Great dull morning

Woke up with a bit of a cold developing this morning - sufficient excuse not to do any exercise (again), but not enough to prevent a potter birding.

The excitement began at home, with a garden rare - male chaffinch!

At Prestwick Carr the great grey shrike was distant, but appreciated for the 2013 year list - no camera other than the iPhone, so some practice record shots - the shrike was approximately 400 yards away, so I'm quite happy with the result:

The excitement didn't end there, with willow tit also at Prestwick Carr, and a call in to West Hartford produced my first ever little egret on the patch... happy days

Short stories

In the shadows... ISO 1000, 1/160 exposure

A bit of fresh air was required after a poor nights sleep and an early shift at work. A look out of the window saw nice blue sky, but by the time I arrived at Prestwick Carr the sun had started to dip towards the western horizon, and the white balance was looking decidedly orange.

Short-eared owl were a doddle to see, up to seven in a sweep across the northern fields... yet none were really that close. To the south the owls flew closer, but that was into the light. So casual observation and chat with RD and PCF was about it. Didn't see the shrike (although it was still kicking about).

Walking back to the car in the fading light I noticed an owl hunting a paddock north of the road and close to the eastern road - and a few steps towards it saw a brief land on the fence - and a few quick fired shots. None of which were as I'd hoped, but a step in the right direction.

It didn't half get cold as the light faded. Need to do something about that methinks...

Great Ears

With West Hartford remaining very quiet, I opted for a trip out this morning to Prestwick Carr. Only a few miles from the patch, but much more to see.

The main quarry was the great grey shrike - always nice to see, but very good at keeping out of the camera range... (and murky light)

With the shrike distant and light not too much kop, attention was turned to the short-eared owls. I'd hoped for some nice perched shots - but apart from the first image (above), I'll have to settle for more "atmospheric" images...

In Mourning :(

A late morning potter, mourning the end of a very pleasant two weeks holiday.

Prestwick Carr felt Spring-like weather wise, and it was a distant great grey shrike that reminded of winter. Quality birds, even if not within camera range. I would like one of these at WH please!

Down the road, Big Waters still held two bewick's swan ~ good birds in Northumberland these days. I only viewed from the public end, so no pics taken. A handful of whooper remain.

West Hartford was very quiet and a check of the Horton Burn only revealed a pair of mallard!
No sign of waxwings today, we had 28 next to the house yesterday - they'll still be around though, just a case of bumping into them...

Avoided the crowds for the greaterlegs and EBR (the latter was commented on by my sister visiting Holy Island today)...

Work and a forecast of rain for tomorrow. Great!!!

Red & White tales...

Had a late start today, after a tiring earlyshift. Took the easy option and headed to the coast to take a look at the two reported black redstart at Whitley Bay Cemetary. I had no issues picking them up, with a female appearing first on top of a grave stone in the south-east corner, quickley replaced by a spanking male! Camera assembled I rattled off one test shot to check exposure etc, looked ok but not the best angle... so waited for the  bird to turn around. Instead he flew west into the graveyard. And that was it!                                                 

Not a sniff of either again!! So the onlt shot taken is the one here in this post - so near but so far!

I took a few wanders around the graveyard to no further avail, and as 17:45 passed my mobile rang. A certain large raptor that had disappeared earlier  had been picked up again on the east of Prestwick Carr... White-tailed eagle... it was time to leave!

Twenty minutes later or so I pulled up to the east of the Carr to find a few happy and a few sad birders - the bird had drifted north. Turn-around time! As I passed the few remaining news broke that it was passing Bellasis Bridge... so that's where I headed and found that the road had been closed for flooding just short of the bridge. More annoyingly, the WTE had been seen to drift north at 18:15, presumably off for good.

There was some good banter with the lads, and the sucessful few headed off not long later. At 18:40 a large group of wood pigeon lifted to the north-west (see google map streetview below) and in the middle ... a huge thick-winged raptor drifting south west. !!!! This bird was massive! Granted it was a very poor view, but for the 30 seconds or so that it was showing it was surreal!

I guess there is a real chance that this bird will be around again tomorrow...