Quiet Days

It may be my imagination but there seems to be much less going on in the way of rare bird sightings compared to previous years.  November was mild and waxwings haven't irrupted in any numbers.  Only the odd hawfinch has appeared at Morpeth.  Apart from that most twitchers are reporting gulls and other sea birds that don't excite me that much.

You may have observed that I have posted several photos of long-tailed tits tucking into suet nuggets.  About three weeks ago, I finally managed to get the shot I was really after - six of them having a go at the same time.  Unfortunately, on the last trip to the supermarket in question, the suet nugget shelf was totally empty so maybe other customers have had the same positive results.  The high energy fatballs I've replaced them with don't exercise the same magic, so no more long-tailed tit invasions as yet.

Long-tailed tits

In slightly murky conditions more recently two male bullfinches turned up on the forsythia bush, which I remember attracted bullfinch interest last winter.  I've often noticed bullfinches feeding on fresh shoots at this time of year but it isn't so common to see two males together.

Bullfinches

Perhaps they have a particular liking for forsythia.

Over Christmas I was at my son's in Moffat and we did a walk at Carriefran near the Grey Mare's Tale.  Although the scenery was pretty impressive we didn't see much in the way of wildlife - a single buzzard, a volley of pipits and a few tits and not a single mammal.  This is a new walk and, like Chopwell Woods, they've signposted a lot of trees to show what kind they are.  I'd no idea there were so many varieties of willow

Carriefan

On the way back into Moffat we drove past the Hammerlands Centre, now developed into a serious resort. There used to be a stew pond where it was dead easy to catch a few trout on baits.  The fly fishing seems to have expanded now and is reasonably priced.  I've often told myself I wanted to try some trout fishing again.  I think what I would like to do is catch a trout on my late dad's vintage fly fishing gear.  Perhaps it doesn't extend further than that: I'm not sure I'm up for clambering up and down river banks any more.

Yesterday, I met up with Malcolm to do a dog walk round the QE II lake near Ashington, the one WACAC venue I hadn't sussed out yet.  There wasn't much bird life about apart from common items - swans, cormorants, canada geese and standard ducks.

However I was impressed with the look of it as a fishing venue.  It mainly gets reported as a specimen venue for quality carp and pike but all the main other coarse species are present and it didn't seem as exposed as I had imagined.

Although we didn't see anything much, Malcolm's dog certainly did, showing a great deal of interest in the reedy areas and at one point plunging into a boggy bit of water in full attack mode.  We wondered if it might have been a water vole as there are some in the vicinity.

Vole Hunter

Another advantage of the QE II was the real ale in the (rather plasticy) pub near the car park.

Today I was out on a long bike ride and noticed that there were a lot of chaffinches about.