'Where's that darn bird?'

I thought I would share a funny story from last summer.....my 14 year old cat Purdie who is getting a bit old and doddery could hear a bird chirping and she was desperately trying to find it. She sat for a good few minutes trying to decide which tree the noise was coming from, I could see from the window that the Black bird was getting more and more agitated by her presence

in the garden and started to squawk loudly .

After about 5 minutes the bird had decided enough was enough and started flapping about and dive bombing her all the time squawking loudly. She finally got the message and turned around and meowed at the bird as if to say 'stop bothering me can't you see I'm busy'!. She's not the sharpest tool in the box!, just as well for theBlack bird as he sucessfuly nested in the tree and raised 2 broods of chicks. I wonder if he will return this year!

Crash Landing

As I am back to work on Monday and won't have a chance to get out and about, I thought I would share a rare moment with you .... last summer I was washing the dishes when I heard a loud bang and to my surprise a Sparrow Hawk landed on my lawn obviously having crashed into my window. We decided to pop it on the shed roof out of the way of any cats and left it to recover for a few minutes. We were going to phone the Sanctuary in Ulgham but to our relief it flew away after about 10 minutes. It's not every day you get this close to a bird of prey, we were all relieved to see it make a full recovery and have seen it in the estate since, so obviously no long term damage thank goodness.

Druridge pond

Popped over to one of the ponds at Druridge today as I had a spare hour or so when my daughter was out at her art club and sightings included:
Lapwing (huddled together on the banks)
Teal
Black Headed Gulls
Magpies and
Shoveler ( my very first sighting so very excited) and
Widgeon these cute ducks were all walking behind each other in a line and seemed to be on a mission, not quite sure what though.

On the way back which was after about 30 minutes because it was freezing I saw some Eider Ducks off the shore at Cresswell. Sat in the car and watched them swim out for a while whilst my hubby complained that I was a 'fair weather birder' hehehe. I think I will invest in some sort of spotting scope as my binoculars are a bit temperamental as some times no matter what I do I see double. Back to work on Monday after a nice week off so birding will probably take a back seat for a while.

Photo's from recent trips to QEII Country Park

Unsure of this type of Duck at QEII Lake.
Any suggestions?

Canada Geese on Lake and on shore.

Bali Duck.... Not quite sure of this one,

any suggestions?

Mute Swan, constant resident at the lake

Washington Wildfowl Park

Enjoyed wandering around the park with my husband and daughter but was in my element when we were sitting in the Woodland hides dotted around the walks. Sightings included;

Robin, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Chaffinch, Dunnock, Great Tit, Coal Tit and Greenfinch. To my delight I saw my first Long Tailed Tit which is a tick in my book.

From the river hides sightings included;

Grey Herrons nesting and collecting twigs, Shelduck, Teal, Mallard and Oystercatcher. There was a heated debate going on between my self and my daughter as she insists she saw some Bar-Tailed Godwit in the shallows feeding but I think they were Redshank, as we are both extremely new to this I am unsure of what we saw but enjoyed the battle trying to identify the birds.

QEII Country Park

Popped over to the QEII Country Park this afternoon and saw the usual Mute Swans, Coots, Moorhens and Black Headed Gulls. There was a large group of Canada Geese on the Lake along with very nice group of ducks, one I think is a Bali Duck but am at a loss at the other 2. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. We didn't see any Cormorants which was a bit of a surprise as the last time I was there we saw a few on the shore drying their wings. We did see a few Tuffted Ducks diving for fish which my daughter filmed on her video camera.