Northumberland long weekend day 1

As my brother and I had an extra two days added onto our weekend due to teacher training days, we decided it would be an idea to go up north to see some Friends. Initally we wanted to go up for the whole weekend. However, something else came up (FC Halifax vs Charlton Athletic) I requested that we go up after the match for the two days. so we drove up on Sunday evening. It was a long journey, tinged with defeat, but eventually we arrived at the holiday cottage of some friends that we were using in Wooler.
The first morning was cloudy and gloomy, but the tide was right, so we decided to go to Lindisfarne for the day because we hadn't been for a while, a while being a few years. As we drove over the mudflat you could see that it was there was going to be a lot of wildlife to see. we parked the car and headed into the small town so that we could reach the dunes and hopefully see some seals.
As we joined the path we could see a pond, as no sooner had we arrived did a flock of brent geese fly in. Its the first time in at least 5 years since i have seen these, so it was great to see them and get a record shot. Unfortunately they were quite a way out, so I didn't get a great view I would like.

-Brent geese
However, looking at the geese I had overlooked a group of about 6 curlews right in front of me feeding in a sheep field. They were really close, so I was able to get some great views of them.

-Curlews

As we walked down the hedgerow lined we were joined on either side by feildfares and blackbirds feasting on the hawthorn berries. unfortunately they were too flighty for a me to get a photo, so I have no record of them.

in a field opposite us I spotted a flock of starlings, with a few curlews in with them. Sadly they all took flight as we arrived so we didn't really get a great view.

-Curlews and starlings
Shortly after that we arrived at the dunes. If I was honest, I was disappointed with the lack of birds we saw whilst crossing the dunes, but we did see some spectacular lichen formations and also a caterpillar of some description, which did seem rather late.

-Caterpillar
so after a short walk across the dunes, we arrived at the beach where my dad said there would be a seal. How naive we were, there wasn't a single seal anywhere. However, for me at least, there was quite a few interesting birds on the sea to make up for it. There were large groups of cormorants roosting on rocks slightly further out. but there was also a mixed flock of goldeneye and eider on the shore. We were viewing this from the cliff top, hence the dodgy camera angle. I looked at every bird to make sure i wasn't missing any king eiders or long-tailed ducks, but I wasn't in luck.

However one of the eiders didn't quite seem to be behaving properly, and no wonder, as when i actually checked it out, it was the bobbing head of a grey seal, so there was a seal in the end anyway.

-Eiders and Goldeneyes
We decided to walk back the long way, along the coast to the bird hide. I said that I would walk on the beach, while the rest of my family walked across the dunes. Good thing I did too, because I spotted a small group of waders on the shoreline that I didn't immediately recognise. I took a photo and then had a look, and saw that they were bar-tailed godwit, a bird I haven't seen since i knew what to look for. before then, any godwit was casually considered one or the other without proper I.D. But since i learned what I was looking for they have all been black tailed, so it was nice to associate with the other godwit, probably for the first time.

-Bar Tailed Godwit

I followed them up the beach, as they kept moving away from me, as birds generally do, until I lost them onto a natural rock breakwater. Then I spotted my family walking along the beach too so I went up to them. My dad said that my brother had seen a pair of short-eared owls in the dunes, so I went with my brother in an attempt to try and track them down. we walked round the dunes for some time. We tried to use the height to get a vantage point, and on top of one of the dunes, we found a rather nice common frog.

-Common Frog
We continued to look for the owls, but it looked increasingly unlikely as we headed deeper into the dunes. However, just when i was at the point of giving up we found them, and up they went. Only this time I would be able to see where they went. However, it wasn't as simple as that as they continued to fly even without being spooked, until I just decided to try and get them in mid air. The photos don't represent how close we were to the birds, but they are a reasonable effort at a record shot.

-Short eared owl
In case you hadn't guessed, we did manage to find both birds, but sadly we also lost them, and decided to leave them to it. As we headed over the bird hide we spooked a small mammal, mice or vole or summit, so there was clearly plenty of food for the owls.

At the hide we had lunch. However most of the birdlife was on the other side of the pond. That included shoveler and teal, those being the main attraction. However, as we neared the end of lunch a pair of teal appeared in the small pool in front of us, so I was able to get some shots of the encounter. it was also good because it let us appreciate these beautiful birds, at such close quarters.

