I'm not a particularly big fan of Christmas. I enjoy the time off work, but for me the day itself is a day for kids to enjoy and it is a long time since I qualified for that category. I much prefer to get out birding on 25th of December (weather permitting), knowing that there will generally be fewer people around. Often I will do a trial run of my planned route for the 1st of January to see how many species I might be able to get and my plan for Christmas Day 2021 was to do just that. However, just like many other days over the past few years, my enthusiasm to get out of bed and get outside into what was a cold, windy, winter day was rather lacking. It was almost 1000 when I got up out of bed and around 1100 when I started to get organised to actually venture out somewhere.
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Red Breasted Merganser
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I knew I didn't have either the energy or the enthusiasm to attempt the probable New Year's Day route and with the shortened daylight hours there seemed little point in attempting to go too far anyway. I decided to go for a walk round a few of the sites that are within a mile or so of home and see if I could stumble upon something interesting along the way. I headed out eventually at 1145. Herring Gull, Feral Pigeon, Woodpigeon, Starling, House Sparrow, Blue Tit, Magpie and Carrion Crow made for a productive walk to Clepington Road. There was a rather cold wind blowing however, which made it feel a bit colder than even the weather forecast had suggested it would be.
I detoured along Mains Terrace once again noting a Blackbird, a Black Headed Gull and a Jackdaw. Swannie Ponds were much as expected with Mallard, Tufted Duck, Coot, Mute Swan, Black Headed Gulls and Herring Gulls seen there. There were a lot of larger whitish feathers around on the banking at the top pond which suggested that one of the cygnets hadn't fared too well in recent days. With the Black Headed Gulls mostly favouring the water, there was little chance to check for rings. I did notice that there were a lot of Tufted Ducks (somewhere around 30) on the ponds, which may well be about the highest total I've seen there. There was no sign of any Moorhens and it appears that the usual winter Goosanders have yet to arrive this year.
I then wandered down into Baxter Park to check Spring Grove. There were a few Blue Tits around but it seemed very quiet compared to my previous stop there. A few Chaffinches, a Greenfinch and a Dunnock were seen but there didn't appear to be much point in lingering for any length of time. I heard a Redwing as I headed for the eastern gate. Just as I was about to leave the park I noticed that there were actually a few Redwings eating berries in the tree at the gate. Out came the camera but not before the tree had emptied of the thrushes, leaving a solitary Goldfinch for me to get a photo of.
A Robin and a Coal Tit were heard as I walked down the street that runs parallel with the park. I debated heading to Eastern Cemetery but chose to try City Quay first, with the option of wandering along the cycle path from there to Stannergate then up to the Cemetery on my walk home. I reached City Quay around an hour after having left home. There was a trio of Red Breasted Merganser in the outer section, a drake and what appeared to be a pair of youngsters. I found a second drake in the channel between the outer and inner quay where the original trio took flight when they spotted me.
There were a couple of Cormorants (one of which looked to be a Sinensis bird) in the quay opposite the Unicorn and a second drake Red Breasted Merganser appeared beside the lone bird seen earlier. A Common Gull flew over towards the river. An Oystercatcher was seen on the small wrecked jetty behind the Unicorn. I checked the river but found only a few more Red Breasted Mergansers, Black Headed Gulls, Herring Gulls and Cormorants around. I wandered along to the V&A before trying Slessor gardens for Pied Wagtail - one of which flew past me. I decided to call it a day and headed for home having seen or heard a total of 27 species in just over 2 hours. Not the greatest haul for Christmas Day but it did get me out and about. Just three more birding days left of 2021.....
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| Goldfinch |
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Red Breasted Merganser
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| Red Breasted Merganser |
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| Red Breasted Merganser |
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| Red Breasted Merganser |
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| Red Breasted Merganser |
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| Red Breasted Merganser |
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| Red Breasted Merganser |
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| Red Breasted Merganser |
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| Red Breasted Merganser |
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| Red Breasted Merganser |
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| Cormorant |
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| Cormorant |
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| Cormorant |
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| Cormorant |
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Cormorant (Sinensis)
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| Cormorant |
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| Red Breasted Merganser |
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| Red Breasted Merganser |
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| Oystercatcher |
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| Oystercatcher |
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| Oystercatcher |
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| Red Breasted Merganser |
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| Red Breasted Merganser |
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| Red Breasted Merganser |
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| Red Breasted Merganser |
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| Red Breasted Merganser |
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Black Headed Gull
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Black Headed Gull
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Black Headed Gull
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Black Headed Gull
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Herring Gull
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Herring Gull
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Herring Gull
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Black Headed Gull
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Black Headed Gull
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| Cormorant |
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| Cormorant |
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Black Headed Gull
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Herring Gull
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Birds - Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Common Gull, Coot, Cormorant, Dunnock, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Magpie, Mallard, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Red Breasted Merganser, Redwing, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Starling, Tufted Duck, Woodpigeon.