Staying Local

On Wednesday 27th (a working day) I went to Swalecliffe after a text from Geoff alerting me to a little stint and a wryneck seen that morning.  I thought the twins would like to go twitching with grandad for an hour or so especially as there was a big play park on site as well.  Of course by the time we got there the stint was gone and the wryneck had flown into the unknown but as luck would have it the wryneck flew in and landed close to the marsh, a tick for the boys and over to the playpark! 

Today, 29th I did the local circuit again clocking a buzzard as I drove over the new roundabout leading to Wraik Hill where it was very quiet, the best being a chiffchaff. Down on the levels a marsh harrier and c.40 swallows and a dozen house martins were circling the Mt.Pleasant corner but the strong wind was keeping most things out of sight. On the seafront the tide was out but a wader count of 112 grey plovers and 27 egrets plus c.75 black-tailed godwits.  The plots had little to see except a kingfisher and a green woodpecker.

They are fearless

Further on by the Sportsman and just on the LNR, c.300 golden plovers flying west plus a stoat popped his head out of one of the rabbit holes behind the huts, too quick for the camera! Along by the wall, 3 wheatears and a whinchat flew out from the reedbed.

I returned late afternoon around 4pm to the Sportsman when the tide was in finding a sanderling with some ringed plover on the beach just in the LNR.

Sanderling

Back at Seasalter at the 'island' roost site I was playing around with the camera after seeing a You Tube demonstration of the video with the SX50. You can get great video at 100x and even 200x just but you can also take photos at the same time giving you full size pictures at 100x mag which could be very useful when getting a shot of a distant bird.   Here is an example;

The 'island' with herring gulls on it

Zoomed in to100x and a shot taken whilst videoing, full size, uncropped

The photos can only be jpegs and are a bit noisy at full size but certainly sharp enough to get an acceptable ID photographs. Must use the tripod next time as well!