Saturday 31 July 2010

No Whiskered Tern, but....

.............what a crackin' day anyway!

Started with plenty of Sparrowhawk activity at 06:30 when taking the pup for her cock-a-doodle poo (Viz's Profanisaurus will explain) including two duelling above Chez Moi!  Accipit-astic!

Off north, first stop East Chev. and Drake-like (Sir Fancis, not a male duck), I surveyed the sea from the top of a tall dune.  Seven RBM's and one RT Diver, with nothing else on the surface but plenty of Gannet diving action. 

The burn mouth had a gathering of Terns; Common, Arctic and a solitary Roseate.  The South Pool was a duck fest, and the North Pool was one loaded with Coots, Lapwings and Greylags.

Off to The Pools, again the sea was nude in Diver terms, so off to the Oddie, only to find a Little Egret present, dining on Sticklebacks.

And its larger cousin also snacking on wee fish!


Also present was one Dunlin, one Common Sandpiper, one Greenshank and several Common Terns.

Next stop, Snab Point, which was disappointing other than four Med Gulls in with a flock of mixed Gulls just to the south of the headland and hods of Sanderlings on the shore.

Bothal Pond almost lived up to its name - Bot All, except for another Greenshank on the NE shore.  And barra-lods of Coots.

And so to Morpeth, yet again, in pursuit of a Kingfisher.  As ever, zilch.  BUT, Sir Cowell of Kingston had mentioned that Mitford might be worth a punt, and worth a punt it was.  Within 15 seconds of getting to the riverside, voila, a Kingfisher low from the right.  And after a little wellie-led exploring, I found the wee laddie further down stream, but inaccessible, so the shitiest record shot known to man or woman follows.

Sunday 25 July 2010

Two Cross

Popped up to East Chev. this pm for the Black-throated Divers.  Ticked within seconds of surveilling the sea, which makes a pleasant change.  At least eight Red-throats too, and at one stage, six in the same scope view.  Nice!

But back to birding reality with yet another Rosy Tern failure, and at Morpeth, no tick for the ever elusive Kingfisher.

If at first you don't succeed..........................