Three Day Trip

Over the May Weekend, I led a RSPB Glasgow Local Group outing to Northumberland & Cleveland. We left Glasgow on Saturday 25 May 2013 and arrived in the Druridge Bay area approximately 2 hours later. We spent most of the day exploring the various nature reserves that can be found there.............

 

We visited all four Reserves shown above spending most time at East Chevington NR

 

East Chevington (north pool)

 

........where we saw numerous wildfowl plus Common & Sandwich Tern, Little Gull and Marsh Harrier. We also spent some time at the other 3 Reserves.................................

 

Druridge Pools

Cresswell Pond

 

Hauxley NR

 

adding waders, warblers and wildfowl to our growing list which by the end of the day had reached c65 species.

 

On Sunday 26th we started at Dorman's Pool (now part of the RSPB Saltholme Reserve)

 

Dorman's Pool

 

...before moving on to view Saltholme West Pool from the A178 (the Reserve proper doesn't open until 10am).......................

 

Saltholme West Pool

 

At 10.30am we made our way to the impressive Visitor Centre. .......

 

RSPB Saltholme Visitor Centre & Main Pool

 

Here we met local volunteer  Lockhart Horsburgh and he gave us an excellent briefing about the Reserve and what we might see and where. His information was spot on and we all got to see 'our target birds' - Little Ringed Plover, Yellow Wagtail.......................

 

 

 

..Garganey...................................................

 

 

and Wood Sandpiper.................

 

 

We also enjoyed a series of wood sculptures..................

 

 

and views of birds such as Little Egret, Reed Warbler, Sedge Warbler and Reed Bunting.......................

 

 

Having spent c5 hours at Saltholme we headed for the nearby Cowpen Bewley Woodland Park ...........

 

 

.............where we were reliably informed we would be able to hear and perhaps even see a Nightingale! Whilst we were all pleased to hear the bird we did not manage even a glimpse, so here is a photo of the clump of trees/bushes it was singing from!

 

 

Having left the woodland we made the short journey to Hartlepool Headland where we added Little Tern and Red-throated Diver to our growing list of c90 species.

 

On the Monday morning we left our excellent Premier Inn and headed northwards to Holy Isle. Unfortunately, the sunshine and warmth of the previous two days was replaced by overcast and windy conditions, not conducive to photography!

 

We arrived c11am and started at the Snook.....................

 

 

.........here we added Wheatear to our list and it was good to see good numbers of Skylark in the area. From here we drove to the main car park which despite the weather was almost full. We walked around the island adding a few species such as Shag and Gannet. However, with the tide due to cut the island off from the mainland at 14.50hrs we decided to leave in good time and headed back to Glasgow via Musselburgh.

 

By the end of the trip the Group had seen 100 species, although of course no one saw or heard everything.

 

My thanks go to the other 14 on the trip especially Agnes, Karen, Peter and Alan who volunteered to do all the driving. Hopefully, everyone had a good time!