Coast and Moor

Time for my weekly "big" trip. My startting point was Flamboro Head.
Only 2 vehicles in the car park as I arrived.

I spent a while looking out to sea. Lots of gannets, guillemots and razorbills flying past but nothing out of the ordinary. A walk along the cliff top path produced the usual birds.

I then saw this egg

I think that it is the remnants of a guillemots egg. A carrion crow was feeding a young bird, so I suspected that it was the culprit until I saw it picking up seeds etc from a plant .

I walked back to the car park along the footpath near a hedge. A meadow pipit was singing from the top of the hedge.

A few butterflies were on the wing.

It was now getting busier so I left and went to Thornwick Bay. The hide was closed so all I saw was a brief glimpse of a deer.

Filey Country park was my next stop but there were long queues at the machines to buy a ticket so I drove to the dams. The hides are now open at this reserve,

Not many birds on the lagoon. This plant looks pretty.
A young robin was sunning itself on one of the boardwalks.

I then drove to Church Houses on the moors. There had been regular reports of white tailed eagles in the area. I joined a group of birders who had been there a while. They had seen the eagles but at a distance of two miles! I stayed a while and then a cyclist pulled up and said that he had been cycling on the ridge about an hour ago and had seen the birds in the next valley, so I left for home.

Terning up 7 ticks!

I decided to have a long day out. I set off early and had just left York when I saw a green woodpecker fly across the road and land in a tree. Tick number one. A couple of hours later at Langdon Beck just as I turned up the road leading to Cow Green reservoir a merlin flew away from the side of the road. It had been hunting a family of meadow pipits. Tick number two.
The weather was not brilliant, misty and a little drizzle. Lots of meadow pipits flying about, lapwing families near the road. The lapwings and the red grouse both had young and they kept in the long grass.
A few pictures of the area near the reservoir.

After I left this area I slowly drove along the narrow road looking for other birds. Skylarks, oystercatchers, snipe and meadow pipits. A redshank raised the alarm from this post.

Further along the road crosses a stream.

As I slowly drove across the stream a common sandpiper flew across. I then drove up the road and into Weardale.

As you can see the weather had not improved. The first bird I saw from my car was a wheatear, tick number three. A bit further along the road I saw my first black grouse, tick number four. I slowly drove along the road looking for birds. Lots of meadow pipits and skylarks, not many grouse.
I carried on driving and went to Hartlepool.
At the Headland it was high tide, and a very high tide, There were no exposed rocks or beach so there wereno birds. A small group of male and female eiders were a few yards off shore. From near the Andy Capp statue I was able to watch a little tern hunting for fish. It came fairly close to me due to the high tide, but I was unable to get a photo. Tick number five.
Newburn Bridge was my next stop. Again the tide wss very high, so once again no birds sheltering on the shore. However lots of terns fishing close by. Roseate and sandwich terns, ticks number six and seven.
I then drove to the car park at North Gare but no skylarks or reed buntings having a dust bath.
As it was high tide I stopped at the Seal Sands viewpoint.
A few seals were on the mud

On the opposite side of the road I could hear terns.

 

A family of shelducks were busy feeding.On the island were a colony of common terns who were fishing and bringing food in for their young, Each time an adult returned with a fish, lots of young terns would run crying for the food, and just to add to the choas other adults would scream at the returning tern and black headed gulls would chase the tern hoping to get the fish. I hope that the following photos give you a flavour of the activiy.

 

South Gare was my next stop. There are road works along the road and there were lots of people windsurfing so it was busy. As the tide was still high there was no area for birds along the shore.
Gannets were flying up and down looking for fish and again more terns.
I drove home past the steelworks, will it ever be used again?