Sunday 15 February 2009

Ducks, Ducks, Ducks
















I was out early taking photos for school at the Newcastle Quayside, nothing out of the ordinary seen; Common Gulls and a Cormorant with a white head were the best.
When I got home I saw that the Green Winged Teal- Lifer, was still at Bothal Pond, so after visiting family in Morpeth we went.
I also had a quick walk along the river at Morpeth where a female Goosander was showing well on the riverbank with a group of Mallards.
When we got to Bothal the Teal was nowhere to be seen. I met a group of Birders further down the track that also couldn’t find it but five minutes later managed to pin point it, sleeping on the waters edge. It was probably missed by a lot of people because a wigeon kept walking in front of it and covered the crucial white stripe.
There were about 100 Teal around the pond in total as well as a good number of Canada Geese and a single shoveler on the small flash near the pond.
At Cresswell Pond 1000+ Pink Footed Geese were in the field behind the pond. 3 Scaup and 2 Grey Partridge near the car park were the highlights, no sign of the Bittern.Only one more Lifer and I am on 200, I wonder what it could be?

2 comments:

Blyth Birder said...

The GW Teal wasn't making things easy for people was it, stuck on the bank where no-one could see it :)

Alan Tilmouth said...

Must have move a little was out on it's own showing well at 07:30