notmanywords: caspian gull

Saturday, 29 November 2014

A Nice Surprise

Grey and miserable morning but it was off to Boldon Flats today for the Tundra Bean Goose. It showed briefly near the pond but everything went up when a Peregrine flew through. A Caspian Gull was a nice surprise (hats off to the man who spotted it in amongst all the other gulls). A Mediterranean Gull was also on the pond but I got it in the air. The Tundra Bean Goose had relocated to a horse paddock with a flock of Greylags and showed very well until a horse got too close then everything flew off.
It was then onto Whitburn Steels for the Water Pipit which unfortunately I dipped. I did however manage a Rock Pipit.

Caspian Gull

Mediterranean Gull

Peregrine Falcon

Peregrine

Tundra Bean Goose

Tundra & Greylags

Greylag

Rock Pipit

Sunday, 17 August 2014

Casper beaten by a nose

I went up to Amble yesterday to get some shots of the Caspian Gull that has been around for some time now. The gull showed really well but the absolute stars of the show were, for me, the pod of Bottlenose Dolphins that were catching fish in the harbour. There must have been around a dozen, and I managed loads of shots of fins and water. I did manage some shots however but not great shots.
Before I got to Amble, I called in at Creswell and Druridge Pools. The water levels at Cresswell seem canny for waders and indeed, there were a few around. Of note, there were Spotted Redshank, Dunlin, Knot, Avocet and Little Egret. At Druridge, a Wood Sandpiper showed well if a little distance. The Stonechats at both sites were, as always, nice to see.