Durham Bird Club's Castle Lake Nature Reserve

Sunday 28 September 2014

Sunday 28th September 2014

Today's sightings included the following;

Castle Lake - 53 Wigeon, 2 Great Crested Grebe, 12 Cormorant, 1 Little Egret, female Sparrowhawk, 1 Kestrel carrying prey, 20 Golden Plover flew over, 200 Lapwing, 6 Ruff, 4 Dunlin, 2 Snipe, 1 Redshank, 1 Greenshank, 2 Green Sandpiper, 200 Black-headed Gull, 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull, c50 Pied Wagtail, 1 Yellow Wagtail and 80 Linnet.

Stoneybeck Lake - 20 Teal, 1 Cormorant, 100 Lapwing and 3 Snipe.

Tuesday 23 September 2014

Tuesday 23rd September 2014

Today's sightings from John Olley and myself.

Castle Lake - 35 Wigeon, 9 Shoveler, 2 Great Crested Grebe (one adult and a well grown juvenile), 14 Cormorant (quite probably a new site record), 4 Little Egret, 4 Grey Heron, 2 Kestrel, 1 Sparrowhawk, 100 Lapwing, 170 Golden Plover, 6 Ruff, 2 Dunlin, 3 Snipe, 16 Curlew, 1 Spotted Redshank, 1 Redshank, 1 Greenshank, 3 Green Sandpiper, c250 Black-headed Gull, 12 Skylark, 6 Swallow, 56 Meadow Pipit, 39 Pied Wagtail and 2 Yellow Wagtail.

Low Hardwick - 1 Buzzard, 1 Kestrel and a singing Chiffchaff.

A1 Flashes - 6 Black-tailed Godwit.

Record picture of today's highlight, the Spotted Redshank at Castle Lake, one of an excellent eleven species of wader on offer today.

Sunday 14 September 2014

Sunday 14th September 2014

Sightings for today from John Olley, Joe Hughes and myself.

Castle Lake and A1 Flashes - 2 Black-tailed Godwit, 3 juvenile Little Stint, 3 Ruff, 200 Curlew, 2 Greenshank, 8 Green Sandpiper, 400 Lapwing, 1 Dunlin, 40 Wigeon, 60 Teal, 1 Little Egret, 120 Linnet, 40 Pied Wagtail, 1 White Wagtail, 200 Swallow, 20 Meadow Pipit, 1 Kestrel, 1 Great Crested Grebe, 6 Mistle Thrush and 250 Black-headed Gull.

Stoneybeck Lake - 2 Wigeon, 2 Shoveler and 3 Lesser Black-backed Gull.

Poor record shot of one of today's three juvenile Little Stint at Castle Lake.

Monday 8 September 2014

Monday 8th September 2014

Sightings for today;

Mute Swan  Quite a few around again today including seven in flight together over Low Hardwick heading towards Hardwick Hall and three well grown cygnets on Fishburn Lake.

Shelduck  One juvenile at Stoneybeck Lake.

Wigeon  Nine at Castle Lake and unusually a single on Fishburn Lake.

Great Crested Grebe  one in non-breeding plumage on Castle Lake.

Cormorant  six at Castle Lake including three which flew in together from the north.

Little Egret  at least five today either on Castle Lake or on the River Stell.

Common Buzzard  one seen on two separate occasions over the A1 flashes.

Sparrowhawk  three separate sightings of probably two different birds.

Kestrel  two together at the southern end of Castle Lake.

Hobby  one mobbed by Crow's before heading to Low Hardwick and seen to catch insects in flight whilst being mobbed by Swallow's at 11:50.

Lapwing  at least 500 in the general area.

Ruff  three at Castle Lake.

Black-tailed Godwit  still eleven on the A1 flashes, nine of which made a brief visit to Castle Lake.

Curlew  sixty-five on the A1 flashes.

Green Sandpiper  two at Castle Lake and another on flash next to the footpath leading to Fishburn Lake.

Common Sandpiper  a late individual at Castle Lake.

Kingfisher  two separate sightings including one at Castle Lake.

Swallow  still over one hundred seen today, mostly around Castle Lake.

Yellow Wagtail  one flew south calling just south of Castle Lake.

Grey Wagtail  two adults together chasing a Sparrowhawk(!) near Fishburn Lake.

Chiffchaff  a few still around including two singing near Fishburn Lake.

Other birds seen or heard today included Shoveler, Teal, Little Grebe, Grey Heron, Snipe, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Skylark, House Martin, Sand Martin, Whitethroat, Coal Tit, Treecreeper, Jay, Tree Sparrow and Bullfinch.



Thursday 4 September 2014

Thursday 4th September 2014

A few sightings today with thanks to Joe Hughes.

Castle Lake - 2 Dunlin, 2 Green Sandpiper, 1 Common Sandpiper, 1 Yellow Wagtail and a Marsh Harrier.

Tuesday 2 September 2014

Tuesday 2nd September 2014

Today's sightings;

Stoneybeck Lake - 1 juvenile Shelduck, 1 Common Buzzard, 1 Sparrowhawk.

Castle Lake - 3 Wigeon, 2 Garganey, 3 Cormorant, 3 Little Egret, 1 Hobby @13:45 over the south-west corner then flew high to the south-west, 1 Kestrel, 1 Oystercatcher (late record), 1 Little Ringed Plover, 400 Lapwing, 2 Ruff, 2 Dunlin, 4 Green Sandpiper, 1 Common Sandpiper, 9 Lesser Black-backed Gull (8 adults), 1 Common Whitethroat and 100 Linnet.

Alan's Pool - 2 Little Grebe, 1 Greenshank and 1 Sedge Warbler.

A1 Flashes - 1 Ruff, 11 Black-tailed Godwit and 2 Common Sandpiper.

Monday 1 September 2014

Monday 1st September 2014

Catching up with recent sightings with thanks to Joe Hughes and John Olley.

Friday 29th August 2014
Castle Lake - 2 Little Egret, 2 Common Sandpiper, 2 Green Sandpiper, 8 Dunlin, 1 Greenshank, 1 Ruff, 65 Curlew, 1 Corn Bunting.

Sunday 31st August 2014
Castle Lake - 6 Green Sandpiper, 3 Little Egret, 1 Common Sandpiper.

Monday 1st September 2014
Castle Lake - 1 Spotted Redshank, 2 Ruff, 2 Dunlin, 1 Black-tailed Godwit, 2 Common Sandpiper, 5 Green Sandpiper, 600 Lapwing, 1 Little Egret, 34 Teal, 24 Little Grebe, 300 Black-headed Gull.