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

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

***

22 waxwing just gone over the garden.

Chevies Cetti

No sight or sound this afternoon during a pleasant sunny hour at East Chevington... will need to try again.

A single slavonian grebe was noted on the north pool, while 1 barn owl hunted the south pool at dusk

Northumberland is having a great November - birds on offer today have included the long-staying squacco heron, a dodgy ross's goose, waxwing a-plenty, the cetti's warbler at East Chevington, 2 common crane south over Newbiggin and (too far for me to get on a winter afternoon) a cracking male desert wheatear at Seahouses!

...I need more daylight after work!!!

Monday's Blue

A combination of blue sky and waxwings on Horton Drive, Cramlington gave me an excuse to get out of the house this afternoon. A minimum of 32 were present, but again, were rather unco-operative for the camera as they remained high up in the trees along the burn. Some waxwing were fly-catching while a few were feeding on a berry laden bush ~ the only problem was that it was within the depths of a clump of willows, so the birds remained largely obscured.

Dusk was spent at a cold West Hartford, where two barn owl hunted as darkness fell. Prior to their appearance common buzzard, kestrel and sparrowhawk were all noted.

News that the cetti's warbler was singing at East Chevington this afternoon is tempting, maybe I'll get there on the next sunny day and give it a go.

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.

Unlucky for some

13 waxwing on the Horton Burn today.

Still very flighty and tending to stick to the taller willows that line parts of the burn.

The grab-shot above was on Horton Drive as a few decended briefly to feed late morning. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I'll get a better set of images once I find a favoured feeding area.

And there's more!

It was an early start for me today - the 08.00 appointment for cavity wall insulation arrived at 07.00, so it was with mild satisfaction that the noisy drilling of the workmen drowned out the screams and yells of the neighbours kids as they got ready for school.

Cavity walls insulated by 08.30, a grocery trip completed by 09.00 and ironing done by 10.00.

With a pager report of waxwing still present in the vicinity of BSHQ I set about getting ready to have a look around - no need, as 44 arrived in the same tree as yesterday just after 10.15. It's a pity that the light is so grey and dull at present - waxwing really need good sunshine for them to boast their fabulous plumage - today they look very washed out.

This group are very mobile - after spending 5 minutes in the tree (see token "through the window" shot above), the flock headed back to where they had come from - somewhere to the north-west of the Northburn/Hartford estate. I drove around all of the past favoured spots and could not locate them again.
Maybe its best to wait for them to come to me?

Through the looking glass

It's a damp grey morning in the north-east of England, so I opted to catch up on the latest blog offerings rather than head out.

A good decision, as 22 waxwing flew over the garden (and continue to do so now, magic!). A grab shot above... hand held, through the rain splattered landing window.

As I write this the camera is set up, ready and waiting on a berry bush in the garden. Fingers crossed...

Postcard from Carlisle

Manic Street Preachers have been a favorite band of mine for a long time now ~ it was back in 1994 when I first saw them live (in London, touring for the Holy Bible).

Last night saw me at Carlisle Sands Centre, for what turned out to be the last gig of the current tour leg. The show was originally planned for October but was rescheduled.

Anyhoo - MSP are a pleasure to watch, and we made sure we were in front of Nicky Wire; tall, lanky and a bit of a mover on bass. Great stuff.

Set list and poor mobile video below

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La Tristesse Durera:

You Stole The Sun From My Heart (acoustic):

Design For Life: