Saturday 3 January 2015

Saltholme with the kids

I had a bit of a wander with my two daughters today around Saltholme then up to the creek to see the seals. Stumbled across a Common Chiffchaff presumably overwintering around the verge between the visitor centre and the wildlife watchpoint and was able to photograph it from the hide on the fence to the left of the feeders.



We also dropped into the Phil Stead hide by the car park and encountered a pair of Lesser Redpolls on the feeders.



No sign of the Green-winged Teal today - it may be tucked up in the channel though on Back Saltholme?

The Long-eared Owls were showing, but a bit tricky with a buggy. Here is a shot from last year instead.



I came across a few noteworthy birds on Cowpen Marsh between the Teesmouth NNR car park and the creek - Spotted Redshank, Kingfisher, Red-breasted Merganser (redhead) but unfortunately  no sign of the Waxwing that has been around there recently. 39 Common Seals on show at high tide.

Thursday 1 January 2015

Little Bustard, Fraisthorpe

An unexpected tick in the form of Little Bustard at Fraisthorpe near Bridlington, seeing as the last Yorkshire record was in 1956! Glad the bird had stuck out the night after turning up when I was at work yesterday, but too late to get there before dark.



A popular bird on day 2 as you can see!