'Bad hair day'

At Scotch Gill Woods yesterday there was plenty of bird song and fleeting glimpses of many birds but far too quick to identify them all. A Great Tit perched on a branch next to the path and it definately looked like it was having a bad hair day, a bit ruff around the edges, it hung around long enough to snap a photo. It was great to see it close up and it hopped from branch to branch fo quite a while, really nice.

Other sightings included Blue Tit, Wren, Chaffinch, Bullfinch and Nuthatch. There was plenty of butterfly's throughout the woods and around the Bluebells, Cabbage White (I think, they were white anyway) and Mike spotted some Red Admirals. On the bank next to the car park there was a couple of Magpie and Wood Pigeons and to my delight a Kestrel flew right across the path and it hung around for a while and the flash of orange/brown back as it banked away from me was a delight. I did get a tick as I saw a Black Cap which was great it flew along the path and I noticed the black head and pale body, didn't get a photo but it was a really nice walk and plesant way to spend the morning.

Today after lunch we decided to go for a drive and see where we ended up, taking all the back roads and through several fords we finally ended up at Rothbury. We stopped along the way a few times for a photo stop for Mike and it turned out to be a nice birding afternoon as well. First to be spotted was a Chaffinch which was very quickly followed by a Blue Tit which hung around for a while and while I was glued to my binoculars, a Long Tailed Tit perched on a branch right in front of me, what a stunner. Couldn't get a photo as Mike was trying to get a photo of some hay bales or something but it was a thrill anyway. We spotted over the hill a squabble going on between 3 Rooks? (big black birds) and a what I think was a Buzzard, I did see the brown back and pale underside, Mike thought it may be a Red Kite but with the light and naff binoculars I couldn't get a good look at the tail, they chased each other for a good 5 minutes and it was a stunning show of aerobatics. Fab afternoon.