Round the Doors

 A steady walk round today 9-4

Burnside:
Within a few 100 yards from home Kingfisher fished from its perch, 2 Swift still close to nest sites, Buzzard over heading SE.


Sedgeletch:

Water Rail calling from the Typha bed- waited a while for spotty crake- No such luck although yet another  one The Heron has seen here.

Also Kingfisher , Little Owl , Sparrowhawk with 3 noisy Kamakarze(?) juvs,

Log jam

150 Linnet/Goldfich, 44 House Martin, Moorhen with chicks just hatched, 2 Heron.

Morton Wood/Grange:

Sparrowhawks with young, 1 Little Owl, pr+2 Stock Dove, young Treecreepers & Nuthatch, 6 Tree Sparrow, 2pr  Grey Partridge, 3 Kestrel.

Lots of b'flys along the disused rail line

wasnt sure about this 1 till it opened its wings:-

Speckled Wood - they ve come on leaps & bounds last 2-3 year

Rainton M's:

Formerly a vast pit heap, re-worked as opencast before being put back

Some of it is now The Great North Forrest - more like a great north waste of money....

hundreds of 1,000's more trees than were ever needed & no after care policy !

It'll be interesting how many of these trees die off now that the canopy is closing

Areas of natural regen around the edges are rich in birds & wildlife, theres also the benefit that its formative years have given us some good small mammal populations :-)

On the whole a tragic waste of money & land

Snippets include:-
Little Owl, 10Snipe, 23Curlew, 1 Green Sand, 50 Lapwing, 3 Oystercatcher, 10 Teal , mGadwall, 2Shoveller, 2j each of Reed & Sedge Warbler, 12+Swift & 450+ mixed Hirundines scattered in area,

passage Redstart (diff bird to Sunday) - its on the top strand of barb in case you cant see it . . .
another classic iPhone binned image.

4Sparrowhawks up over Highfield Hotel, 3Sparrowhawks up over Leamside,
prGrey Partridge with 8 young, 8+Willow Tit etc,
year-tick in the shape of a cc Marsh Harrier which drifted SW over Leamside at 14:00, an area where ive seen 1 previously at this time of year - poss same seen earlier from Sedgeletch

North Hetton Fm / Dairy Lane:

13Mistle Thrush, pr Grey Partridge with 10+ young, pr Stock Dove, pr Little Owl etc.

Local Patching for a change - 4 yr ticks

After the rotten wet week it turned out to be a nice warm bright Sunday, bringing with it 4 patch year ticks.

Local Stalwart, The Heron SMS'ed with news of a  Pied Fly at the edge of town - as it happens just along the road - it was too close to turn down the opportunity - especially as theres only 1 other P.Fly on my patch tally.
40 long minutes it took to locate it as it sallied between Ash, Elm & Chestnut - a drab female type, but a real good passage bird to see, let alone find anywhere inland.
Thats another 1 i owe for . . . .

A pair of Little Owls entertained as i waited for the Fly to appear.

Its mate was next to its "box" . . . .

a Tree House no less ! - possibly the largest owl box in the County ! ?  


The bairn with his split head, was content to remain clocked in the house - so i treat myself to a full afternoon session.

Starting at TheBridge
i met EA, of Night Heron fame - he filled me in, metioing recet Hobby.

with Dipper, Kingfisher, 5Goosander etc etc

###  Short Dip Clip  ###


Headed up to TheGate (a 7 or 8 year old subsidence pool)
where i bumped into Foghorn Leghorn
who had just flushed all the waders off the pool
(there was no other reasonable explanation for no birds !)

We just began to chat when something flicked over the road above our heads -
landing on the Thistles it was a fine juvvy Whinchat -

a local yr tick, right place right time.

Andrew was quick to note an adult Buzzard here.
We headed off to another small subsidence pool, which held a Teal & a GreenSand.

Nice to see a keen young birder out & about - & he seems to have a unique talent in that he never has a bad word to say about anyone !

We went our seperate ways & i met up with the legend which is Man with Stick at TheMeadows
masses of birds here & a definate feel that we've had a good breeding season & that Summers on its way out.

200+ Willow-Chiffs, 10Blackcap, 4Lesser Whitethroat, 2Sedge Warbler, 12Whitethroat, 100+LTTit, 6Willow Tit, 80Goldfinch, 12Swift, 2Wheatear, Micks Redstart from yestday was at pool1, giving me the 3rd yrtick, a couple each of Teal, Shoveller & Gadwall, 11Cormorant record count ?, 200House Martin/Swallow etc


A further look back down produced a couple of Green Sands & an unexpected Spotted Redshank circling whilst calling for 5 mins, before heading off South - no doubt due to the noisy scum in the hides.
 
 

After the light went i watched 3 Long-eareds move together silently along the bankside - moments later i could hear one begin begging.

So a good ol' day, 3 sessions & 4 ticks.

Holiday afternoon

Went up Charlaw, to visit the farm for the first time

A nice little place with Tree Spugs zipping around the car park, while the adventure trail area wood, with its zip slides / ropes etc produced singing male Redstart, which was a pleasing surprise given that it was 95+% Scots Pine.
Others included Siskin, Treecreeper, GSW, Coal Tit etc

Moved off to have a look at the Tawny stick nest

It wasnt looking good, evenyually trailed the family through nettles, bracken & brambles to find an empty nest . . .

No sooner had i said we need to look out for some fluffy white balls up the trees, when Jack shouted (from ontop of my shoulders) "i can see an owl"

& there it was :-









The smile says it all, Yes no doubting he found it !

& no doubt one of many more to come . . .



pretending it didnt exist




Junior Foto Ninja
(the school camera is filling up with owl images quite nicely)



Interesting tree right over top of footpath on the adventure trail - remind us not to go back on a windy day




a pleasant afternoon



bugs on declining Scots Pine - cockchafers ?