Taken by surprise

Just arrived at Gosforth park unloaded our gear opened the shutters and there were three Otters making their way across the lake,didn't have time to look at camera settings this is the result.

Now we were settled these guys kept us entertained with there take off and landing skills.

This one was just chilling.

This little grebe played with this stickleback until it had it in the right position to swallow.

But this young lady is still surviving numerous reported Sparrow Hawk attacks.

Plus the sighting of a large dog Fox on the way to the hide made for a nice morning out.

Thanks for looking.

Joe 

Gosforth Park

An early couple of hours at the park proved quite productive this morning with the arrival of a doz Greylags and a very nice Ruddy Shelduck in and among ,they stayed for about 45 min before all leaving together.
Its the first time I have seen one of these ducks and was impressed with the size and the bright colour

As always I would have liked it a bit closer.

but this duck came closer.

thanks for looking 

Joe.

Loch Garten

A few days up at Loch Garten on the hunt for Crested Tits proved to be a little challenging,these guys are few and far between in fact two and a half day only produced seven visits in total and if you blinked you missed them.
High ISO's were the order of the day due to the weather and forest cover but here's a few pics.

All the above pics were taken around the centre at Loch Garten where we had a little more light,very tame Coal Tits delighted the visitors taking seed from your hand and even from your mouth that along with Tree Creepers and Red squirrels made for a nice visit.

Thanks for looking

Joe.

June Hols part 2

Norfolk was our next stop, Stumpshaw fen to see Swallowtails,disappointment struck again as it rained both days and of course no butterflies but Otters were present in good numbers.

                                  Even this guy was sick of the rain.

Then on to Cley  which to be fair was our most disappointing visit ( extremely quiet for Cley)

 Moving on to Tichwell to see the Red crested Pochards that had bred

                               No they just wouldn't  come any closer.

Frampton Marsh was the last stop of our hols and as we arrived the wardens were buzzing with excitement and couldn't wait to tell us of a rare bird discovered just minutes before we arrived,
it turned out to be a Black Winged Pratincol a first for me.

Shame the pics are rubbish but what a bird to finish off the holidays.

June Hols ( part one )

Minsmere was our first stop.
A Barn Owl quartering around the camp site was of great interest to every one on site.

Onto the reserve itself now and that didn't disappoint either with lots of Marsh Harriers around the reserve.

Down on the dunes there were two nesting pairs of Dartford Warblers ( fenced off by wardens ) sorry no pics but these little guys were keeping an eye on us anyway

.

This little one created a few aw,s when it was paraded in front of the hide with its mother (nice ).

End of part one.

Joe.

Holywell Pond

Quite a while since my last visit to the pond ,but a walk down with my grandson the other morning gave us both a nice surprise as we opened the shutters a Wood Duck was sunning itself in front of the members hide and of coarse no camera !.So that was that back home to check if it was a Wood Duck having never seen on before and then back down with the camera.

Then along came this flashing blue bonus

Which all made for a rather nice day

Joe.

Trying to save me patch

What I really mean is the most picturesque and productive part of my patch,as some of you will know by my blog I live in Holywell village ( part of which is a conservation area) and an area of natural beauty.This may soon change if planning permission is granted for an out door horse riding arena on the flood plain area adjacent to the burn in holywell dene see plan.

                                                             The view at present

This view shows the proposed arena area shaded in blue which continues to the right (out of shot) the red spot is where the roe deer hind is standing when i took the shot below.

As most of you will know the burn itself forms what you might term as a super highway for deer and otters commuting between Big water NR, Gosforth park NR,Holywell pond and Seaton Sluice. Lets not forget its also a good place if not the best place in Northumberland to watch Dippers in the  burn in fact one nest of Dippers is less than 100 met away and this development will probably devastate this pair who raised 3 young last year.

                                  One of the two breeding pairs of Dippers along the burn
                                                             

                  Dog Otter in burn not 15 met away from prop development ( pic taken last year).

The arena can accommodate up to a max of 13 horses as I understand it ,all this movement within 15 met of the burn and along the length indicated in pic will have a devastating effect on all wildlife in this area. 
It is stated that the surface of the arena is to be a mixture of sand and fibre, the amount needed to cover the area I have shown runs into hundreds of tons and will cause irreversible damage to the flood plain not to mention what will wash off into the burn when it floods (even more likely with global warming) what effect will this have on the burn ?

I feel I have to put this last picture in as it was taken in the middle of me writing this post.

Nine Roe deer directly behind prop development  1-22pm 31/01/2019 wound't it be a shame to possibly loose all this.

If you feel you would like to register your comments please see below.

                                                publicaccess.northumberland.gov.uk
                             Manor House Stables Holywell Northumberland ne250lb
 Register and make your comments ,consultation ends on 6th feb.

                                                         Thank you all in anticipation

                                                                                   Joe.

Snow on New Years Day!

A refreshing walk along to St Marys on New Years morning in the hope of taking a few shots of the Snow Bunting if they were still present.It was really rewarding finding them but wasn't straight forward and took me a while but I did find them on a grassy bank with a low weak sun on their backs and managed a few shots.

 I stepped aside after a while as others arrived with scopes and cameras watching them feed in the short grass bank only  moving when the odd dog got a bit too close ,still quite tolerant of people that made for a real nice New Years morning.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE 

Seeing Red.

A trip on a rather nice morning up to the Durham border in the hope of finding red squirrels which we had been told were relatively tame and didn't mind the odd camera or two.Following the directions given we arrived at the place marked on the map to find two people laying down and cameras pointed at a moss covered log. I have put food on the log said one of them wait a while and they will come ( so we waited ) and they didn't come,I could see three reds playing about on some fallen trees in an area which was far too dark for the odd shot .We will give it an hour says I as the wind was picking up and bringing the cold with it ,then came a shout there's one behind you!!.

"Where have I heard that before"

It made good use of the tree stumps as vantage points and didn't stay very long before scampering off to play with his mates but we managed a few shots before the wind and cold got the better of us and back to the car, I think we will be making a return visit.

Thanks for looking 

Happy New Year.