Geese

Geese

We decided to have a morning at the coast and so with that in mind headed off to Stag Rocks which was very quiet only birds of note being 6 Common Scoter along with several Common Eider, there was no sign of the Black Scoter reported earlier in the week. Our next destination was Harpers Heugh which proved to be the most productive of the day, in the field next to the road were a number of geese which were mainly made up of Greylags(60) and Pink-feet(110). On searching carefully through the flock we were pleased to find a single Tundra Bean Goose(rossicus) hiding amongst the Pink-feet, further scanning produced 3 White-fronted Geese of the Greenland race(flavirostis) along with 3 Pale-bellied Brent Geese and 18 Barnacle Geese, not a bad selection for such a small flock. Our final destination was Fenham le Moor where we encountered a dozen more Brents plus Redshanks, Knot, Turnstones and a respectable flock of some 30 Pintails.

A Bounty of Barn Owls!

A trip to Chatton from Lowick on Saturday night rewarded with one Barn Owl at our road end(Lowick);one near Holburn and another near Hetton!
Our return journey caught a full face view of another fine bird sitting on top of a hedge near Chatton!
A daytime trip to Twizel last week rewarded us with the lovely sight of a Barn Owl flying through the ruins of Twizel Castle and out into a nearby tree where it perched for five or so minutes despite some harrying by Jackdaws and Rooks!

Seasons

Early morning around Branton Ponds had a feel of winter, the ponds themselves were 80% frozen. This helped to concentrate the birds onto the small areas of open water, Wigeon are still in good sized numbers along with Teal, Tufted Duck, Mallard and 2 Pochard. Siskins ,Bullfinch, Lesser Redpoll and various members of the Tit family fed greedily amongst the Alders. In stark contrast when the sun came out and the air warmed up a bit we came across our first Adder of the year, a small male which was our earliest ever by 2 days, could spring be just around the corner?  

Two suprises at Branton Ponds!

Today, with weather calm & mild, among a selection of Gulls were surprisingly 2 Kittiwakes (in winter plumage) - it is rare to find this marine species inland!
Pleasingly were a minimum of 24 Curlew, now a Red Listed species. 4 Common Snipe rested on the same island.
Two ponds held good numbers of duck: Tufted,Wigeon, Mallard, Goldeneye (pairing) & 5 Goosander.
Second surprise: a Stoat in Ermine, with a clear black tipped tail, seen several times.

At Hedgeley Ponds, 23 Snipe lined the edge of the low island whilst 400 plus Lapwing circled overhead looking to land. A pair of Gadwall were among the duck species there.

Tawny Owls

Two Tawny Owls calling again this evening; they have been calling most nights this week. One flew over tonight from the large Beech Tree on the field boundary of the garden as I opened the back door of the house giving a brief view before landing again further along the line of trees. It soon restarted its 'conversation' with the other. They seem most active and vocal at this time of year, doubtless pairing up ready to commence nesting in March.

A wintry scene

A wintry scene

Finally winter has hit us with a vengeance, we woke up this morning to about 2 inches of the white stuff. It does have some benefits , the first was in the form of a male Brambling feeding with Chaffinches and Tree Sparrows on the ground at our back window. Next to the Ponds where the snow revealed numerous footprints which included Red Squirrel scampering across the snow and further around where an Otter had come out of the burn and crossed over to the ponds, you could even see where it had stopped and then slid down the bank and into the water, who says animals don't have fun.
The ponds themselves held quite a few wildfowl including Teal, Wigeon, Tufted Duck and Goldeneye, we also noted a small flock of 6 Redwing feeding in the treetops.  

Stag Rocks

A beautiful ,sunny, frosty morning found us at Stag Rocks at around 9.30 am with a low tide and with  the beach  almost to ourselves!
Just off Stag Rocks there were good views of  7 Long Tailed Ducks,40 Common Scoter,1 Red Breasted Merganser ,Eider,and Cormorant while on the rocks there were around 30 Purple Sandpipers amongst the usual suspects-Oyster catcher,Curlew,Turnstone and Redshank,.A Rock Pippit was also present.
In the rough grassland over the wall by the lane a Short Eared Owl was hunting ,with some success by the look of it.At one point a Kestrel harassed it before flying off.A huge mixed flock of finches fed on the thistles and grass seeds and included Goldfinch,1 Greenfinch and Linnet.A Reed Bunting was also spotted in the same area as was a female Stonechat,sitting on a fence post.