12th Feb.
We were greeted by the calls of Pink-footed
Geese, ice sheets, potholes and puddles on arrival at East Chevington today,
but the brisk walk to the mouth of the burn quickly warmed us through and the
chill air was soon forgotten. The reward
was excellent sightings of the flock of Twite
which to me seem to be getting more and more accustomed to folk passing by and
certainly giving the watcher far more opportunity to study and/or photograph these
birds than the flock used to further down the coast near Bell’s Pond. There were no rarities among the flock, but
the Twite were enough to please us
after having visited in strong winds recently and found no sign of them. There was a little wind today and the sunlit
dunes made all the difference. A small
raft of Common Scoter and the odd Red-breasted
Merganser appeared on the sea directly in front of us although waves made
for difficulty in picking them up. Sanderling and Ringed Plover were feeding along the tideline. Two Skylark
flew south along the dune line. To the
west the Pink-footed Geese lifted at
times and flew amongst the wind turbines.
Having spent a good bit a time by the mouth of the burn and
having chatted to interested passers by we found that the geese had landed in
the fields behind us and so we took a short walk south to take a closer
look. The majority of these birds were Pink-footed Geese, although there was also a sizeable flock of Greylag Geese. Our
checking of the geese paid off as Sam picked up a Red-breasted Goose at the back of the Pink-footed Flocks. Such a
smart species these Red-breasted Geese and
its going on my year list, whatever the thought. Full marks to Sam for picking it out as we
weren’t aware that it was being reported here.
Twite
Beauty and the Beast
We took a walk along the east side of North Pool but didn’t
find a great deal in the area or on the pool.
There was a number of Goldeneye,
the odd Little Grebe and a few regular
birds on the pond. Our next stop was to
be Druridge Pools. As we approached the
pools we passed an old friend of ours, but he must have been day dreaming and
didn’t notice us.
Twite
We have still to catch sight of the Water Pipits! There were numbers of Shoveler on the pools and of course numbers of Wigeon and Teal and we
found a male Pintail. Common Snipe was also seen.
We’ be getting a bad name as the café near Cresswell Pond
was our next stop for a bacon sandwich and a chat to another old friend of ours
who we met inside. If that café issues
shares I’m going to grab some! It’s
always full and I wonder where folk went before it opened. After we had had our fill, the coffee cake
was tempting, but the bacon sandwich filled me up, we returned to Cresswell
Pond. Once again there seemed to be
little about and the water was of course high.
After watching the sizeable flocks of Wigeon and Teal at the
north end of the pond and the Curlews
in the fields to the East we decided to return to patch and check out the lake,
but not before watching the Kestrel
being harassed by corvids.
Twite
Twite
There are numbers of Goldeneye
on the lake along with a small number of Goosander
and today we found at least four Gadwall. We remembered when Gadwall were never seen on the lake until maybe the last two or
three years. Best of all a Great Crested Grebe had returned, which
to para-phrase the poet Ted Hughs, shows that the globe is still working!
A very enjoyable day, although even I (as one who likes
winter) am looking forward to some warmer days.
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