Wednesday 15 April 2020

Lockdown Birding ... a slow tour on foot from home ... Willow Warblers in profusion ...

With the current restrictions on travel my birding is limited to the area here in the North Pennines ... what is never a problem here is social distancing ... it is very easy to remain 200m from any other person almost all of the time ...

The recent days have seen Willow Warblers flooding into every little copse and upland spinney ... the small wood at Clesketts had at least four singing males yesterday ...


... darting as they did among the largely leafless branches ...

A pair of Stonechats perched obligingly on some fence and gate posts ...


... with colour rings it should be possible to determine whether this is a breeding pair ( rather than a pair that have wintered together - often a different pairing, apparently )







On Tindale Tarn a pair of Teal were close to the viewing screen but took flight  immediately ...



... all the other birds on the tarn were typically distant ... two Great Black-backed Gulls were soon joined by two lesser Black-backed Gulls ... one an apparent second-summer bird ...



... slightly closer were two pairs of Common Gull, one occupying the recently built-up island which will hopefully not become flooded over as is so often the case here ...


... any hopes of a White Wagtail soon faded but this Pied Wagtail was at least not too distant ...           ( without carrying a 'scope while travelling on foot has its drawbacks ! ) ...


... and a nice male Wheatear was equally obliging ...




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