When he was not allegedly involved in dubious party behaviour, MB was prone to repeatedly saying, Al- wight, Al-wight, Al-wight! Indeed, how prophetic, as this week has been an all white (spot the link!) one, with the eagle on Wednesday and the Egret this morning.
After some sterling directions, Warkworth Lane was duly located just after 7:00 am, but no GWE. I bumped into a guy at Kielder last week, as successful at finding big Sparrowhawks as I am, and I met him again this morning. We decided to split up, I took Druridge Pools and he Cresswell, both without success. However, en route, I ticked a Little Owl, and at the Budge, THREE adult, summer plumaged Med Gulls.
And as I left, a strangely behaving man behind the wheel of a black C1, waving his arms like Magnus Pike, attracted my attention, beckoning me to follow his car. If this has been Arcot, I would have declined (Honest, Officer!!) but on this occasion, it was an Italian Job-like 'chase' to East Chevington in pursuit of the recently spotted GWE. And after 20 or so minutes, like a well emulsioned heron, it rose from the reeds on the east side of the south end of the South Pool and glided over to the opposite side where it quickly concealed itself.
Saturday, 3 April 2010
Thursday, 1 April 2010
What a great pair...................
.............of orange eyes!
There are some birds I never get tired of watching. I guess it's partly because, as an avid bird book collector in my increasingly distant youth, some were then just a two dimensional image of something I never thought, 30 or more years on, I would ever see. Redstart, Green Woodpecker and Long-eared Owl are but three. So tonight, as the sun was setting, I went for a walk in the Arcot Lane area and had a few minutes of bliss. Not the same type of bliss the three blokes near the entrance to the lake were trying not to have (who 'p*sses' within feet of two other blokes, in the open, with page three of The Sun strategically positioned on a nearby bush, adorned in 'soiled' tissues?).
Anyway, my first LEO of 2010 was located, and at one stage, it sat in a sapling, only ten yards away, and looked straight down my scope for what seemed like an age. An absolutely stunning bird, with the orangiest (is that a word?) eyes I have ever seen. Quite superb!
There are some birds I never get tired of watching. I guess it's partly because, as an avid bird book collector in my increasingly distant youth, some were then just a two dimensional image of something I never thought, 30 or more years on, I would ever see. Redstart, Green Woodpecker and Long-eared Owl are but three. So tonight, as the sun was setting, I went for a walk in the Arcot Lane area and had a few minutes of bliss. Not the same type of bliss the three blokes near the entrance to the lake were trying not to have (who 'p*sses' within feet of two other blokes, in the open, with page three of The Sun strategically positioned on a nearby bush, adorned in 'soiled' tissues?).
Anyway, my first LEO of 2010 was located, and at one stage, it sat in a sapling, only ten yards away, and looked straight down my scope for what seemed like an age. An absolutely stunning bird, with the orangiest (is that a word?) eyes I have ever seen. Quite superb!
Nice Ride Out
Took a coastal route today up to East Chev. and back. NBTS was quietish; a few gulls (no Meds), waders and Gannets moving north. Next, Cresswell, with quantity not quality. A sizeable flack of Redshank with the odd Knot and Dunlin within on the SW shore, and Tree Sparrows along the path with an odd Yellowhammer. Plenty of Wheatears about on the west side. Two Stock Dove were on the south field (to the W of the access path). The Pools, or The Oceans as they should be renamed, had hods of gulls (BH and C), the usual ducks, Canada and Greylag Geese and Chiffchaffs calling. A single, snoozing GC Grebe was on the main pool, along with Tufties, a solitary Heron and an equally lonely Goldeneye. East Chev. broke my hirundine virginity with one House Martin westwards, and loads of Tufties, Goldeneye, Pink-footed Geese and Shovelers a plenty. So in four relaxing, if not very chilly, hours, 54 species and four year ticks.
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