It has been a bloody long time since I last wrote a blog. I have good reason though. The last 8 weeks have been spent attempting to educate 5, 6 and 7 year olds and therefore any birding antics have been put very much on hold. This is not to say I have been completely confined to the realms of school and home; I've still found bits of time for trips over to Sandwell Valley and have on occasions been rewarded with some good birds. However, this entry is not concerned with the bird life of the Valley - that may appear in a subsequent entry.
Last week was one of those glorious times in a teachers life, a holiday! This half term I managed to motor through the Uni work which needed doing and found myself in the rare position of having a few days with nothing to do. Beth had just started two weeks of residential volunteering at the RSPB's Saltholme reserve near Middlesbrough which is a reserve I had often thought of visiting. So the opportunity to kill two birds with one stone (a birding blog pun there for you) was too good to miss - visit Beth and see a reserve (or two) that was completely new to me.
3 hours up the road and I was arriving at Saltholme at around mid-day. Having given Beth the fright of her life in the cafe because she wasn't expecting me, I proceeded to spend the afternoon investigating the rest of this relatively new reserve. I got soaked in one of the many sporadic showers that were passing over the country whilst heading down to the 'Saltholme Pools Hide' where straight away I was pointed in the direction of a 1st summer
little gull by one of the very helpful hide guides. We proceeded to spend an extended period of time discussing the pros and cons of various optics (very useful seeing as I'm looking to buy a large telescope soon). I also found out, much to my consternation, that the long-billed dowitcher which had been hanging around the area had moved on a couple of days earlier and not been re-found. Then as if to rub salt into the wound it transpired that the summer plumaged ruff which had been present earlier in the day had now made its-self scarce and there had also been an osprey fly through in the morning. The hide was not devoid of birds though and the lone
avocet combined with both
ringed and
little ringed plovers provided some compensation. Whilst walking back towards the visitor centre to grab some lunch a flash of yellow caught my eye and this very obliging
yellow wagtail posed for some photos.
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| Yellow Wagtail - RSPB Saltholme - June 2012 - Mike Ixer |
After a late (and massively filling) lunch I headed out of the visitor centre in the opposite direction and was almost immediately greeted by a very vocal
sedge warbler who had no problems with being photographed.
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| Sedge Warbler - RSPB Saltholme - June 2012 - Mike Ixer |
I continued to the 'Wildlife Watchpoint' which is a cracking hide with a huge window from which you can observe an area of scrape, reeds and a feeding station. The first bird to catch the eye was another
little ringed plover who was confidently feeding in front of the main window.
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| Little Ringed Plover - RSPB Saltholme - June 2012 - Mike Ixer |
After a short time the real star of the 'Wildlife Watchpoint' sneaked into view.
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| (Red) Fox - RSPB Saltholme - June 2012 - Mike Ixer |
She slowly but surely made her way through the longer grass to the right of the hide, pausing briefly to pounce on (and presumably miss) some unsuspecting critter, until she reached the feeding station where she fed on spilt food for about 15 minutes offering incredibly close views to those in the hide.
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| (Red) Fox - RSPB Saltholme - June 2012 - Mike Ixer |
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| (Red) Fox - RSPB Saltholme - June 2012 - Mike Ixer |
As I walked around the 'Wildflower Trail' there was not much else to report.
Skylarks were abundant, as were
meadow pipits and
swifts. As the sun came out I met Beth and we made our way back towards the car park to ensure we were out by the 5pm closing time stopping only briefly as a beautiful white
little egret flapped lazily over the reserve.
We made a brief stop at Seal Sands on the way back to Beth's accommodation where the seals were looking decidedly lethargic laying on the semi-submerged sand banks. A probable
whimbrel flying up the river was a pleasant surprise - as were the three
sandwich terns which also flew over. On the opposite side of the road to the main viewing screen was a smaller second screen behind which was a small shingle Island with nesting
common terns,
avocets,
black-headed gulls and
redshanks - a massive surprise next to quite a busy road!
Of course the day's star bird was of course this one. It was a delight to see her and she was so very proud of her RSPB credentials :-)
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| Beth - RSPB Saltholme - need I say more :-) |
