Thursday 30 June 2011

Crimdon Little Tern Site

Morning, had a visit to the Little Tern site at Crimdon yesterday with my son. It's not far from my house and the weather was fine so thought it would be nice to see how the birds are progressing. We took my sons fishing net and firstly went to the Dene mouth that's on the beach. This is where on of the massive denes in this area meet the sea. So fresh water meets sea water when the tide comes in. We managed to catch some small Stickle Backs and some Tadpoles, both must be able to adapt to both kinds of water when tide comes in?? We then stood between the sea edge and the fenced off site and watched the Little Terns fly backwards and forwards with small fish in their mouth to feed their young. Their nests are basically the sand, nestled between the pebbles and camouflaged very well. Also within the site are Ringed Plovers who also use the same method of nesting. The Polvers made several efforts to dive bomb us, even though we were at least 25m away from the fence. The site is quite big and fenced off with a 5 or 6 foot fence which is erected in May when the birds arrive from a long flight from the west coast of Africa. We walked back up the bank to the wardens box, this is a special hut specifically erected to house volunteer wardens who watch the site, these birds are rare and it's a £2,500 fine if you disturb them. As I spoke to the wardens a male Kestrel made an attempt to enter the air space above the site, he was quickly moved on by 2 male Terns with a arial attack.
Over 60 pairs have arrived this year, vast improvement on last year as only 22 pairs arrived but only a hand full of chicks survived after attacks from Kestrel, Gulls and Crows. This year has been a lot better and the site was a hive of activitey which is a nice sight.
Also my son was keen to show me a small dune full of 6 Spot Burnet moths which had hundreds of Cocoons ready to hatch, beautiful little moths with striking red dots on their wings. My son wanted to stay and watch the cocoons open but I told him we didnt have time ha. On route home we saw one of the Little Owls perched on telegraph pole, no camera and no girlfriend to take photo grrrrrr!!

Tuesday 28 June 2011

Just a test

This is just a test Blog to see if it's all working as it should. Using Apple iPad and phone son things normally work different on that equipment sometimes.

Monday 27 June 2011

Starting my Blog

Hi, very new to Blogs so bear with me, might be a few alterations and a lot of spelling mistakes.  Basically my girlfriend (wife to be) Kelly have set our hearts on 'bagging' all 214 Wainwrights hopefully before i'm 50 years old.  We generally camp out on our travels, occassionally the odd stay at a B&B when we feel extravagant.  How favourite mountain is Skiddaw for a couple of reasons.  Kelly used to be in the Haswell Company of the Church Lad's and Church Girl's Brigade, they used to camp at the foot of the Purple Headed mountain at Braithwaite Village hall.  She used to see the mass every morning and used to determine the days weather by the cloud cover on Skiddaw. 
Strangely i had never been to the lakes ever in my life and it was Kelly (Kel) who introduced me to the experience.  I have never looked back, i can't get enough of the Lake District now and we both head over every chance we get when shifts allow.
We do 'dabble' in climbing too, spend hours at Scugdale in North Yorkshire at the craggs there and are members of 'Rock Antics' climbing wall in Newton Aycliffe.  Not E6 standard but love the climb.
Anyway, hope you enjoy.