Med Back again

Bradley Hall -1 Green Sandpiper.

Shibdon -1 Mediterranean Gull (2s) in front of hide and 1m Gadwall.

The Mediterranean Gull at Shibdon [Rob Stonehouse]

Med 'n' Kingfishers

Lamesley Water Meadows - pair of  Gadwall on Vicarage pool. 2 Oystercatcher on Horse World pool.
Shibdon Pond - 1st winter Mediterranean Gull, 2 Kingfisher and 3 Common Snipe

1st winter Mediterranean Gull, at Shibdon [Steven Fryer]

Saltwell Park - 15 Redwing
Kibblesworth Grange - 1 Wigeon, 4 Redshank, 2 Oystercatcher, 6 Golden Plover & 200+ Common Gull. 1 Little Owl nearby

Wigeon and Oystercatcher at Kibblesworth Grange [Rob Stonehouse]

This week so far

Please note that the hides at Clara Vale will be closed this Friday 29th March until 1pm.



Today, 28th March
Sled Lane Pond -  20 Tufted Duck 
Far Pasture NR - 1 White Wagtail, 1 Chiffchaff, 7 Grey Wagtail, 15 Meadow Pipit and 30+ Pied Wagtail feeding on pans. 15+ Red Kite and 7+ Common Buzzard over

Yesterday 27th
Sunniside - Woodcock over Sunniside Road in morning
Lamesley Water Meadows - 110 Golden Plover in afternoon.
Ryton - A Blackcap still devouring apples in a garden.

Blackcap at Ryton [Paul Davidson]

Derwenthaugh  - Oyster-catcher and 2 Goosander

Oyster-catcher at Derwenthaugh [Steven Fryer]

Tuesday 26th
Shibdon Pond - Gadwall and a Jack Snipe in the reserve , 3 Red Kites over again, one of which was carrying a transmitter on its back but no wing tags 

The Gadwall on Shibdon [Steven Fryer]

Derwenthaugh - The leucistic Herring Gull on the staithes

The leucistic Herring Gull [George Simpson]

Monday 25th
Shibdon Pond - 1 Whooper Swan, 1 Mediterranean Gull(2nd winter), 10 Lesser Black-backed Gull and 3 Red Kite over.

The Mediterranean Gull (2nd winter) at Shibdon with Black-headed Gulls [Steven Fryer]

Far Pasture NR - 1 Chiffchaff, 4 Grey Wagtail, 15 Meadow Pipit and 20 Pied Wagtail feeding on pans. 8 Goldcrest feeding in hedge.
Timber Beach, Dunston - 1 Dunlin.
Watergate - 25 Lesser Redpoll, 2 Siskin, 1 Dipper and 2 Lesser Black-backed Gull.

Late news from the last week

Late news from the last week, all from the same observer

Monday - The adult Mediterranean Gull was present again and a Green Sandpiper,  both on the flash pools at Lamesley.
Tuesday - 5 Common Buzzard over the Ravensworth Estate
Thursday -  singing Chiffchaff at Birtley Reedbed Pools and 2 Common Buzzard over Pennyfine Road, Sunniside.

Siskin at Wardley [Joanne Reavey]

Back to today

Wardley - 1 or 2 Siskin visiting a bird feeder.



Lamesley Water Meadows - a pair of Gadwall still on Horse World pool.
Shibdon Pond - 1 Whooper Swan, 1 Mediterranean Gull (2nd winter) and 10 Lesser Black-backed Gull.
Watergate Lake - 1 Green Woodpecker & 1 Siskin.

Now a summer Med

Lamesley Water Meadows - Adult summer Mediterranean Gull.

The summer Med [Paul Davidson]

Kibblesworth Grange - 1 Woodcock over road at 6.30pm.

Sled Lane - Goosander, Goldeneye and Tufted Duck.

Despite the cold things seem to be  livening up at Sled Lane [Michael Eccles]

Clara Vale LNR - Kingfisher, 2 Greenfinch (not very common at Clara these days) and usual common species. Nearby 18 Goosander on the river Tyne.
Westfield Pasture - 1 Tawny Owl
Greenside - Grey Partridge and another Tawny Owl

Mediterranean Gull again (2W)

Shibdon Pond - The 2nd winter Mediterranean Gull again present

Sled Lane - 6 pairs of Goosander and 2 pairs of Goldeneye on the pond. 

Goosanders and a Goldeneye at Sled Lane [Derek Bilton]

Clara Vale - Treecreeper, Sparrowhawk -, Male & Female Siskin, Greenfinch and Kingfisher present along with most of the other regular species.

