By chance I managed two trips out in two days.
Last Sunday I was at Geltsdale with my son and his fiancee. Unfortunately there was only a light breeze but we did manage to see a few birds of prey, notably several kestrel, one of which I thought might have been a sparrow hawk and a single buzzard as well as canada geese, lapwing, curlew and a stonechat. Snowdrops are now out and there was a nice wee bunch near the RSPB Visitor Centre.
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| Snowdrops |
The day after I was on a Naturewatch trip to Big Waters, which produced a pleasing variety of species, without turning up any major rarities.
As well as tufted duck and a couple of great crested grebe debating whether the mating season has started, there was a good head of lapwing on the stony island.
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Lapwing
There were several teal around and one showed nicely on a sail past.
 | | Teal |
Further round we also caught up with wigeon, pochard and goldeneye. |
Around the Western hide there were no snipe or water rail this time but several finches on the feeders and a pair of reed buntings, the female of which had a brownish head that kept us guessing for a while.
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Reed Bunting
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On the way to tennis today, I had a little time to spare at the weir on the Derwent and noticed some more teal that were standing and sliding around in the fast water by the fish run. They appeared to be feeding on grubs in the newly-formed streamer weed.
On the way back there was also a pair of goosander diving away. Usually all you see there is couple of mallard and maybe a heron.
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