Apus-fest

Storm Petrel would be more expected off Hartlepool Promenade...

Waiting for the rain to clear at South Shields... waiting for a Pallid Swift to re-appear.
No sign.
Phone buzzes...
"Hartlepool: Little Swift at the battery"
Phone buzzes again. An image. Of a Little Swift....

Dilemma. It's 14.11, its very dull and Hartlepool is 40 minutes away. Would there be any light?

One way to find out...

Arrived in Hartlepool. Don't know where the action is. Dump car and walk round coastal path... Birders, walking north.

Pallid Swift appears overhead. Like they do...

A few meters further and there's a line of folk looking over the promenade.
Theres a Little Swift zooming to and fro... a few feet away! It's joined by the Pallid. Is this really happening?

Yup.

So the next hour or so is spend mainly fruitlessly locking focus on the two swifts (with an imbalance of attempts prioritised on the Little)... a huge percentage of non-focused shutter releases later and the sun sets.

Amazeballs.

1 swift sp. in November is unexpected. 2? Really...

Seconds

News of lingering Western Bonelli's Warbler and a re-confirmed Pallid Swift had Phil and I heading to Hartlepool this morning - a grey October day mean't poor conditions for photography ...

Best of a bad bunch

The WBW was seen quite quickly upon arrival (though Phil missed it) - so we opted to check out the pallid swift as reports suggested it was showing consistently - and it was, albeit against the overcast sky. Could have done with a visit on Thursday when the sun had been shining...

Bad composite image...

Back near the Borough Hall we finally got reasonable views of the western bonelli's... though nothing for the camera. Brambling, blackcap and chiffchaff added to the migration feel.

Not a bad late morning - early afternoon trip - both species were only my second encounter in the UK!

Woodchat

One more photograph from yesterdays afternoon foray to Hartlepool ~ this time a more "colourful" image of the juvenile woodchat shrike.

During the visit the shrike made several successful insect kills, so food is clearly sustaining this individual - I just wonder how much longer it will reside in this small urban park.

In terms of the photograph, it's a pity that the bird is ringed as the metal band distracts somewhat... however, the colours of the plant are a nice compliment to the shrike.

Shrikes' rock by the way!

Woodchat: Hartlepool Headland

I finally crumbled today and gave in to the temptation of the juvenile woodchat shrike that has been residing on Hartlepool Headland for the past week or so. It's not a long drive from home (in fact it's nearer to home than Holy Island) but it is out of the county... so the sense of urgency is never as that of a Northumberland bird.

My visit was well timed - the woodchat was easily located in Croft Park - a small green patch on a built up headland (park is located in lower right hand corner of link image). So without further ado I set up the camera and waited.

Sure enough the shrike was as bold as recent correspondence and  internet images had suggested, and it was not long before the bird landed a few feet away and surveyed for prey. My only issue was quickly taking the 1.4 extender off ~ both images here are taken with the 500mm.

It's my second juvenile, but the first that I've managed to photograph well.

A smart bird indeed...