Tonight

Had a quick visit down to Holywell this evening,  the Barn Owl hunting on the reserve and a Great Crested Grebe on the pond being the highlights. There was a distinctive lack of Grey Herons on the pond, and 20+ Pochard formed a sleeping raft in the centre of the pond.

Young Rabbit in the meadow, thriving.

Carried on to Blyth pier to see how my Dad was getting on. Plenty Terns fishing in the area.

Dipper success !

A wander down the Dene tonight found me stumbling upon a young Dipper, the first I've seen in the area. I'd found their nest a few weeks back with four eggs, and checked it again last week, it was empty although it seemed to have raised a clutch, I was more that ecstatic to gain conformation.

This Grey Heron was one of a few lurking around at the public hide, the female Mallard had its work cut out.

Holywell this evening

Myself and Phil have been helping at Cramlington's Learning Village with a Wildlife Week for the year 9 students. 26 students are participating and they seem to be both enjoying it and also gaining knowledge rapidly! 


After helping out this morning I headed to the hide to film the Sparrowhawks. The chicks (at least two) are now visible and I got some footage of the female feeding the chicks and preening, hopefully I'll upload it in the next few days. A real privilege to see.


19:30 saw me down at Holywell the heavy showers were on and off, the rain hitting the water and the silence afterwards made the pond very atmospheric. A male Sparrowhawk flew up from the deck as we approached, at the pond 3 Reed Warblers were in full song, a Grasshopper Warbler could be heard reeling West of the hide, 9 Mallard were present with 4 broods of ducklings, 8 Redshank were resting on the island, a single male Teal, the Mute Swan family still strong with 7 cygnets, 7 Grey Heron hunted in the West corner and 4 more in the Public hide bay, 7 Pochard, 6 Tufted, 4 Little Grebe, and a Oystercatcher flew overhead. Great Spotted Woodpecker, Willow Warbler, Chiff Chaff and a single garden Warbler could be heard in the North wood. At the public hide the Canada Geese seem to have lost 2 goslings, and a male Shoveler stood on the shore, with no sign of the Garganey.

A little something

I've been filming these Sparrowhawks for a past few days now, they have at least 2 very small chicks, a couple of days old at the most when I filmed this.


The female leaves the nest for about a minute, you can hear both birds calling as a food pass occurs in the background, the best shots are when the female returns. 


Best viewed in HD.

Drake Garganey

Drake Garganey at Holywell a few days ago.
Best viewd in HD, have a look at foghorn's tutorial here.

A Rare Thing...

… Holywell Birder on a proper twitch. Accompanied by Crammy Birder, Killy Birder, Aughton Birder and AH. A full write up can be found on Killy Birder's blog, but here's some images from the night.

Aughton's terrible climbing skills.

Amongst the crowds.

Killy up the ladder.

Dapper Red-Backed Shrike at Seaton Carew (in my books better than the bird behind the wall)

The Farnes, and Loch Maree

Here's a few images from the past couple of weeks. Bad weather firstly put off the UOC Wildlife Photographer's Society's trip to Bass Rock and although we managed to make it onto the Farnes.

A week later I headed up to Poolewe, up near Loch Maree, for a family holiday. Unfortunately the weather was poor until the Thursday, although we still had a brilliant time, in a beautiful place.

Drake Garganey at Holywell this afternoon, I've got some video to upload tomorrow.