11 year itch

January 2006 was the last time I saw a Hawfinch - this morning I was able to see 10! In Northumberland too... Hopefully more to come as the UK sees an invasion in progress. iPhone thru scope pics and video...

A quick look at Big Waters en-route home provided the pair of Red-crested Pochard. 

 

Black Scoter, Stag Rocks: Record Shots...

Struggled to get anything decent on the drake black scoter - a combination of dull evening light and a not so close subject. Great thru' the scope, but tricky even with the 2.0 extender on the 500mm...

Still, my first UK tick of 2011 and a new county bird!

The journey up with Phil was just about to become tedious as we left the speedy A1 dual carraigeway and progressed north on the single lane north of Morpeth... but the casual westward drift over of the presumed just-left-east-chevington immature white-tailed eagle gave us a conversation point for the rest of the drive! The eagle was getting a lot of gip from some jackdaw, but our "right place, right time" gave us a fly over no more that 20 meters infront of the car and a height of only thirty feet!!

The thin line of the scoter flock can just be made out on the image below...

Frosty start. Snowy end.

Mark and I headed to the "hawfinch hedge" just west of Morpeth this morning... and it was a cold one at that, saved by a beautiful blue, cloudless sky. A two hour vigil was suitably hawfinch-less, though marsh tit was appreciated.

We failed to locate any of the white-fronted geese at Woodhorn, though chips at Newbiggin were consumed while watching a couple of Mediterranean gull scavenge around the car park.

Blyth was the next port of call (pah!), and it was thanks to Brian that we connected with a distant red-necked grebe at the river mouth. Our journey back to the car was interrupted by six snow bunting, that photographically saved the day...

The final stop of the outing was the Burton House pub in Cramlington, where an apple-less apple tree failed to retain any of the waxwing that had been enjoyed a few days ago. No sign of the blackcap either!

A later report on the pager mentioned that there were 16 waxwing at the Shaw garden centre in Cramlington ~ while approx 40 were noted by Birdingsometimes Senior in Alexandra Park yesterday... probably the flock on the move...

No more hero(n)s' anymore...

A sad day but the natural world can be cruel...

***

22 waxwing just gone over the garden.

Reduced Weekend

Overtime on Friday night resulted in my weekend starting at 06:00 on Saturday morning. The drive home in the dark was lightened somewhat by a barn owl near the Seaton Burn roundabout - perched on top of a road sign.

After some catch-up sleep and bad bass playing I headed to West Hartford at dusk - owl activity was not as good as late, and it took till almost dark for a single barn owl to be picked up on the far fence line.

Sunday was a lethargic day - a mixed-up body clock got me out of bed for 04:45... so all the ironing was done by 07:00. After a bit of exercise in the morning (with approx 10 waxwings en-route)  I headed north to Alnwick to try and see the obliging great-white egret that had been frequenting the river below the castle.

There had already been negative news late morning, so it was with no real great surprise that the trip was unsuccessful - I should have been there earlier -  see the great account and pictures on Stewarts blog. A single grey heron was as close as it got, but the view of the castle was worth the trip, along with a good chat with Richard and John.

The journey home was just ahead of the blackening clouds, so with haste I took another quick look at the squacco heron in Morpeth. What a fantastic bird this is - and it is still drawing an admirer or two... even a couple of old stinking drunks stopped to have a look between pubs!

Took a few images, none of which really did the job ~ with an ISO rating of 800 I was shooting with an exposure of 1/40th... it was rather dark! I like the colours on the one below;

West Hartford was a convenient stop-off at dusk. A single barn owl perched on the fence line near the farm was picked up immediately, while the only other birds around were one kestrel and a carrion crow!

Darkness arrives earlier and earlier - it's a week f early shift ahead, so hopefully I'll squeeze a bit of birding inbetween home time & teatime...

***

On a literary note I've started reading the very excellent book by Chris Gooddie ~ "The Jewel Hunter": a quest to see all of the worlds pitta species in a single year (and I was pleased with three in a morning last year!). Three chapters in and I'm hooked!

