nICE few days birding

A nice few days have been had birdwatching. On Wednesday I headed to Fishburn first but failed to connect with the Firecrest but got cracking views of Goldcrest and Treecreeper. The later species being a year tick. Then I headed south to Bowesfield Marsh in Teesside the species on my target list was the Green-winged Teal which had turned up. I managed to find the bird pretty much shortly after negative news had gone out to say the bird hadn't been seen. Thankfully it was still within the county borders so I could claim my county tick! Wow, I am getting sad with these lists.

My images and videos are poor, its the bird on the bank! You can see the vertical stripe.

(Green-winged Teal - Andrew Kinghorn)

Then I thought a bit of Gulling was in order so I headed for Seaton Common landfill site. There's something about winter Gull watching which really appeals to me. Before I was even a birder I really liked Gulls and they fascinated me. On arrival I was sad to see only about 50 gulls feeding on the rubbish and only a few hundred roosting up on the landfill soil and other parts of the site. On about my 3rd scan of the Rubbish a gull with its wings raised caught my attention all white wings, small gull, it was an Iceland Gull. A cracking Iceland Gull, I knew a bird was present in the area but I wasn't expecting to find it. I managed a couple of seconds of video before the bird flew off. I managed to see it well in the bins but I was a bit focused on getting video I didn't really see it well in the scope. Must pay more attention to just looking at the birds more.

(Iceland Gull - Andrew Kinghorn)

By far the bird of the day was this adult Iceland Gull. They are just superb birds. I love gulls........

Friday saw me having a day out with a local mate of mine from South Tyneside. A trip to Fishburn again had me dipping Firecrest but plenty more Goldcrest and Treecreeper. The hoped for Tengmalm's Owl couldn't be located amongst the pines. Then onto nearby Farnless Farm where we had brief views in flight of a couple of Corn Buntings amongst the throng of Yellowhammers. We then headed to Rainton Meadows where we enjoyed views of a cracking Coues' Arctic Redpoll, nothing amongst the Gulls as usual! I got cracking views of 3 Roe Deer, maybe upload the video later. If I don't you will be able to find it eventually on Youtube. Just click the link to the right of here that says something about my Youtube site.

Today (Saturday) saw me around Rainton Meadows again where I enjoyed good views of 2 Coues' Arctic Redpoll. Good to meet Eastern Crowned Dougue and Seggs again at Rainton today.

THE END

Until next time, Foghorn out!