New arrivals

Another beautiful day and another trickle of migrants. Willow Warbler had arrived overnight with 2-3 singing at Watergate and one at Burdon Moor. Both male and female Blackcap were around the car park at Far Pasture and 3 Wheatear were at the top of Burdon Moor.

Grey Wagtail at Birtley reed beds

Blackcap at Far Pasture

Wheatear at Burdon Moor

Yellowhammer at Burdon Moor

 

No Change

Despite more warm, sunny weather there was nothing new in today. What was in was looking good in the sunshine, with Peacock, Small Tortoiseshell and Comma seen everywhere. 2 Little Ringed Plover remained at Lamesley, where 6 Sand Martin moved through. Three pairs of Tufted Duck were in the marsh at Shibdon, but the main pond remains quiet.

Drake Tufted Duck at Shibdon

Female Tufted Duck at Shibdon

Long-tailed Tit at Shibdon

Comma at Shibdon

Little Ringed Plover

LRP

A Little Ringed Plover dropped in to Lamesley this morning and was joined by another two by lunch time. Two Sand Martin skipped through on their way north and the 4 Gadwall were present. No sign of any Wheatear at Burdon Moor, but a Lizard was basking in the sun, tucked out of the wind.

Little Ringed Plover

Common Lizard

Up at Edmnundbyers there was no sign of Ring Ouzel, but there was a Wheatear and a fly-over Peregrine carrying what looked like a Redshank.

Again no luck with Osprey at Derwent Reservoir, but the Long-tailed Duck was showing well. Also here were 6 Whooper Swan, a Pink-footed Goose and 6 fly through Sand Martin. A Red Squirrel showed briefly at Pow Hill.

Long-tailed Duck

At last

An early look around Gateshead revealed little other than 4 Gadwall at Lamesley and a couple of small flocks of Fieldfare moving through north. A lunch time trip back up to Burdon Moor was more productive with the first Wheatear of the year showing distantly from the top road. The first last year was on 23rd March, so almost two weeks late. A couple of Weasel performed well at point blank range, unfortunately too close to focus the camera most of the time. Plenty of Peacock were basking in the sun.

Weasel

Wheatear

Peacock

A few hours at Derwent Reservoir failed to turn up an Osprey, but the Long-tailed Duck showed well and a pair of Great Crested Grebe displayed in front of the hide.

Long-tailed Duck

Great Crested Grebe

Here comes Summer

Hot and sunny today, but still no Wheatear or Little Ringed Plover. Gateshead highlights were 4 Gadwall at Lamesley and 2 Kingfisher at Birtley reed beds. A superb day for a run up to the dales. Great weather and scenery, but few birds with no sign of the eagle or shrike. 15+ Black Grouse were at Langdon Beck while butterflies ( mainly Peacock) were everywhere.

Peacock

At Derwent Reservoir there were loads of Wigeon and Great Crested Grebe. A distant sleeping duck proved difficult to identify, but luckily moved a bit closer to confirm a female Common Scoter, a cracking inland bird.

Common Scoter

A quick look at Lamesley tonight gave 25 Sand Martin moving through.

Sarnie

After a fruitless start at Burdon Moor it was up to Stag Rocks to begin a run down the Northumberland coast. Not a great deal on the sea, but there were 3 summer plumage Slavonian Grebe, 4 Long-tailed Duck, 3 Common Scoter and several Puffin. Star bird here though was the first Sandwich Tern of year flying north.

The scrape at Newton was quiet, but still held 19 Pink-footed Geese.

No sign of the Bearded Tit at East Chevington north pool, but there were 3 Pintail here. A pair of Marsh Harrier put on a great show over the south pool.

A Beast at East Chevington

Marsh Harrier at East Chevington

Cresswell was the last port of call where there were 7 Avocet and 2 Stonechat, but not a lot else.

A canny day out.

Ton up

Finally got my 100th bird for Gateshead in 2015. A Swallow this evening, resting on the fence across the pond before joining 4 Sand Martin feeding over the Team.

Stunning photo of the first Swallow!

Bird of the day was a Black Redstart flitting around the cliffs at Whitburn Steel. Always flighty, it was hard to get a decent photo, but hopefully the start of some decent Spring migrants.

Black Redstart

Around Gateshead it almost felt like Spring with lighter winds and blue sky. 5 Gadwall were at Birtley reed beds (including a male paired with a Mallard), Chiffchaff were singing everywhere and a Lizard was basking in the sun.

Gadwall

Chiffchaff

Common Lizard