A Good Decision

While writing up my sightings in Spain, I had a couple of sightings South of the Derwent.

On my way to the Metrocentre, about half a dozen roe deer crossed the Derwent Walk a hundred yards ahead of me, including two fawns perhaps suggesting that they are becoming more numerous, as I suppose tends to happen with deer.

I couldn't believe my ears after collecting my first hearing aid at Shotley Bridge on Friday, but then I couldn't believe my eyes either when I saw this heron above the road on the way home:

Grey Heron

Now I'd heard of Leonard Cohen's "Bird on a Wire" but a heron on a wire was total news to me.  I gather the fishing on the B6310 isn't much good these days unfortunately.

Lapwing

My plan on Sunday was to do a long cycle ride to the coast given the forecast of long hours of sunshine.  When the latter had not materialised by 10.30 am I decided to do a few jobs in the garden then spend a couple of hours at Shotton Pools near Northumberlandia, where there have been a few sightings recently.

The whole area was alive with skylarks singing their heads off and there were a good few lapwings around. 

A couple of cheps told me a tundra bean goose had been sighted with some pink-footed geese in the fields.  

I reckoned I managed to see it.  They'd all disappeared briefly and I was quite surprised when they showed up again that I could pick them out at distance with the naked eye, so I had a go at getting a group shot, with the impromptu intervention of a couple of hares. 

Tundra Bean Goose(l), Pink-footed Goose with hares

My bird handbook points out the elongated neck on the bean goose.  It should really show a black tip to the beak but maybe it's not apparent at several hundred yards range.

Avocets have been turning up in Northumberland for a fair while but today I counted six and there were probably a few more, so that was new.

Avocet

A very graceful bird...

On the way back to Northumberlandia, one or two of the lapwings were starting to rehearse their display flight and call.  I didn't manage to capture this example very well, but it was easier than trying to keep up with all the skylarks.

Lapwing rehearsal

One that I didn't catch up with was the white-fronted goose but I saw them once before at Loch Ken.  

All in all I had taken a good decision. 

Tuesday 13th August

Again not too much to report...

I went on a walk near Castle Howard with my daughter and her boyfriend on Sunday but not too much turned up in spite of some nice scenery with some impressive oaks and hornbeams. We did get a good view of some blackcaps in a bush (a lot of blackcaps this year?) plus the customary goldfinches and speckled wood butterflies and a momentary glimpse of a hornet.

Lake near Castle Howard

One thing that did puzzle us was this flower which was growing in large fields and was presumably cultivated as a rotational crop. Anyway we couldn't identify what it was.

Mystery crop

Apart from that and the smallest shetland pony I have ever seen, there was nothing further to note.

Yesterday a rather raggeldy looking red kite flew over the estate.  Nothing new has turned up in the garden.

In the evening I went out with the U3A Naturewatch group to look for nightjars near Slaley.  They have appeared there for the last couple of years but it was a rather wet and dark evening and all I saw was a furtive hare at dusk and a few pigeons.  A while after dusk we did hear some churring but at a such distance it wasn't even worth recording.

At the moment I have the feeling of being in a bit of a nature void. Summer is pretty much over and autumn hasn't started.

Monday 6th August

By contrast this week has been fairly quiet.

Yesterday evening I made a trip out to Waldridge Fell in search of the purple hairstreak, which has been sighted there a few times recently.  I did manage to find a good number of oak trees but did not see the butterfly. I found some consolation in my first sighting of the wall brown butterfly this year, basking on a bit of open grassland - plus a couple of meadow browns and the inevitable whites and speckled woods.

There was however a moment of humour later when I headed down a woodland path and saw what I took to be a small brown dog trotting towards me.  Its ears seemed to be getting larger as it approached when it suddenly stopped still to eye me over, metamorphosed into a hare and trotted off casually in the opposite direction.

Otherwise it has been bits and pieces - a red admiral flying over the tennis court or a hayfield and a peacock on a quick walk along the river at Prudhoe.

Peacock

However the main sense of success of the week also came yesterday.  One sprig of buddleia I brought over from Dumfries unexpectedly survived the harsh Spring weather and has produced a single, long flower.  As I arrived home around lunchtime there was a red admiral on it, which I disturbed in passing.  I went into the house to fetch the camera and there was a peacock hanging on it upside down instead.

A satisfying moment...

Monday 4th January

Took advantage in a break in the weather to make a morning trip to Mersehead RSPB Reserve, taking care to make sure I had the wellies with me.

Tree Sparrows and Greenfinch

A quick trip to the Visitor Centre showed a lot of action on the large feeder directly in front of the main window. I very quicly noticed a large number of greenfinches and, amongst the tits and chaffinches, about four or five tree sparrows who kept coming back repeatedly. I have seen them at Mersehead before but otherwise associate them more with Annandale and Cumbria.

The wellie boots were definitely necessary as the path to Bruaich Hide was well flooded.  Having passed a rambling roe deer and some of the 7,000 barnacle Geese present, there were pintail ducks, shovelers, teal and widgeon on the water. Another young roe deer showed up on the far side under the trees. I was a bit surprised not to see any whooper swans, having seen them last week. Meida Hide was less rewarding.  Apart from a decent close-up of a teal, most other ducks were at a distance. The typology of this area seems to have altered and the water levels appeared uneven.

