation fund bucket !

Cheers
Steve
PS. excellent images on s~rfbirds site

 

[DEREK.C.]

Greatham Creek

A half hour there this morning produced 10 Black Tailed Godwits, 3 Grey Plover, 1 Little Egret, 2 Curlew Sandpiper, 2 Ruff and 1 Greenshank and a Fox right in front of the roadside hide.

 

[seggs]

first visit this evening to castle lake for me..(looking for the w.p..)
after driving around the small village and asking a couple of locals for directions i came across it..(also the help of the visitors notice board across the road from a pub)..
arrived at the site at 6ish..only to be told by a birder on the way back to his car that a peregrine had put all the waders up! 20mins earlier..
followed a few lads down to the site thro- the cow field,infront of the sewage works..( which i thought was a bit close to the pool).no luck then tried the top of the hill view.. again nothing..:C
dipped..,so did about 15 others while i was there..
on the plus side..5 greenshank..4 ruff..2 l.r.plover..4 ringed plover..2 dunlin..2 y.wags.. to note..
and had a good bit patter with the other lads there...also met shaggy..nice to meet fellow b.f. members..
will try tomorrow before the work starts..
ps..
no road side pool!!! its not been that dry...!.?
loved visiting this place at a dinner time whilst working on net park..

 

[StevieEvans]

Castle Lake Nature Reserve

No further sign of the Phalarope by the time the light went at 21:20 with visitors from Scotland & Yorkshire coming away slightly disapointed.
Although the bird apparently went missing on Wednesday night too...


DCh & i watched a juvenile male Peregrine come in from the north just past our heads at 16:40 & stirred everything up.......

But, still a nice selection of waders there later on tonight including :-
3+ Greenshank
2 Common Sand
1 Green Sand
1 Little Ringed Plover
7 Ringed Plover
3 Dunlin
7 Snipe

Theres been 13 species of waders in last few days, hopefully the forecasted rain will deposit one or two more.....

Heard an excellent tale about someone finding a W.Phal many years ago on the N.Tees marshes... no mobile phones, no buses between 1 & 5PM, very few folks with cars or home phones........ the person had to go home on the bus & walk a mile to a pay phone to get word out !
It must have been a lot of fun back then!

Nice to bump into DWS, Keith Bradley, Brut Broughton, "5o'clock" Mark, LongJohn Gardiner et al
We even managed to get a close view of & tick "Harry Oliver" (nice to see him eventually getting round to visit)


Latest revised owl total is 38 pr of Leo's succesfully raised young in the County this year....
SE

 

[DaveB]

Bishop Middleham (17.08.07)

An early morning visit to the lake proved very relaxing and worthwhile.

On arrival, there were no birds in the vicinity of the sewage works so I sat down, set the camera and waited. Unfortunately the sun was behind the birds, but it was a joy to just sit and watch the behaviour of the waders that soon began to arrive.

Waders included Wilsons Phalarope (1), Greenshank (at least 2), Ruff (5), Ringed Plover (5+), Little Ringed Plover (2), Dunlin (7) and Common Sandpiper (1).

Four Canada Geese were amongst Greylag Geese (150c), with no sign of the recently reported Egyptian Geese. Wildfowl included Little Grebe (8+), Mallard (20+), Tufted Duck (10+) and Shelduck (1). Not so many herundines about this morning with only a handfull of Sand Martins seen.

Other birds in the immediate area included Linnet (20+), Goldfinches (50+), Meadow Pipit (5c) and Pied Wagtail (20+).

DaveB

 

[JBee]

Juvenile LTT?

I am presuming the red eye marking denotes a juvenile - changing to yellow at some stage.

 

[Lawts]

Does anyone know when the work at Castle Lake stops today? I was one of last night's disappointed Yorkshiremen, and couldn't believe it when it was on this morning. Hoping to try tonight but no point if work carries on into the evening.

Where will all yesterday's waders have gone? Are there any other pools nearby? The WP must have been somewhere nearby last night.