July 2014 archive

Jul 31 2014

Summary : July 2014

Summary : July 2014

Birding Days Out

Birding in general this month has largely been determined for us by weather and visitors. We have had visits from two sets of friends who do not live in Britain and they are not particularly birders so we have been either preparing for them or attending to them for a lot of the month. Anne’s birthday party also took a little chunk of time out of the month but he main reason we did not do a lote of birding this month was the prolonged good weather – so hot, in fact, that we have largely kept in shade where possible. It has been quite like the summers of old ! Be that as it may we managed to do some birding and even got a life tick or two !

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Jul 30 2014

Recce of Heswall Bank : 30th July 2014

Recce of Heswall Bank : 30th July 2014

When we left Burton Mere Wetland we decided to do a little recce of Heswall Bank which I had been curious about. I had read an article on the internet on Heswall Bank which also had a very good hand-drawn map of the area from a birding point of view. This article describes the area from a starting position at the end of Riverbank Road where there is some parking. It also describes it as one of the very best places to see waders at a high tide

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Jul 30 2014

Spotted Crakes at Burton Mere Wetlands : 30th July 2014

Spotted Crakes at Burton Mere Wetlands : 30th July 2014

On the 30th of July we went to RSPB Burton Mere Wetlands in search of the Spotted Crakes that have been seen there recently. We asked at the reception hide whether they had been seen (It seems that there are two pairs with chick/s there) but no one had seen them recently. From the hide we got nice views of a Little Grebe carrying a pair of chicks on its back. There was a single Dunlin and a few Snipe as well as the usual Black-tailed Godwits and Greylag and Canada Geese. A few Ruff were also present but we could not see Spotted Crake anywhere. It was a bit of an outside chance because they are usually more likely to be seen at dusk apparently so we felt we still had a chance.

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Jul 03 2014

Craster : 3rd July 2014

Craster : 3rd July 2014

Our third and last day on the Northumberland coast was reserved for non-bird watching activities but we still managed to have a little bit of birding in the village of Craster where we stopped for lunch at The Jolly Fisherman restaurant where we sat on the balcony in the sunshine watching Eider parents showing their young where to find food amongst the rock pools in the harbour and find drinkable water. Out at sea there were Guillemots and small numbers of Shelduck. On the harbour wall Gulls roosted and the odd Pied Wagtail bobbed along. All the houses around the harbour seemed to be built to help nesting Swallows and House Martins and the air was full of them. We had a lovely lunch and sneaked a little bird watching in anyway.
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Jul 02 2014

Druridge Bay Sites : 2nd July 2014

Druridge Bay Sites : 2nd July 2014

After our boat trip yesterday had failed to give us close views of Roseate Terns we thought we would try our luck at a few of the sites along the coast. We started out at Hauxley Nature Reserve

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Jul 01 2014

Roseate Terns at Coquet Island : 1st July 2014

Roseate Terns at Coquet Island : 1st July 2014

On the first day of July we drove over to the Northumberland coast where we were staying for a few days at the Warkworth House Hotel in Warkworth, just north of Amble. We were taking a few days away but the main reason for choosing the area was to go to the RSPB reserve at Coquet Island to see if we could see any Roseate Terns. Coquet Island is the only remaining British breeding colony of Roseate Terns. It is not possible to land on the island but we booked a boat trip from the harbour at Amble where Puffin Cruises use a retired Lifeboat to take people on round the island trips. As these are highly dependent upon the tides being right, the trips are sometimes at odd hours. Ours was booked for 4pm and we had high hopes for the trip.

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