Search This Blog

Thursday 14 August 2008

11-08-08 Black Stork

Word of Black Stork in the area at the weekend was good news but also bad news, I was tied up for the weekend , nothing to do with bondage as that's later in the year, a first aid course, I suppose I could have seen it if I had really put myself out. Monday morning the report of it back near Newburn and I was there within 45mins, but alas it was gone , hoping for it to return some of us hung around till the message Black Stork Clara Vale allotments, so a convoy of cars headed off , the allotments where eventually found but the bird had gone, talking to one of the gardeners he said the kids had hearded it to one side trying to catch it ,eventually it flew to the crest of a hill landed and then over the top , talking to someone else over the hill he said it seemed to go south , the consensus was it may have gone back to Greenside, so three car loads went off that way, I decided to have my lunch and see if it would be reported, after that and a look around the area, I decided to head home via Shibdon pond , leaving Clara Vale I passed a ploughed field glancing over it as I drove past the entrance I saw a large lump in the field (birder's technical term), turned around and parked in the gateway, there it was feeding as it walked across the field, "get in" I had refound it for myself ,Digiscoped a few shots in case it flew, then in the corner a very large tractor started up , the farmer must also have been for his lunch in the nearby farm, and was about to till the field , I flagged him as he was about to pass and told him about the Stork, a young Australian lad he couldn't give a Castle Maine four X about it, I asked if I could go around the field before he got there knowing it would take flight at the noise of the tractor , so I got a few shots before it flew , I again had it sometime later flying over , and I gather it returned to the field later that evening.
One annoying thing I sent in a text of it's location, but they only repeated the message from earlier?
Great bird and a good day out.
Black Stork with Crawcrook in the background

Large - very large wingspan
A couple of Woodpigeons looking on in awe at the size of this thing, as big as it was it could soon vanish from sight
A hide Spider, one of those that are always present when you open the shutter of a hide.
Common Darter, teneral male ?
Southern Hawker Male

No comments: