Monday 22 April 2024

The First Adventure with Baker's New Buggy!

 

Our little man is now 11 years old. He'll turn 12 in August and he's been noticeably aging for a while now. He hasn't gone on many walks in recent years for many different reasons but those we do take him on can't be far at all. So, what with taking him on his annual camping holiday in a few months we decided to invest in a buggy so that we can do some longer walks and he can just lie down the majority of the time! 

He was surprisingly interested in it in the house and was happy enough to get in and be pushed around the living room, but before we go away on holiday we wanted to have a practice run or two outside. 
So on the 16th, we popped the buggy out and had a 4-mile round trip to one of our local favourite areas. Here are some photos from that walk.





















When we got to St Paul's Monastery, we got Baker out so he could stretch his legs and have a good sniff! We walked around the church grounds for about 20 minutes before he hopped back in for a ride up the hill to The Hive to pick up some vegan goodies to take home! 
There weren't actually many birds around that day, however, it ended up being lovely and sunny with lots of Spring flowers and before we'd left on our walk I spotted a Blackcap in the trees across the round from our house! 
Anyway, Baker did really well in his buggy. I haven't really seen any big dog buggies, though small dog ones do seem more popular. I felt like it did draw a little attention which of course I hate but I have to try not to care. He did bark at a couple of dogs but he gets a lot more upset when he's just walking so it feels a little bit safer to have him 'enclosed' and where no dogs can get to him. Hopefully, it's going to get a lot more use and be a big help on his camping holiday. 


Monday 15 April 2024

The Birds of 2024 // March

 

We're in the 4th year of sharing my birdy photos, though technically 2024's images are year 5, as usually I post the previous year's photos each quarter however this year I am posting each month in the following month!
I can't believe it's been 5 years of taking notice of my species' photographed! I don't know who, if anyone, cares about these types of posts and I understand that birding, on the whole, is vastly dominated by middle to older-aged males who probably aren't reading a 30-something female's blog! However, as with everything, I love to have this all here to look back on myself. 

That being said, here are March 2024's bird photos!




Photos taken at home - 1st March
Dunnock










Photos taken at home - 3rd March 
Collared Dove
Starling
Blackbird 
Goldfinch
Rock Dove














Photos taken at Washington Wetlands - 8th March
Mallard
Pheasant
Greenfinch
Stock Dove
Chaffinch
Siskin
Goldfinch
Greylag Goose
Shelduck
Herring Gull
Grey Heron
Canada Goose
Lapwing





Taken at home - 9th March
Long Tailed Tit












Taken at St Abbs Head - 11th March
Grey Wagtail
Herring Gull
Fulmar
Shag
Oystercatcher
Rock Pipit
Carrion Crow
Rock Dove
Dunnock
Rook








Photos taken at home - 18th March
Starling
Herring Gull
Wood Pigeon
Rock Dove








Photos taken at Nose's Point, Seaham - 19th March
Chiffchaff
Oystercatcher
Eider Duck












Photos taken at Watergate Forest Park - 21st March 
Wood Pigeon
Blackbird
Mallard
Tufted Duck
Coot
Moor Hen
Mute Swan
Carrion Crow





Taken at home - 22nd March
Blue Tit
House Sparrow




Taken at Home - 23rd March
Robin


















Taken at Washington Wetlands - 27th March
Greylag Goose
Wood Pigeon
Oystercatcher
Avocet
Canada Goose
Lesser Black-Backed Gull
Teal
Shoveler
Red Shank
Mute Swan
Chaffinch
Blue Tit
Long Tailed Tit
Nuthatch
Siskin
Gadwall




Taken at home - 31st March
Starling


---

Two months into the year and my birds photographed total was 42! I was pretty happy with that but then adding a whole 17 more to that in March alone?! Wow! I'm over the moon. It's such a special feeling to spend time with birds and so exciting when photographing one you haven't before, or haven't for a long time. Heck, even those I photograph all the time (like our daily visitors - Pigeons, Starlings, Blue Tits etc) I love too. 
I've no idea how April will go with such a huge chunk of it blacked out when we stay home during the school holiday - but hopefully, we'll get at least some photos...


Check out previous year's 'The Birds of...' posts below.
The Birds of 2023! // January - March
The Birds of 2023! // April - June
The Birds of 2022!
The Birds of 2021!
The Birds of 2020!


The current species list for 2024, in alphabetical order, is:

Avocet
Blackbird 
Black-headed Gull
Bluetit 
Bullfinch
Canada Goose
Carrion Crow
Chaffinch
Chiffchaff
Coal Tit
Collared Dove 
Coot
Cormorant
Curlew
Dunnock 
Eider Duck
Fulmar
Gadwall
Goldeneye
Goldfinch
Grey Heron
Grey Wagtail
Greylag Goose
Great Black Backed Gull
Great Tit
Greenfinch
Herring Gull 
House Sparrow 
Jay
Kestrel
Kingfisher
Lapwing
Lesser Black-Backed Gull
Long-tailed Tit
Magpie 
Mallard
Moor Hen
Mute Swan
Nuthatch
Oystercatcher 
Pheasant
Pink-footed Goose
Red Shank
Robin 
Rock Dove 
Rock Pipit
Rook
Shag
Shelduck
Shoveler
Siskin
Starling 
Stock Dove
Teal
Tree Creeper
Tufted Duck
Velvet Scoter
Water Rail
Woodpigeon 

Annual total - 59