-Common Teal

After lunch, we left the hide and walked along the coast towards the holy island castle. At a point where there was a small dip and shorter grass along the seafront, I flushed a small passerine. my first though was that it was a linnet, but the white bars on the wings made me realise my mistake almost immediately. I then had an excitement attack, as i realised that it was a snow bunting, only the second time I have ever seen one.

While these thoughts were going around my head, the bird moved a few meters further up the path, which I was relieved about, as I didn't want to not a get a view of it. I crept up, eating the distance between me and the bird, but there was no real reason for stealth, as the bird was seriously bold. But I didn't know that, so I spent five minuets creeping up. Only when I was less than 1m away did I realise that maybe the bird didn't care. It did, however, allow me to get some great record shots that I wanted. sadly the overcast Sky's meant that I had to alter most camera settings, leaving me with some shots that were not as good as I wanted. Even so, it was still a great thing to see, and for only my second ever...Not bad.

-snow bunting

I eventually left the bird, although rater reluctantly due to the fact that I might be pushed for time, and that my parents had never stopped, but carried on walking on a different path.

As I walked towards the car park I passed the pools where that morning there had been a flock of brent geese. Just before i reached the pool, a pair of brent geese flew right over me, sadly too close and quick to get the photos I wanted, but I managed to get a close record shot.

-Brent Goose

As I mentioned before, I was about to pass the pool, where sadly there were no brent geese, but there was a grey heron fishing in a small drainage ditch, and also a few other wildfowl species that were unrecognisable for this distance, and with no bins...

-Grey Heron
I caught up with my parents, and we started to make our way across the causeway. it was almost high tide, so most of the shoreline birds were being pushed up towards the road, so we got some great views of birds. No sooner had we left the island than we saw a flock of brent geese, feeding offshore.

-Brent geese

furthur on the causeway where we would be nearer to where most shorebirds would have been feeding we found the wave edge dotted with hundereds of wading birds, dunlins, redshank, godwits and curlews. It was quite cool to see, although we knew we diddnt have long to savour the experience.

-Dunlin

-Wading Birds

-Dunlin

-wading birds

Nearer the mainland we spotted a group of four red-breasted mergansers fishing nearer the shore

-Red-Breasted mergansers

-Wading Birds

November Butterfly

Yes, Unlikely as it seems, on the Sunday the 6th of November 2011 my dad told me that there was a butterfly on the window flowers. I went for a look, and found a rather faded small tortoiseshell butterfly sunning itself, probably to get warm. I went up stairs to get the camera, and then went outside to get a better look. It has been a year for late butterflies, but November is quite late. It was a warm day, so maybe it was awoken from hibernation by the sun.

-Small Tortoiseshell Butterfly

soil hill

walking home from school, got home to find myself locked out and my mum not around. So I sat on the driveway and waited for my mum to come home. As I did a sparrowhawk male flew out from behind me, came back around, flew behind the trees beside me and then flew in front of me. Spectacular views to say the least of the sparrowhawk.
Went to soil hill after to see if i could catch up with a snow bunting. Unfortunatly I couldn't, but I did see a few partridges of unknown species, and a few feildfares on the way up. But no snow buntings unfortunatly.

Shropshire Day 4

Today was the day I had been dreading. For my brother we were heading to RAF Cosforth, not really my cup of tea. I had saved a nice biology essay for this day, but it only lasted the whole morning, so i decided to have a look round the grounds, and round the back of the hangers. There are some woods back there and obviously airfeilds have a high attracton to pied wagtails.
But I saw nothing in the woods round the back. For fear of tresspassing I tried to keep a low-ish profile, but after peering around corners and stuff I suddenly realised that there were cameras everywhere-real smooth there. Luckily they've not come after me yet, so I guess they realise that I'm not a foreign spy or anything...
Back to the wildlife, or lack of it. The only thing I saw all day was a small copper buttefly. But there is something else to this because it is another rather late butterfly. I don't know much about the wintering habits of small coppers, but I imagine they hibernate because they are small. It wasn't looking in any fit state to migrate, if thats what it had in mind.

-Small copper

Other than that there was nothing on the wildlife front. Though there were plenty of planes, if thats what interests you...

That was the final sequence in this shropshire holiday, which has been better than I expected, so its all been goo in the end.

