SW, N, then E. Grindon Lough

An early start on a fresh March morning saw Mark and I head to the south west of the county... a good start with a Red Kite just east of Corbridge on the A69, followed by 11 Black Grouse just below the snow line, red grouse too... No Ring Ouzel nor Wheatear.

Further north, the two Greenland White-fronted Geese remain at Grindon (along with large groups of Fieldfare), and at Whittle Dene, two Sand Martin were nice too see.

Grindon Lough

Picking up

Spring may have finally sprung, with Cramlington year-ticks accumulated this afternoon and evening:

Willow warbler in full orchestral song at West Hartford this afternoon - maybe 5+ singing, two sand martin and a belated addition of Jay too.

Later, to the East of West, three wheatear in the ploughed field behind the football pitch - Cramlington birders duly alerted, though PA had clearly left the mobile at home.

At Laverock, a minimum of 4 tree sparrow on the territory side of the patch and a few barn swallow too.

Chiffies abundant... it's finally starting to happen...

Quiet Sunny Sunday

Spent the day re-arranging the garden feeders, hopefully to provide some photo opportunites over the next few weeks. Much coffee was drunk and a couple of chocolate doughnuts "disappeared" during the garden activities...

This colourful starling had no hesitation in trying out an old post that's cable tied to the re-hashed bird table!

An evening visit to West Hartford was pleasing with nine sand martin and a single barn swallow hawking the pool - the first of 2010 on the patch. Two shelduck remain, with up to six teal. Skylark and meadow pipit continue to sing. There were hundreds of wood pigeon loafing up and down the River Blyth wooded banks.

Grasshopper warbler was reported in Cramlington this morning, hopefully West Hartford will get a "reeler" soon.

Time to Kill(ingworth)

The past couple of mornings have seen me head down to Killingworth Lake for a bit of camera practice with the 400mm f4 DO and the 580 flash. Wednesday saw thick mist and three common tern at the lake, while this morning, although grey skies predominated, was a bit better but tern-less. In their absence was the occasional visit from a splendid little gull which managed to come into photographable range only once - here's a sample image, I think there will be better but have not had time to sort through the folder yet...

Sand martins were also present and prove to be very difficult to capture in the optimum pose.