norfolk times

well i had an interesting few days down in norfolk last week. went to 2 RSPB reserves which i will metion in a later blog. and plenty shopping as always.

the weather was totally wierd! 4 days in just jeans and tshirt! how odd is that for november? and yet, the locals all had hats, coats, scalves etc! weird or what! haha

Hartlepool tall ships race

what could have been a showcase event in the north east, seemed to me to be a badly planned, organised, and excecuted event that in all honesty, a small child could have rganised better!!!

i spent the 4 days manning the RSPB's stall, trying my hardest to spread the word of the rspb (www.rspb.org.uk) and rspb saltholme. it wasnt easy though!!!! our pitch was right next to the bar! or should i say the bars generator, so i spent the whole 4 days having to shout at people! not the best for my poor voice, or ears for that matter, as the generator in question was kicking out 115 decibels!!! well over the safe level of 85!!!! a complaint is inorder i think.

and combine this with the fact that the main stage was directly oposite us, we had a difficult 4 days.

A new tern!

well i went to do the open up at saltholme in wednesday as usual, it started pretty normally, doing the usual checks in the hides, wildlife watchpoint, then paddys pool, and then round to saltholme pools Hide. stopping off briefly to say hello to the sheepys :) on my way down the hide i noticed a few people on the roadside looking onto saltholme west. but this is pretty normal for half 8 in the morning. So i did what i had to do in the hide, and i gave it a bit of a sweep out, then decided to have a few minutes looking at the birdies!

i had a quick scan and a few things caught my eye. firstly a couple beautiful wood sandpipers were just outside the hide! nice start! then a little stint which was a pretty addition on one of the bunds, as well as a few juinile common terns!

and then i noticed them! the birding hardcore of teesside on the side of the road! staring at the same bund i was! to be honest at first glance i didnt notice anything out of the ordinary, but i wasnt looking very hard! ao i had a quick look on http://tbc.123guestbook.com the teessmouth bird club sighting board! and there it was! Juvinile Whiskered Tern! that would explain all the birders that had gathered! so i sat down and concentrated on looking for it!

eventually, there it was! sat right next to the litle stint and juv common terns i had been looking at! how did i miss it! who knows, but the important thing is, i saw it eventually, and what made it even more enjoyable for me was that i was sat in a hide, all by myself, watching it whilst 30+ others were stood on the busy a179 as lorrys rushed passed them! :)

last week

well i havent posted anything on here for a while! after i promised to keep it regularly updated!

well last week i went to bempton cliffs, saw lots of gannets and annoyed a volunteer who had just told somebody that there are no pufins today! only for me to point out 5 in les that a minute! another very nice spot was a female peragrine high up over the centre. photos will follow sooon i hope!

spurn and tern part 2

Day 3 was a good day, i left Sacha to get on with her job, and went exploring by myself. I just had a little walk around the canal and on the point. got a few good shots of sedge warblers, and possibly my best swallow photos. It was nice to have an explore, and to take the time to see some wonderful birds and talk to some great people.

bird numbers seemed good. And once i had walked down to find Sacha, i spent an hour watching one of my favourite birds, a ringed plover displaying around the tern hut, its one of the reasons i go bird watching, to be able to watch the birds doing their thing! and watching behaviour! i have never been one to run around after rarities, i would much rather sit and watch 1 bird feeding that see something rare!

Thursday night, we walked to easington for a drink with one of the wildlife trust lads, it is always great to chat with new people who have a conservation interest. so that was a fair old walk too! but worth it for a few pints of blacksheep and to socialise with my one of my best est friends! :)

unfortunately i had to go home on Friday, but with the promise to return soon! will be back in July!

bird list was not bad for the week. and of cause the highlights for me were the little terns!

Spurn and tern part 1

it was an early start on Tuesday morning for me because i wanted to make the most of my time down at spurn. 3 days staying with Sacha at Kilnsea. she is the tern warden for this season, looking after the little tern (sterna albifrons) colony on the lagoons. it was a much needed trip for me, mainly because i hadn't seen her for over 2 months, and also because i have just come of Coquet island, (see my blogs from coquet at www.livinonanisland.blogspot.com)

so i left home at 8 am. but soon got stuck on the A19, after about half an hour i was moving again and on my way. after getting a little bit lost in hull, i finally arrived at the caravan at 11:30. a quick phone call and i was on my way to Sacha's observation hide. the heat was amazing coming off the sand, so i whipped my sandals of and went for a paddle on my way up to the lagoons.

the first day was a bit of a blur to be honest, but i did get to see little terns quite lose up. and some little Egrets that had apparently been noticeable by their absence on teesside whilst i have been of working. i also got a quick view of a sedge warbler on the night as we went for a walk around the canal. there were the usual suspects to be seen, gulls, oystercatcher etc. And i got my 1st pint of beer in 6 months on the night in a pun at Kilnsea (crown and Anchor).

on day 2 (wed) i basically shadowed Sacha, just seeing what she has been up to. basically its up at 5am, walk the 2.4 miles to her hide and the terns, check the electric fences, the eggs and heck for new scrapes. then its a case of settling down to watch the terns and make sure nobody gets into the lagoons. i forgot about the sun though! so when we were ready to head back i was very red! how i missed sunburn :)

If you have read any of my coquet blogs you would have got a taste of what species protection is all about. and its much easier on coquet i can tell you. i didn't have to worry about foxes or dogs! its nice to see that the area is both an SSSI and an SPA. and this should hopefully safeguard what is a beautiful area.

BTCC and Birding, all in one day :)

yesterday, i was fortunate to get a free pass to the British touring cars championship at croft circuit, the weather was fabulous! and the racing was top notch!

3 rounds of touring cars, dispersed between formula 3, reneult clio cup, porche cup, and ginetta G50s, proved an action packed day of racing!

The touring cars, were as usuall on top form, providing some breathtaking racing, and lots of overtaking and bumps!

but, a welcome adition to the racing was of cause, the bird life! in the field opposite me, looking towards the starting grid i watched skylarks, meadow pipits, swallows and carrion crows doing what they do. above the track there were kestrels, and on the way home i spotted my first buzzard for a few months . so all in all, it was a brilliant day, although, the sunburn is stinging today!