Last Saturday I caught up with daughter Jennifer and fiance Joe at the Saltholme RSPB Reserve near Seal Sands - distinctly brownbelt country. The main purpose was to start off a complex exchange of Christmas and Birthday presents while fitting in some birdwatching and refreshments.
It was clear from internet search that there were a large number of fieldfare and a good few redwing present, and these were fairly quickly identified, including the leucistic fieldfare advertised, which actually showed up on two or three separate occasions and therefore was adjudged to be showing off just a bit. Just to confirm, it hadn't been snowing...
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| Fieldfares |
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| Redwing |
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| Leucistic Fieldfare |
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On moving to the first hide, we saw a few greenfinch, tits and tree sparrows and phenomenal number of
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| Peregrine Falcon |
goldfinches crowding in around the feeders. At distance it was just possible to pick out a solitary peregrine falcon that remained static on a fencepost for all the time we stayed, halfway over to a line of factories to the north of the pond. I wondered if it was possibly a juvenile.
Walking over the scrub land, we saw a few kestrels and a large flock of lapwings moving back and forth. Things became somewhat quieter when we reached the Saltholme Hide, so much so that these wigeon obviously decided to take a wee nap.
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| Sleepy wigeon |
Unfortunately we didn't see any peregrines hunting, nor the marsh harriers that have consistently been reported. This was for me the biggest disappointment as a pair were briefly spotted on the day and I had no idea that marsh harriers are regularly sighted as far North as the Tees Estuary.
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