Late news : Coltsfoot in flower and Frog spawn at Maryside Hill on 7th

Kitti's back

River Tyne - 4 Kittiwakes back on the Tyne 
Dunston Staithes - 2 Ringed Plover
Westfield Pasture - 2 Woodcock
Burdon Moor  - Remains of a Little Owl, predated by Sparrowhawk. 

Shibdon Pond - A first winter Mediterranean Gull 

The first winter Mediterranean gull [Alan Mould]

Derwent Walk - Also a dozen common frogs in trackside ditch along the Derwent walk near Far Pasture with bundles of frogspawn.

Common Frog along Derwent Walk [Alan Mould]

River Derwent at Swalwell - Two Kingfishers on the Derwent next to B&Q

Med again

Shibdon Pond - The second-winter Mediterranean Gull was again present.

The second-winter Mediterranean Gull

Shibdon Pond - The second-winter Mediterranean Gull visited the pond today.

The second-winter Mediterranean Gull at Shibdon

Some pictures from yesterday

Yesterdays Mediterranean Gull in flight [Paul Davidson]

Yesterday at Clara Vale LNR - Good selection of the usual birds coming to the feeders ie Robin, Mistle Thrush, Bullfinch, Goldfinch, Chaffinch, Willow Tit, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Coal Tit, Long Tailed Tit, Nuthatch, Wren, Moorhen, Mallard, Kingfisher, Sparrowhawk, Carrion Crow, Magpie, Jay, Buzzard, Wood Pigeon, Pheasant & Grey Heron.

Wren at Clara Vale [Derek Bilton]

Kingfisher at Clara Vale [Derek Bilton]

Willow Tit at Clara Vale [Derek Bilton]

A New Med

Shibdon Pond - An adult summer Mediterranean Gull on the pond this morning with a report of 7 Nordic Jackdaw, rising to 12 late afternoon. 

The Mediterranean Gull at Shibdon [Steven Fryer]

Winlaton - 7 Waxwing by  the car park yesterday.

Med Gull again

Watergate Park - 1 adult Mediterranean Gull, 1 Green Woodpecker, 2 Goldcrest & 12 Redwing.

The Mediterranean Gull at Watergate [Rob Stonehouse] 

Far Pasture NR -2 Willow Tit & 1 Snipe.

Saltwell Park - 33 Tufted Duck and 3 Pochard (2drakes) on the lake.

Late news for last Sunday (13th) Common Seal on the Tyne,  opposite Newburn

The Gateshead bird yearlist now stands at 88

Another Shibdon gull

Lamesley-Team valley - 7 Waxwing by Horse's World

Shibdon Pond - 1 Mediterranean Gull.

Mediterranean Gull on Shibdon [Rob Stonehouse]

Clara Vale LNR  - Things pretty quiet at first due to a male Sparrowhawk sitting in the trees. Once he departed and took out a Blackbird - things picked up. Nothing out of the ordinary but highlights were: Willow Tit, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Stock Dove, Tree Creeper, Wren and this male Sparrowhawk.

[Derek Bilton]

23rd December 2012 - Record of the day - Mediterranean Gull

The original Gatesheadhead Birder site (www.gatesheadbirders.co.uk) will be getting phased out over the next couple of months, but don't worry all of our records will continue to get published here (and also on the original site while it is up). The reasons are several including cost, the flexibility of using and updating a blog and it's accessibility. Unfortunately our email account will also be changing. The new one is gatesheadbirder@gmail.com but the burt@gatesheadbirders.co.uk will forward any messages for a while.
So, welcome one and all.

So what was about today in the strong wind.
Birtley Reedbeds- Watching at dawn this morning, the following emerged from roost. 234 Starling, 7 Reed Bunting, 12 Chaffinch, 1 Grey Wagtail, 4 Pied Wagtail and a Bullfinch. Nearly 800 Black-headed Gull flew over as did 1 Common Buzzard, a Sparrowhawk, a Cormorant and 23 Lapwing.
Lamesley Water Meadows - 73 Teal, 72 Curlew, 95 Lapwing, 2 Red-legged Partridge, 1 Grey Heron and a Grey Wagtail.

One of the two Red-legged Partridges at Lamesley

Clara Vale LNR -  Long-tailed Tits, Willow Tit, Nuthatch, Great-spotted Woodpecker, Bullfinch, Jay and Kingfisher.

The Kingfisher at Clara Vale [Derek Bilton]

Watergate Park Lake - An adult Mediterranean Gull

The Mediterranean Gull at Watergate [Rob Stonehouse]

A report of an escaped golden eagle in the Derwent valley around the time of the Chopwell White-tailed Eagle sighting last month. The falconer recovered the eagle after it was hit by a car on Fellside. This was maybe the eagle first reported on birdline over Chopwell Woods?