After that there wasn't much to see on the beech.  On the merse there was just one hare running wildly around, as if in pursuit of a lost tortoise, a rabbit and a wren in the dunes.

Sunday 3rd May

Quite a busy week but one interspersed with interesting sightings.

Had to take new bike for service at Castle Douglas on Thursday, so wasn't much focussed on checking the surroundings on the way there.  There were the usual goldfinches and the odd skylark and after appropriate research I was able to confirm that the wagtails along the military road were not white but pied - today anyway.

Nuthatch seeks Peanut

With a little more time on the way back, decided to break at the place on the way up to the Glenkilns where the birdboxes are.  I mentioned in a previous post that I thought them too low.  As you can see however, it transpires they were probably not for nesting at all.  Someone had filled one of them with peanuts and this nuthatch took full advantage by raiding it repeatedly (see photo).  Several other tits and a tree creeper were also lurking with intent, but only one great tit was bold enough to steal a nut while I was around.

Moving on over the moors, there were a number of meadow pipits playing around on the walls and fences, probably in mating mode, and a fleeting hare, but no wheatears.

A pleasant surprise was to see that the sand martins have returned to their nesting haunt on the Nith just south of the cycle path.  It was a surprise because there was no sign of them when I rode through at 8.00 a.m.  However there were far more on the Wear at Chester-le-Street on Friday when Hilary and I paused during a househunting trip on my behalf.  We also fitted in a quick walk round Seghill Nature Reserve on Saturday where there were a few swallows and big numbers of skylarks, some at quite close quarters.

Friday 27th March

Wednesday's bike ride to Kirkcudbright was much like the one before - nice bright weather but no particularly oustanding sightings.  On the way out startled a red-legged partridge, which did sort of settle an argument I've been having with myself as my bird book suggests grey partridge is more likely in this part of the country.  However, this one did have very red legs, so I think I've been getting that one right.  I think they're bred a lot for game.

Between Old Bridge of Urr and Clarebrand followed a hare for nearly a mile along the uphill road before it finally ran off into a field at the top.  Unfortunately there was a dead one a little further

Carlingwark Loch

along.

Stopped at Carlingwark Loch for a break and disturbed a heron, but everything on the water itself was pretty usual stuff and there were no warblers yet.  On restarting did hear my first chiffchaff of the year.  From talking to someone else it seems they've been on the coast for a week and have just started to move inland.

On the way back it was pleasing to encounter two kestrels at seperate locations, perhaps showing their numbers were starting to grow again.  One was hovering over the road hedgerow, just like they used to do. Yesterday there were also a couple of greenfinches in the trees on the estate as I walked back from the shops so hopefully they are doing better as well. Today I saw another bumblebee.

Wednesday 4th March

A pleasant day and resulting enjoyable bike ride to Haugh of Urr, but not much to report on the wildlife front.  The standard birds of prey (buzzard, red kite) were in evidence, though not as much as last week and just before Crocketford there was a good sighting of a male kestrel that wheeled back around me and settled in a tree behind a wall.  I tried to sneak up unobserved to see if I could get a photograph but it must have detected my presence as it had moved on back down the road.  A march hare also ran away from me for about three hundred yards across a farm field between Crocketford and the military road.

The main event of the day was seeing the first squirrel of the spring, which ambled across the road on the hill after Bogle Bridge.  So I stopped at the point where I had found a lot of squirrels feeding on seed left for them on the wall.  This time there were no further squirrels, but several blue tits and great tits turned up in nearby trees as if expecting some sort of action.  I also noticed several nesting boxes of the sort often favoured by pied flycatchers nailed to the beech trees, but it seemed to me they were placed far too low and in easy reach of various predators.

Wednesday 12th March

Plenty of birdlife on the run to Corsock, so decided on a count and reached 20 different species, notably not including red kite and coal tit, which were not seen.  Best sightings were treecreeper and a pair of nuthatches, one of which exhibited a baleful call note that must be typical.  Last two species - goldfinch and long-tailed tit - were both on the Caledonian cycle track and sort of emblematic for the times.  Also saw a single butterfly and mating attempts by buzzards and hares, though not on each other.  Hares were running down the road ahead of me for a time.

Wednesday 5th March

On way to Moniaive by bike, saw a hare and a dead roe deer.  When I stopped for a rest at the bridge past Skinford, there was a song thrush singing constantly in a tree just above and it stayed there the whole time I was eating my snack. Grey wagtail on Cairn tributary.

By the Cairn, four woodpeckers had been drumming very close to each other.  Spring is definitely on the way!

Wednesday 27th March

Wheelers again but this time had already sighted 12 species on the way to Beeswing via Kirkconnell Flow, most notable including again sparrowhawk, which appeared to make a run at a sedentary hare, goosander (I think) and redwing.  Also heard jay and very prominent woodpecker.  This time quite heavy snow after New Abbey affected sightings.

Wednesday 4th March

Ambitious bike ride to Moniaive with Wednesday Wheelers at appropriately slow speed.  After spotting mad march hare on way out of Dumfries decided to see if I could beat the dozen bird species spotted on last ride and was surprised to notch up 20 on the way there alone.

Most productive stretch was the back road from the Cairn to Moniaive, producing male bullfinch and kestrel, which is now almost rare locally.  Also possible female grouse or red-legged partridge in stubble field that immediately hid before I could get a second look.

Much cooler in steady East wind.