Luckily there were spaces as I pulled into the car park at Greatham Creek. I walked up to the first screen and had a look over the marsh. High tide was not until 1610 so not many birds to be seen.
I walked across the road to the tidal pool, where common terns were still making a noise as they fed their young.
Not a brilliant picture as I was looking into the sun.
I then crossed the road again and looked from the viewing screen. The screen has been designed with lots of circles in it, but it is not easy to position a telescope to be able to see through one of the circles. Luckily I was the only person there so managed to get my scope set up.
Dunlin, redshank, ringed plover, curlew and little egrets were easy to see.
The seals were easier to photograph.
I then walked down the path to Seal Sands.
I used my phone to take the above picture. I checked the bird reports and saw one for a curlew sandpiper back at the viewing screen. I walked back to the screen and managed to get my scope set up so that I could see the bird.
I then went to Hartlepool Headland, where I spent an hour looking out to sea. Lots of gannets, sandwich and common terns, guillemots on the sea, and a fulmar. Plenty of ships.
I then tried to get into Newburn Bridge car park but it was full. No birds to be seen down the road to North Gare and only a goldfinch to be seen down the Zinc Works road.
I made my way back to Greatham Creek and joined Chris. We returned to the viewing screen and looked for the curlew sandpiper but were unable find it.
RSPB Saltholme was our last stop. We negotiated the new entry system and went to the Wildlife Watchpoint where we joined two other people. From our end of the hide we could see, a moorhen , mallards, gadwall and a pochard. We then walked to Paddys Pool hide where we saw lots of coots, a few tufted ducks and a young great crested grebe feeding.
No comments:
Post a Comment