{"id":3672,"date":"2014-03-02T12:16:26","date_gmt":"2014-03-02T12:16:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ntbc.org.uk\/?p=3672"},"modified":"2014-03-02T18:40:48","modified_gmt":"2014-03-02T18:40:48","slug":"march-1st-skylarks-ravens-and-bramblings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ntbc.org.uk\/?p=3672","title":{"rendered":"March 1st 2014, Skylarks , Ravens and Bramblings."},"content":{"rendered":"

Linden Hall,early morning and a chorus of spring bird song led by 6 Song Thrushes in full flow,accompanied by Robins, Blackbirds, Chaffinches ,Great ,Blue ,and Coal tits, Goldcrests ,Nuthatches (3) and Treecreepers (2) and 2 Skylarks all in great voice. A perched Tawny Owl was\u00a0 less happy,being mobbed by Blackbirds and a pair of Jays .\u00a0 A few Fieldfares noted ,then around 2,000 Starlings flew over ,having left their overnight roost.<\/p>\n

At nearby Todburn ,my first singing Yellowhammer of the year\u00a0perched high in a tree and several others called from bush-tops. Here too 4-5 Skylarks were in full song and a pair of Lapwings were displaying on territory. Also here were 2 Bullfinches and more Fieldfares ,with a few Redwings. On up to Simonside and yet more Skylarks ,quite a difference from last year’s extremely cold March where birds were weeks late returning to territories.At least 15 birds were in song .\u00a0A pair of Jays here too ,then a cracking female Merlin flew west over the moor. Kestrel and Buzzard noted too. Great to see were 3 Stonechats ( 1 male) on their breeding grounds,still recovering from recent harsh winters.\u00a0with 2 female Reed Buntings and 12 or so Meadow Pipits. Red Grouse were very active ,with good numbers calling . At least 20 noted here.<\/p>\n

Over now to Harwood village,where the feeders were alive with birds. Perhaps 60 Chaffinches in the area,with Coal,Blue and Great\u00a0Tits ,Siskins and Greenfinches. At the Gibbet a splendid sight, as on the fell to the south a flock of Ravens tumbled and called together . I counted 9 birds,then later 2 others joined in flying over the road ,but hard to tell exact numbers ,as they dipped below view. One person\u00a0said he had seen 14! A couple of soaring Buzzards seen ,then a Peregrine headed over the moor.<\/p>\n

On down to Wallington next, and 25 Brambling were among the great many birds at the feeding station. These included Siskins, Redpolls, 20+ Coal Tits, over 50 Chaffinches, Marsh Tit,Treecreeper and Nuthatch. A Red Squirrel too put in an appearance. More Brambling noted at Bolam Lake and several Song Thrushes singing here. At Killingworth Lake a returning Great crested Grebe and the female Scaup remained with 3 Gooseanders and 11 Goldeneye,males of which were all calling and displaying. Water Rail calling at St. Marys to end a good day.<\/p>\n

A.S.Jack<\/p>\n\"Reed<\/a> \"Reed<\/a>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Linden Hall,early morning and a chorus of spring bird song led by 6 Song Thrushes in full flow,accompanied by Robins, Blackbirds, Chaffinches ,Great ,Blue ,and Coal tits, Goldcrests ,Nuthatches (3) and Treecreepers (2) and 2 Skylarks all in great voice. A perched Tawny Owl was\u00a0 less happy,being mobbed by Blackbirds and a pair of Jays […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-3672","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ntbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3672","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ntbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ntbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ntbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ntbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3672"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.ntbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3672\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3689,"href":"https:\/\/www.ntbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3672\/revisions\/3689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ntbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ntbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ntbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}