Prestwick Carr

30^th July.  I had a walk up to Prestwick Carr after having checked out the community room in Dinnington Village which is required for a presentation in November.  It’s a rather impressive community room taking up to one hundred and fifty people seated.  The place is also obviously well looked after.  We were shown around by a very helpful and friendly member of the community.

The sun was shinning, the red flags were flying on the carr and the guns could be heard.

Though cowards flinch and traitors sneer,

We'll keep the red flag flying here.

 

There were two birds of the day.  The first being Swift, which were everywhere and the second being Willow Tit, which could be heard in many places along the ‘bumpy road’.  The latter bird eventually giving a fine sighting.  Unfortunately I only had the compact camera today so wasn’t able to do it justice.  A large number of House Martins flew in the area north of the road, with a few Swallows.

Although quite a bit of water is still about the area looked so different from winter visits.  I wonder how many of the Short Eared Owl enthusiasts have been back to see the area in summer.

Summer on the carr

 

Meadow Brown Butterflies were quite numerous along with one or two Small Tortoiseshell Butterflies and a few White species.  Common Buzzards were seen along with one Sparrowhawk, but surprisingly no Kestrels.  A Kestrel had been seen on the approach to Dinnington.  Other birds of note were Willow Warblers,  Common Whitethroat which was carrying food as if still feeding youngsters, a small flock/family of Long-tailed Tits and two male Bullfinches.  A flock of Lapwing occupied the fields west of the road to the sentry box and Lesser Black-backed Gulls flew in the area.

Small Tortoiseshell Butterfly

Willow Tit

Thunderous looking cloud gathered to the north where rain showers could be seen.  We left for home just as a shower of rain began.  The rain soon stopped and it hasn’t reached Killingworth as yet.  It had been an enjoyable three hours.