Well 2012 has really kicked off with a bang! A day birding in the NE at Hartlepool and the surrounding area certainly got us some good birds. At Hartlepool Fish Quay an obliging brute of a 1st winter Glaucous Gull put on a great show. Also in the harbour – Black & Red-throated Diver; Guillemot; Red Breasted Merganser and several adult Kittiwake. Off the Hartlepool Headland a female Velvet Scoter; a Red-necked Grebe; a small party of roosting Purple Sandpiper; Eider and Common Scoter. At Cowpen Bewley Woodland Park a stunning drake Ring-necked Duck and at Seaton Carew a […]
2011 has been one of the best years in memory to see American Waders in Britain. At least 17 species had been seen up to 28th November. The only species not found at this time was Western Sandpiper. So it was inevitable that one would be discovered somewhere!. Cley NWT Reserve was to be the host site for this rare wader. It was first identified as a Semi-palmated Sandpiper but as the bird was eventually seen and videoed at close range, the finer points of the bird’s plumage could be seen and it was eventually re-identified as […]