BO.BO.BO / Squacco Lift Off

In the slumber between waking and heading to work for an overtime nightshift I've managed to fit in a dusk visit to West Hartford today.

It was moderately successful, with the trip highlight being immediately apparent; three barn owl, all conveniently positioned along one fence line as I arrived (my highest count of this species to date). As with previous encounters, the camera-less visits seem to be more proficient with barn owl, as one bird hunting owl hovered not more than 15 feet away...

Other than the barn owl there was no sign of any "shorties", but a single buzzard drifted along the River Blyth and birds heading to roost included jackdaw, wood pigeon, goldcrest, blackbird and redwing.

***

Prior to the dusk visit to West Hartford I spent a short while working on another squacco heron image. The picture took a bit of effort to reduce burn out of the whites in the wings and the head was over-exposed too. However, it will suffice for the moment, and at least it illustrates the dramatic appearance shifting character of this small heron - while on the ground it looks like a small buffy heron... in flight egret-like!

Scratch then patch

After the moderate success of the Morpeth squacco heron I headed back home to get ready for an earlier than usual start for nightshift - all good intentions and plans were cast aside when news filtered through that my recently neglected patch, West Hartford, was on good form.

So I gave in to temptation and put work-morals aside and headed back out for a dusk visit.

Sure enough West Hartford was on good form (it's all or nothing here).

Two barn owl hunted the western fields - one bird is quite noticeably darker backed than the other.

I've not seen many barn owl here in winter months, so I'm hopeful yesterdays sighting is a good sign for the dark cold days ahead. With any luck the weather will be kind to the species - many fatalities were suffered during the last winter.

In addition to the two barn owl, the more expected owl species soon arrived - a single short-eared. My first of the winter and always a favorite to watch. Cracking stuff to see them all hunting at the same time. Over the back a single buzzard was seen, and with kestrel too it was a good end to the day!

Today I've been a little more lethargic - the only notable species has been waxwing ~ 60ish flew over the garden mid afternoon

Squacco Heron, Morpeth

A hectic afternoon inbetween waking for nightshift and getting ready for nightshift!

The squacco heron is back at Morpeth and at times is showing very nicely on the river bank... Light is tricky - all or nothing with low sun and lots of shade. Cracking bird mind!

My return home was timed to enable food and water before work, but a phone call put an end to that ~ more on that tomorrow.

From the archive: November 2004

The 8th November 2004 was more successful squacco heron-wise than 8th November 2010... This immature had been present at East Chevington since October and was nearing the end of its' prolonged stay. Initially the bird had been difficult to observe, feeding on the fringes of the south pool. Later in its stay it favoured the extreme southern ditches, and with patience would feed next to the path.

This photograph was taken late afternoon using a Canon 10D and 100-400mm IS lens. It was one of only a few sharp images taken in the session, as low exposures dominated. At the time I was very pleased with this encounter, however less than a year later Mark and I were treated to a mad squacco in Devon (en-route to Scilly), a bird that chose to feed on a concrete lined fish pond in Newton Abbott, feet away from observers!

No positive news on the Morpeth bird so far today in cold wet winter weather - I guess it could still be around...

Dip, drip, drip

Headed north for the short journey to Morpeth this morning. Eight waxwing over the A192 as I approached Plessey were a good starter, and as I arrived in Morpeth another...

A few were amassed on the footbridge just east of the town centre ~ the squacco heron had last been seen not ten minutes earlier, albeit in flight being harassed by gulls.

The next hour - not a sniff, other than from me as another cold descends. It also started to rain and hail quite heavily, weather ideal for squacco heron.

One kingfisher was poor compensation and a quick check of other River Wansbeck vantage points throughout Morpeth were squacco-less. I'll try again during the week, a local stated that the heron had been present at least a week already...

No point heading to the coast for cetti's... the weather had closed in. I'll wait for a suitably sunny and still day.