So week 1 of my Wildlife Challenge is over, and its been a nice gentle start to the year. As I'm still officially on my festive break I obviously haven't been on property every day but I've still managed a couple of outings through the week to get the challenge up and running. On Sunday I had a couple of hours in Moorhouse Wood (see previous post), Monday walked the length of The Leas, Wednesday had a quick visit to Penshaw Monument and then Friday an hour in Whitburn Coastal Park. Wildlife wise, Penshaw was almost a complete wash out until, that is, on the way back to the car I completely fluked a Long Eared Owl coming out of the hedgerow and flying over my path! This was a cracking find and a complete bonus bird as it wasn't on my list of targets because we don't have a site that definitely have them. So I was very happy to see it! The other two outings were much better. The first saw me walking from the lighthouse, along The Leas to Trow Quarry and then back again. A lovely couple of hours in the winter sunshine along a gorgeous stretch of coast - what could be better! I managed to pick up a number of expected bird species like Skylarks and Pipits etc but the highlights were a lovely pair of Stonechats and a cracking Mediterranean Gull in amongst the more regular gulls. But the best species of the day wasn't a bird, it was a pair of Harbour Porpoise slowly heading south not too far out at sea. Always a delight to see. The last outing was an hour around the Coastal Park. It wasn't particularly planned, I'd had to take the car to the garage on the morning and as I had to pass on the way home I thought it'd be rude not to pop in! Again, it was a very relaxed stroll which saw me pick up more expected bird species, including the first Finches of the year. Best of the bunch though was a big bulky female Sparrowhawk gliding low overhead disturbing the various Pigeons from the nearby copse. The week closed with me reaching the first mini milestone of 50 different species. Hopefully there are a LOT more to come!
SPECIES LIST
26. Feral Pigeon - Columba livia
27. Kestrel - Falco tinnunculus
28. Fulmar - Fulmarus glacialis
29. Great Black Backed Gull - Larus marinus
30. Black Headed Gull - Chroicocephalus ridibundus
31. Starling - Sturnus vulgaris
32. Common Gull - Larus canus
33. Oystercatcher - Haematopus ostralegus
34. Skylark - Alauda arvensis
35. Turnstone - Arenaria interpres
36. Meadow Pipit - Anthus pratensis
37. Rock Pipit - Anthus petrosus
38. Red Throated Diver - Gavia stellata
39. Redshank - Tringa totanus
40. Stonechat - Saxicola rubicola
41. Mediterranean Gull - Larus melanocephalus
42. Cormorant - Phalacrocorax carbo
43. Common Eider - Somateria mollissima
44. Great Tit - Parus major
45. Long Eared Owl - Asio otus
46. Bullfinch - Pyrrhula pyrrhula
47. Chaffinch - Fringilla coelebs
48. Goldfinch - Carduelis carduelis
49. Greenfinch - Chloris chloris
50. House Sparrow - Passer domesticus
51. Redwing - Turdus iliacus
52. Sanderling - Calidris alba
53. Sparrowhawk - Accipiter nisus
54. Tree Sparrow - Passer montanus
55. Harbour Porpoise - Phocoena phocoena
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