A rare sight these days

No not him, this............

looking east

looking west.

Just Robin and I left at on a calm, quiet evening at 4.00pm. The sun had just set, the hoards departed early after the owls failed to show and I was left to contemplate life and its complexities. Where exactly had numerous owls disappeared to? Plod (hardly in his 4 wheel drive) had played a fleeting visit earlier. Was foul play suspected or was it possibly due to complaints about the parking at the road ends.

MH had found the Shrike way over near the main road and it was just visible from my location but only because it's grey and sits on the highest branch possible. As I waited for the Owls Robin played around my feet and fed on some seed left by the visiting folk. Confident little chaps when the weathers cold.

Did the owls appear? Well lets say that three clear nights on the trot with a hunters moon mean they have full bellies and don't need to hunt during the day so adding a fourth session wouldn't be so unexpected.

Nowt to say

Frustrating weekend but nice Wren at Cresswell

Buzzards continue to search the mole hills on the Carr

This Coal Tit was singing in centre frame but when I took the shot!

Great Tits are a wee bit more obliging.

Need a hand with that?

The last few days warm weather have seen many signs of Spring which no doubt will ignore the cold snap threatened for the weekend. The gardens growing, my Collared Doves are nesting and on Thursday the Robin was in full song at 1am in the morning.

They're cheeky chappies but the choice of sticks always seems to be on the long side so maybe we'll get a decent nest compared to some of the flimsy affairs last year.

I met Harry on the Carr last night who mentioned the hedgehogs in his Ponteland garden had emerged and were taking food as was the Fox.

This particular animal apparently has a liking for hens eggs which it takes away to eat and fortunately Harry can provide some out of date morsels rather than the fox having to raid any local hen houses.

With owls still flying in good numbers although over a much wider area than previously Prestwick Carr has been pretty busy of late.

The voles in the favoured area around the roost site must have been exhausted and now the birds are hunting the roadsides and the area west and north of the bumpy road. One flew through the beam of my headlights the other night flying toward the airport so I hope any collisions with car or plane can be avoided.

Closer

After cracking out some work early Monday morning I spent the afternoon in excellent sunlight and almost calm conditions at Prestwick Carr. Richard was there and put me straight onto the Shrike which showed well for about an hour. We eventually got quite close but the light was never just right and I with my dodgy mirror lens I managed to mess up most of my attempts.
Still a good looking bird even with the soft focus

We then met John and spent another half hour in the company of eight or more Short eared Owls as they hunted and squabbled. Again I was less than happy with my photographic efforts.

I like this one for the action qualities even if it is a blurry mess.

Where are the birds?

A poor count on Saturday as the wind seems to have blown all the birds away. Struggled up to thirty three species and couldn't even find a Fieldfare which is unusual. Spent a good bit of time trying to find the Shrike but never did. At least the owls are reliable although I apparently missed a Long eared in flight on Wednesday which still smarts a bit!
The Prestwick Carr list has eased up to a half century with Great Spotted Woodpecker, Grey Heron, Pied Wagtail and Treecreeper added. There are precious few Wagtails around the horse fields which is unusual. A couple of Mute Swans landed briefly on the flooded fields but they didn't stay long heading off west.
Today a quick look at Bellasis Bridge with Grey Partridge, Jay and an overflying Cormorant being the only birds of note. Now for Sunday lunch and an afternoon in front of the box watching posh cats.

Cuddys duck

I spent a few spare moments yesterday lunchtime watching the Eiders surfing at Blyth Quayside. I'm sure they didn't intend to surf but such was the ferocity of wind and wave that they were on occasion forced to.

It's also that time of year and there was a little bit of display going on although you couldn't hear the strange noise they make above the noise of the wind.
Further off the quay a Red throated Diver fished in what it would think was the relative calm of the estuary.

For those in far climes Cuddy is the local nickname being a typical geordie shortening for St Cuthberts duck.

Starting over

The 2011 Prestwick Carr list finished at 111 with some notable omissions and should really have been around 116 so I must try harder this year. A nice start yesterday with the third bird I saw being a Tree Sparow on the garden feeders. After topping them up and a quick breakfast out to start again. The day generally was very quiet and numbers were hard to find but it was noticable that many birds are already travelling as pairs and Great Tits were singing.
It didn't take long to locate the most important tick of the new year as the Shrike was being mobbed by Tits in the top of a large tree. It didn't seem to be bothered and stayed faithful to this location for most of the day giving many others good views although some made harder work of it than others. One photographer almost hit lucky as the bird impaled a vole on a hedge near the road. He described that the luckless animal as still dripping blood so staked out the staked out creature but unfortunately just drew attention to the area and was soon surrounded by onlookers which of course meant the Shrike didn't return for its meal.

Nothing else spectacular of note other than a nice tribe of 18 or so Long tailed tits accompanied by a couple of Goldcrest.

The day finished with Short eared Owls aplenty and the new list standing on a moderate 46.