{"id":5869,"date":"2015-07-13T16:00:41","date_gmt":"2015-07-13T16:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ntbc.org.uk\/?p=5869"},"modified":"2015-07-14T08:39:05","modified_gmt":"2015-07-14T08:39:05","slug":"western-uplands-via-whittle-denejuly-11th","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ntbc.org.uk\/?p=5869","title":{"rendered":"Western uplands via Whittle Dene, July 11th 2015"},"content":{"rendered":"

Arriving at Whittle Dene, the early morning sunshine at the coast had all but disappeared under a shroud of drizzle and low cloud. Fortunately, later this cleared into a fine,though breezy day. Common Terns were very much in evidence here, with 23 birds counted,four-five pairs having young on a floating,perspex walled island. Two Yellow Wagtails noted as they called and a Great crested Grebe swam out on one of the reservoirs, a Little Grebe called. Two Skylarks sang over the fields nearby, perhaps the last time I will hear their song this year,a s most have\u00a0\u00a0ceased. Sedge Warblers were still very vocal, with four heard here. Swallows and Sand Martins noisily\u00a0mobbed a passing female Sparrowhawk as a Heron fished, unconcerned.<\/p>\n

On westward, I headed for the Blanchland area, where the moors were now strangely quiet save for the odd Curlew call. Much of the local breeding Lapwing population had gathered in a flock now in one field, 82 birds counted,including large young. A few Oystercatchers with them and four Curlews. A few alarm calls from the Lapwings as a Red Kite soared overhead and right over the nearby village roofs. Later, a second\u00a0Red Kite\u00a0was cautiously feeding at a road kill lamb, and a further 33 Lapwings noted on the moor. A Kestrel and Buzzard seen here too. Then another moor, and the sound of displaying Golden Plover, with 7 or 8 heard. A pair were next to the road, alarm calling as two small young hid in the heather. Fantastic, close views were had as I remained in the car.\u00a0Red Grouse were common here, with an adult\u00a0 with 3 large young birds very close to the car,giving great views and then\u00a0an adult female\u00a0with six young, smaller this time,\u00a0in close attendance.<\/p>\n

In Blanchland village,screaming parties of Swifts,birds swooping into nest holes on the old buildings,\u00a0Swallows and House Martins gathering mud and\u00a0young lined up to be fed on wires, Spotted Flycatcher and several Grey Wagtails all\u00a0made for good birding.<\/p>\n

A.S.Jack<\/p>\n\"IMG_8633\"<\/a> \"IMG_8367\"<\/a> \"IMG_8800\"<\/a> \"IMG_8856\"<\/a> \"IMG_9070\"<\/a>\"IMG_8850\"<\/a>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Arriving at Whittle Dene, the early morning sunshine at the coast had all but disappeared under a shroud of drizzle and low cloud. Fortunately, later this cleared into a fine,though breezy day. Common Terns were very much in evidence here, with 23 birds counted,four-five pairs having young on a floating,perspex walled island. Two Yellow Wagtails […]<\/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-5869","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\/5869","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=5869"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.ntbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5869\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5882,"href":"https:\/\/www.ntbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5869\/revisions\/5882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ntbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ntbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ntbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}