Monday 7 March 2011

Beans on Patch!

A meal interrupted perhaps.


7th March. Despite the sun which drew me out onto patch today it was deceptively cold as I made for the wagon-way. I noticed on the way that a very nice area of scrub and bush which attracted birds has been dug up and flattened. I guess we have more brick and concrete to look forward to! The noisy Long Tailed Tit I found in the hedge along the pathway took thoughts of concrete from my mind.


Once onto the wagon-way proper I spent sometime taking in a very good sighting of two Grey Partridges feeding along by the hedge-way, both in excellent light. At least three piles of pigeon feathers give away that a predator had been around recently. A little bit further along the path I found another headless pigeon and suspect disturbance had interrupted the meal!


I found the Greenfinches especially loud this afternoon, and in the trees just before hitting the roadway again there was a large party of feeding and calling Goldfinches.


Once over the road and onto the wagon-way leading to Holystone I found three Mistle Thrush and several Stock Doves in what had initially looked to be a deserted field. There was no sign of any Lapwings which I seem to remember had been around in numbers this time last year. I got my eye on two waterfowl in the distance down beside the small flash. They looked ‘different’ even at distance so I made off to take a closure look. They turned out to be a new patch tick. They were definitely tundra Bean Geese. I took special note of the dark colouring, the bill marking and structure, and I also had a brief sighting of one of the bird’s legs which was showing well in the sunlight and it was distinctively orange. Whilst I was taking in the sighting I heard a Kestrel calling. There were no other waterfowl or waders in the area. I noticed another guy taking a look at these birds from the wagon-way opposite. I had first seen the birds shortly before 15:20 and they flew off towards the Tyne area at around 15:45. I’ve been keeping an aye on this particular area since watching the Short Eared Owls here almost two years ago. Up until today I hadn’t found anything I could say was out of the ordinary here. I’m very pleased with this sighting however.


On my return walk a dog disturbed two Skylarks and they took off in front of me. I checked out the pylons and found a Kestrel on top of the tallest steel pylon. The bird soon flew down to a lower level. Gulls flew in number in the distance over what I think is a landfill area. It gave the effect of grey and white objects in the air as the birds manoeuvred.


As I neared the end of the circular walk I listened to the song of Song Thrush and watched another Song Thrush feeding on the ground. Another party of Goldfinches fed and called in the trees. I found a Lesser Black Backed Gull in the distance. Temperatures were dropping by now so I made for home.

6 comments:

  1. Its always good to get a new bird on the patch especially one as difficult as Bean Geese, I hope they stay in the area and give my patch a visit

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  2. I agree Phil. One of the real joys of birding.
    Maybe Cramlington is on their itinerary!:-)

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  3. Nice one Brian.
    Oh, i forgot to mention that your reflection images were smart.

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  4. A cracking find, sounds like a better sighting that my first. They were 2 miles away and seen during horrible weather where it was windy, and cold. It took me about 30 mins to find them in the flock of Pinkys.

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  5. It's fab that you saw those Tundra's!

    You have a really good eye, as there are probably loads of other local birders who will have missed them, lol.

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  6. Thanks for the comments guys.

    I've never found the area where I saw the Bean Geese to be a big draw for birders to be honest. I've rarely seen anyone, so I think it is a case of 'not looking' rather than 'missing' them.:-) Cheers. Brian.

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