Monday, December 22, 2008

A lovely mild sunny day today. At lunchtime I took a trip to Cresswell pond to see if the Bitterns were around. They weren't. I had my boss for company because he had fancied a Bittern - he has a casual interest in wildlife - so I was hoping for some success. The hide was packed out with visitors, so many you'd think there was a twitch on. Not one familiar face though, with accents from as far apart as Australia and Sunderland ( bizarre...).I'm off all this crowded hide mullarky these days. Northumberland has enough birding sites without us all queueing to sit in a glorified bus shelter.

Although the Bittern was a no show, we did see a nice Barn Owl ( in competition with Waxwing for commonest 'scarce' this month) hunting in the afternoon sunshine near the hide, a Water Rail preening near the reeds and a pair of Sparrowhawks giving the wildfowl something to think about.

A first winter Med Gull was glimpsed from the car as I drove past Woodhorn Flash back to work.

Later on I was at Morpeth at about 3 o'clock when 5 Crossbills flew over Carlisle Park near the Leisure Centre.

Not a bad work day...

4 comments:

Alan Tilmouth said...

Alright if you can get it, apart from Barn Owl on the way home and 35 Pink feet on the way there the best I managed from work was Jackdaw!

Gavin Haig said...

Ditto on the hide philosophy!

PS. Lovely Waxwing sketches on your last post. :-)

Tricia Ryder said...

Well if that's work, then - any vacancies? Some good birds there BB!

Graham James said...

Happy Christmas, Stewart.