My Wednesday birding outings are largely on hold for now, for rather obvious reasons, but I decided to go for a short walk this afternoon as the weather wasn't too bad. As I had rather neglected Swannie Ponds this winter I decided to pop up there to see if I could find any ringed Gulls. I was undecided what the plan would be after spending a bit of time at the ponds but as always I would see where the mood took me. It was around 1335 when I headed out.
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| Redwing |
A Grey Wagtail on Clepington Road was a surprise find on the walk to the ponds. The ponds were surprisingly light on gulls with no Common or Black Headed Gulls around at all. There were a couple of Lesser Black Backeds and a maybe 8 or so Herring Gulls. A few Coots, Mallards and Tufted Ducks as well as a couple of Mute Swans were all I could conjure up there however. As there was no reason to linger I decided to pop into Baxter Park next. There is a small spring near the top end of the park with a wooden fence surrounding a relatively overgrown area circled with small bushes. (Having measure the area on Google Eath it is roughly 20 metres in diameter and is very loosely circular in shape).
As it is the only fresh water in the park it can be very good for seeing what the park has to offer and with patience a good variety can be seen, as was the case this time around. The best of the bunch was a Redwing and a Goldcrest, but the overall variety was surprisingly good with close views of a number of species, and some nice close views of a confiding Bank Vole as well. A few dog walkers stopped to chat and to see what I was photographing and the conversations did throw up some interesting information. A Sparrowhawk caused a bit of a panic despite being quite some distance away, though the bird's 'raptor' alarm calls alerted me to it being around. I headed for home via Swannie Ponds around 1615 but only added Starling on the walk back home. A decent enough afternoon with 28 species seen and some rather nice photos making it a worthwhile exercise.
Species seen - Home to/and Swannnie Ponds - Magpie, Herring Gull, Feral Pigeon, Carrion Crow, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Jackdaw, Grey Wagtail, Goldfinch, Woodpigeon, Mallard, Coot, Mute Swan, Tufted Duck.
Baxter Park and/to home - Blue Tit, Dunnock, Chaffinch, Great Tit, Blackbird, Song Thrush, Goldcrest, Wren, Robin, Redwing, Long Tailed Tit, House Sparrow, Greenfinch, Sparrowhawk, Starling.
Mammals seen - Bank Vole.
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| Blue Tit |
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| Feral Pigeon |
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| Dunnock |
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| Blue Tit |
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| Chaffinch |
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| Blue Tit |
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| Blue Tit |
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| Chaffinch |
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| Blue Tit |
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| Dunnock |
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| Blue Tit |
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| Chaffinch |
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| Dunnock |
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| Goldfinch |
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| Blue Tit |
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| Blue Tit |
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| Blackbird |
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| Blackbird |
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| Wren |
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| Wren |
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| Bank Vole |
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| Blackbird |
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| Blackbird |
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| Chaffinch |
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| Blackbird |
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| Robin |
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| Robin |
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| Chaffinch |
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| Song Thrush |
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| Song Thrush |
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| House Sparrow |
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| Bank Vole |
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| Bank Vole |
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| Great Tit |
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| Carrion Crow |
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| Greenfinch |
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| Greenfinch |
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| Woodpigeon |
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| Lesser Black Backed Gull |
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| Long Tailed Tit |
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| Long Tailed Tit |
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| Long Tailed Tit |
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| Greenfinch |
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| Long Tailed Tit |
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| Blackbird |
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| Blackbird |
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| Blackbird |
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| Blackbird |
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| Blackbird |
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| Blackbird |
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| Blackbird |
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| Goldcrest |
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| Goldcrest |
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| Lesser Black Backed Gull |
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| Herring Gull |
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| Mallard |
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| Coot |
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| Coot |
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| Mallard |
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| Mallard |
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| Mallard |
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| Herring Gull |
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| Herring Gull |
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| Mallard |
Species seen - Blackbird, Blue Tit, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Coot, Dunnock, Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Grey Wagtail, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Long Tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard, Mute Swan, Redwing, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Song Thrush, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Tufted Duck, Woodpigeon, Wren.
Mammals seen - Bank Vole.
