Super Display at St Marys

My little feeding station at work goes from strength to strength, especially since Carole did some homemade Suet Balls in Coconut Shells which I hung up on Friday morning and when I returned at Lunch Time there was a few people from work just standing watching about 10 Blue Tits trying to feed on them. Whenever I popped out this week there was always someone there who would ask me questions (thank god there not hard ones and I can recognise the birds that turn up)



There also seems to be an endless amount of Robins there also, at one stage I could see 6 individuals wandering around although most of them tend to feed off the ground along with the Dunnocks and Chaffinches. The Goldfinches dont come to the feeders although they tend to sit on the next lot of bushes and I hurl a few handfuls of seed toward the concrete block where they congregate and they then seem to peck around it.

Saturday morning off to Big Waters for a quick visit. Should have brought a pair of flippers and snorkel for John so he could get into the feeding station. The Swans were there when I opened the shutters and stayed for over 30 mins just feeding all around the Hide where the mud was 2 weeks ago.

Whilst being distracted by the family of swans a few of the birds on the lake did a quick noisy exit and then the Otter appeared. It was very close and within a few seconds was into the Reeds only about 5m away and just stared at us for about 30 Secs and then it was away also. We followed it through the reeds by the movement but it never came into view again.

This is where the waders used to congregate but now even the Little Grebe does a bit of diving for food and actually swam into the feeding station and had a look round for a few minutes this morning. I chose this pic for the blog because its the first time I have seen the Little Grebe out of the water.

In the Feeding Station there was quite a lot of activity with a pair of Bullfinches turning up although Daddy was the only one to stand in the little bit of light there was around.

A Dunnock came and sat about as close to the hide as you can get without actually coming in for a cuppa.

On the way out I stood for about 10mins listening to this Robin sing its little heart out. I actually took my pack off, sat down at the foot of the bush, took a couple of pics and listened to it sing.

Then went and picked up the wife with the intention of going to Hauxley and Linton but got distracted whilst having a wander through Dobbies then when we left the beloved mentioned she was a bit peckish (only midday) so we headed off to Sambucas in Blyth. A quick wander round the market then into Poundstretchers, couple of cheap feeders for work, then a lovely lunchtime special in Sambucas. It was 2.30pm by now so Hauxley was scrubbed and off we went for a 10min view of the Eiders in the Blyth then to St Marys. Now I have seen the Golden Plover and Lapwings do a few perforfmances there but todays was special they flew around together, separate, mixed bunches then joined back up then repeated the process. This went on for nearly 30 minutes and by this time there was quite a few people just standing and watching. Simply amazing is the only way I can describe it, no pics can do it justice, I doubt even a video could. The pic is just about the logistics of the thing and you will have to click on it to see the birds but bloody hell I would have paid money to see that.

Right now lets see what Mr Weatherman has to say about tomorrow and hopefully Mr Dickie Branston can stir his bloody staff up and fix my telephone (3 Days not working) and my TV on Demand (15 Days not working), I cant even ring up to complain (well I could with my mobile but the credit crunch wont allow me to take a second mortgage out to pay the bills) and emails to Virgin are an absolute joke.