A Trip to Teesside

Thought I would do a bit of year ticking in Teesside yesterday with a few goodies on offer, started at Ward Jackson Park in Hartlepool where at least six Ring Necked Parakeets were showing, then carried on to the Headland and the area of waste ground just north of the Jewish Cemetery, unfortunately there was no sign of the recent Shore Lark although half a dozen Snow Buntings entertained then upon hearing the Glaucous Gull was showing at the Fish Quay I decided to go and see that then come back, couldn’t believe it, the Gull had also gone missing when I got there but fortunately after 40 mins or so I picked it up flying around then quite fortuitously me and another guy I was talking with got invited in to the compound where the fishing guys were actually feeding it, we got some stonking views, happy with that I returned for the Shore Lark to find out it had been showing well while I had been away but had gone missing again, however after around 15 mins it returned to its favoured area and performed well for the next 30 and the sun even came out for a bit. Nothing at Jackson’s Landing today, the tide was well out at a busy Newburn Bridge, a quick look at Seaton Snook found a small flock of around 18 Snow Buntings but no Twite, I arrived at Saltholme mid-afternoon bumping into James Robson and with up to three Long Eared Owls showing we headed straight out to the Haverton end encountering a rather tame Fox on the way, good views of one of the Owls, distant as usual but sat out in an open position at least, made my way back round to Paddy’s Hide, a Kingfisher flashed over the reeds and a couple of Stonechats hunted from the fence posts, a good selection of Wildfowl from the hide included a Pink Footed and two Barnacle Geese, ended the day at Dorman’s Pool where I added Shoveler and Pintail to the day list.

Parrots in the Park

a nice little flock of Snow Buntings

Mega views of this charismatic Gull

being fed well

the Shore Lark eventually gave itself up

not the best of backdrops, its favoured area being strewn with rubble and rubbish

the Saltholme Foxes are getting incredibly tame

one of the Long Eared Owls