22nd May 2011 - Spoonbills, Warblers, Grey wagtail, Wind and Rain.

I decided to have a drive to Druridge to see if the 4 Spoonbills were still about as I've never managed to hook up with any Spoonbills before. When I arrived at the Budge screen nothing was to be seen on the water apart from a couple of ducks and a heron so I headed on towards the other two hides.

In the hide which over looks the wetlands I found Rick Thornton watching 4 Spoonbills! so I sat down had a bit chat with Rick as i'd not seen him for many years.

The weather wasn't good with the sun in our face which obviously doesn't help!

See below some record shots of these amazing birds.

After the spoonbills I headed off to Ingram where the wind was even stronger but the birds were not as far away. Several warblers were in the gorse, along with a few linnets and dozens of swallows flying along the river.

On the river I spotted a Grey Wagtail which was very tame unfortunately it was on the opposite bank so I couldn't get very close in for my pics.

There were chaffinch every where a some were so tame they were landing on the wing mirrors of my car waiting to be fed!

All in all I had a really enjoyable days birding even if the weather wasn't too kind. The only negative was the lack of Adders in the valley as that was the main subject of todays outing for me. I uppose you can't always get everything you want.

Next month i'll make sure |I choose a hot, calm, sunny day to visit Ingram for the snakes :-)

Hauxley

I've not been out for weeks so thought i'd update the blog with a couple of pics from Hauxley Reserve from A few days ago.

Not much else happening at the minute due to moving house but i'll be back to normal service soon!

Looking forward to seeing if my spot fly returns this year to its breeding site from last year. Hopefully i'll get some cracking images again if it does!

and here's some of my son enjoying his day out watching the birds!

May day, May day!

Our first day out in a while began at QEII park with this gorgeous Whooper swan

Then we quickly headed up to Cresswell to see the Avocets which have now built a nest on the sand bar, the most northerly nesting in the UK as far as I know.

If anyone knows any better please feel free to educate me :-)

After the avocets I found this Gropper in the dunes near the car park.

From Cresswell we headed to Druridge with nothing much of interest.

 

then onto Hauxley where I found this large colony of sand martins nesting in the edges of the dunes. Hundreds of the little buggers too! Incredibly difficult to photograph so here's a few of my better rubbish images.

 

after Druridge we headed out on the RSPB cruise from Amble with very little of interest except a few puffins, terns and seals.

Hopefully my next outing wont be too long away this time round, I'm planning a trip to see if the spot fly's have returned to the neting site which I found last year so will hopefully have some more images to share soon.