The sun shone down as myself and
Brian arrived at Prestwick Carr with the owls gone it was quiet in terms of people but the air was alive with the sound of warbling, a lone kestrel flew high above searching for prey and within in a few minutes a Whitethroat, Grasshopper, Sedge and willow warbler could be heard vividly, with only the Whitethroat and Willow warblers giving a decent view, Orange-tip butterflys were in abundance, it was a "summers" day well the closest to one for a while! Swift swooped above and after speaking to
Peter (PC wanderings) informing us of whimbrel in the fields ahead, Soon they were above us calling aloud, not being able to gain accsess to the area above the sentry because of the army practicing hindered our chance of Redstart but a single female wheater was seen in one of the fields instead. Sitting having lunch on one of the bridges I looked up after hearing a "
buzz" in the air excepting a smaller cessna or something similar I instead found 1, then 2, then 3 De haviland Tiger moths flying in formation above, I've seen singles of this type in the air before but never 3 in formation, if it had been a fast jet I would have had no chance of getting a photo but due to the slow nature of the Tiger moth it gave a chance for me to get a photo, As I explained to Brian this is the aircraft my great Grandfather flew before moving onto larger aircraft such as De haviland Mosquito and other trainers.
After this we moved to the Rising Sun country park to look for Lesser whitethroat, We had no luck but get the normal birds and animals around, Reed bunting were in abundance and Kestrel and tern were visiable, We heard Blackcap singing, chiffchaff and lots of wrens. Moving onto the hill the sound of skylark and the odd linnet filled the air, The sky was perfect for landscape photography so I took advantage of it!
 |
| Willow Warbler |
 |
| Willow Warbler |
 |
| Willow Warbler |
 |
| Common Whitethroat |
 |
| Common Whitethroat |
 |
| Orange-Tip Butteryfly |
 |
| Orange-tip butterfly |
 |
| Orange-tip Butterfly |
 |
| Orange-tip Butterfly |
 |
| Orange-tip butterfly (Male) |
 |
G-AXBZ - Originally registered as A french
Aircraft it is now a british registered aircraft
Originally built in 1944 |
 |
| Rising sun -Tyne valley |
 |
| Rising Sun - tyne valley |
 |
| Rising sun - Tyne valley |
 |
| Someones cut off his antlers!!! |
 |
| "Its MY Fly, not yours!!!" |
 |
Since me and Brian were talking about Lancaster bombers
I thought I would include this Which I took
Last year (Not take at Prestwick or Rising sun!) |
"Red" as i call him looks a big pussycat without his antlers. Some lucky duck will have picked them up.
ReplyDeleteThose old aeroplanes are fantastic. My personal favourite is the iconic Spitty but they are all magnificent.
I was up at Prestwick between 5.45 and 9.00 this morning and all the way to the second sentry box but no Redstart or Tawny.
Really need to visit Prestwick, never have and I live in the North-East! No excuse really.
ReplyDeleteGreat Photos, Whitethroat never seem to show when i'm about!
Not often my birding gets upstaged by aircraft, but I have to say those Tiger Moths were very special and your family connections made it all the more interesting.
ReplyDeleteYour images, especially of the warblers are very good Sam.
Brian.
Nice mix of pics!
ReplyDelete