Shropshire Day 3-Part 2

After the obvious success of the first walk we decided to try again furthur downstream, to see if we could see any more wildlife. Luckily there was plenty more to be had at our next stop, a small riverside village that I forgot the name of. No sooner had we pulledup in the car park than a buzzard flew overhead. There was nothing exceptional about this, as it was warm day then the birds would naturally be soaring on the thermals.
Having lunch in the car, we could see the river and all the fishermen fishing. The guy right in front of us had a freind who basically told everyone nearby that the fisherman had caught a barble. This was a fish that I had never seen, so I had a look and it was a pretty spectacular fish, about 1-1.5 feet long. It was a really nice fish.
As soon as I left the car after lunch I found a flock of long-tailed tits gradually moving across the car park frombush to bush. I positioned myself where they would cross the car park to the next row of bushes, and was rewarded with stunning views of this rather handsome birds. I also managed a few shots, but I was dissapointed with them given how close I was to the birds, never mind, its the memories that count.

-Long Tailed tit

We decided to walk downstream because that was the only way that the path seemed to go! That was on the other side of the river to the car park, and it was a pretty spectacular view from the bridge over. Once over any trace of the village vanished and we were left in beautiful countryside along the river. Having already seen a dragonfly today i decided to check every fishing spot to see if there were any resting on the trees or reeds.

However the first thing we saw was a bird that has sadly been missing from the holiday given its abundance last time, that being the kingfisher. We diddnt get much of a view though, as so often happens, you see it first as it races away up or down the river after you flush it, and that was the case here. However we were fortunate enough to see exactly where it landed, though by the time we got there, it had already left.

As I was checking every spot my family had already moved futhur ahead, as the main location we wanted to reach was the spectacular railway bridge that goes over the river, and there was a train due anytime soon.

As I played catchup I continued to see quite little, however I did spot a willow or marsh tit in the willow, though I don't know how to tell them appart on site, and I have no photos for reference, so I was dissapointed, although it was nice to see.

I caughtup with my family at the downstream side of the bridge. As soon as I arrived my brother said that he had found a blue dragonfly and that it was landed, by his foot, though it conviniently flew off as I arrived. There are only two dragonflies out at this time of year, and common darters are not blue, so that left the blue migrant hawker. There were at least 3 of these dragonflies holding territories across a 10m stretch of the river. They were deffinatly migrants, as they were smaller than any other hawkers that i had seen. I tried my best to catch them in flight, but they were very swift and difficult to catch on photo. However my brother had said that the one he saw had been landed, and they were landing-just not conviniently. But as soon as my oppertunity came, one landing on the shore, I took my chance to get this valuable record shot.

-Migrant Hawker
On the other hand, the common darters were much more obliging. There were about 6 and they were all peacefully resting on the riverbank, on dock leaves in front of us. There were even two in tandem, which i though was a bit odd given the time of year.

-Common Darter Male
I continued to watch the migrant hawkers as the gracefully stalked the riverside. The faught frequently with their compatriots and common darters too, they flew quite close to me in flight, but sadly thats a pain for the camera because their so close so movement is applified. But the view was stunning regardless.

Then I hit the jackpot, for a dragonfly watcher. I spotted one landed not too far away that i could reach. However to reach it I would have to cross a sticky bud plant and nettles and brambles. The question was, is it worth it? The answere, Yes and so I stealthily crossed the obstacle plants to reach my quarry. Sadly the specemin was badly damaged as you will see from the photos below, with one wing torn and the other missing its end. However its unfortunatness gave me a great oppertunity to get the photos I had been wanting.

-Migrant Hawker
It is painful to see such a stunning creature in such a state. But as I left i spooked it it flew off, so it obviously could fly, but chose not to. My family had left a while ago, after the train had gone over, so I knew my time here was limited. It was an interesting site, with about 10 dragonflies all in a small area but nowhere else on the whole river stretch that I had seen, maybe to do with the presence of the bridge of summit. Either way it was great to see all those interesting dragonflies, including a real tick in migrant hawker, and so late in the year.

On the way back to the car I spotted a trio of muscovy ducks under the bridge, so decided to take a couple of shots, just because...

-Muscovy Ducks

After all that we went to a town in the afternoon. But either way this has been by far the best day of the holiday, what with kingfishers, dragonflies and a host of other birds. including migrant hawker, a species that i really wanted to see.