I went to St Mary's with Tom to photograph and feed the Skylarks that have arrived overnight in large numbers. Here's some pictures.
Wader wise there were a couple Bar-tailed Godwit, Turnstone, Dunlin, Sanderling, Ringed Plover, Redshank, Golden Plover and Lapwing. Ducks on the sea included Gadwall, Goldeneye and Wigeon.
Lapwing
Pink-foot Geese heading south
A Robin worked it's way along the stream at St Mary's
Autumn is rapidly turning to winter with the temperatures forecast to plummet later this week. A walk round the patch today saw 32 bird species. Of note were two thousand plus lapwings passing over St Mary's.
Holywell Dene
In Holywell Dene large flocks of Blue, Great, Long-tailed and Coal Tits were interspersed with Goldcrests.
Heading home along Whitley Bay promenade was bracing to say the least. A strong easterly wind brought hefty horizontal showers and waves breaking at high tide soaked me and Dill.
Wall to wall sunshine was the order of the day, just the ticket for a trip along the coast to St Mary's and then onto Druridge Pools and Cresswell. And just as well as the breeze off the sea kept temperatures pinned down to a chilly 10 deg C. The weekend migrants of Garganey, Avocet and Yellow Wagtails were all conspicuous by their absence. The same couldn't be said for easter holiday makers.
Sand Martins were hawking over the wetland at St Mary's and over the pools at Druridge. I saw my first Sandwich Terns of the year at Cresswell and I finally bagged Stock Dove for 2010 in fields between Druridge Pools and Widdrington. A lone Wheatear was seen from the Budge hide at Druridge and Tree Sparrows were seen on the path down to the hide at Cresswell and in hedgerows along the fields west of Druridge.
Got a report of a Common Crane today near Eshott so I fired up the Quattro and spent an hour scanning the fields where it was reported. Couldn't find it but saw 3 Buzzards, 2 Kestrels and got some recordings of Skylark and Lapwings, the latter displaying with some impressive aerobatics. 31 seconds into the following recording you can hear the powerful wing beats of a Lapwing as it displays.
Turns out I was looking in the wrong field for the Crane. Birding Sometimes has a very helpful map here. And Dusted Off Bins has managed some pics.
Next it was a flying visit to East Chevington. I had 4 Sand Martins flying northwards and a Chiffchaff in the trees north of the reserve by the pay and display car park.
Sunday was perfect for trying out my new toy, an Edirol R-09HR Wave/MP3 Recorder. Perfect because there was no wind and the birds were singing. The results are further down this blog - best with head phones. The heavy breathing and slobbering is Dill my Golden Retreiver, not me.
I started my walk of the patch from the start of the waggonway in Monkseaton and headed north as far as the Brierdene where the fields to the north had 200 geese, mostly Greylag and 30 or so Pink-Foot.
The waggonway was alive with birds, Great Tit, Robin, Magpie, Blue Tit, Long-tailed Tit, Dunnock, Robin, House Sparrow, Greenfinch, Chaffinch, Blackbird.
I took a turn east at the start of the Brierdene and headed across to St Mary's Wetland.
The Brierdene
Greylag & Pink-Foot Geese
St Mary's Wetland
Here's a few recordings I took along the way.
Blackbird in my neighbours garden.
A flock of Long-tailed Tit pass along the waggonway.
A Magpie is nearby as a Greenfinch sings.
A Blue Tit sings.
A Robin in full song.
Great Tit sings as the Brierdene flows by.
The sound of St Mary's Wetland. See how many species you can pick out.
