A Little Wander at St Mary's Island Wetland Reserve

 

On the 27th of May, we found ourselves on the other side of the tunnel and so decided a visit to St Mary's Island Wetland Reserve was well overdue. We were very lucky to see 22 species of birds, a few large white butterflies and a bee or two. Unluckily, our walk was cut short after an hour, as when we approached the causeway to the lighthouse, we realised that the kids were on holiday from school (yet again!) and instead got in the car to head home, stopping only for some chips.

Here are the photos I took. 

The Birds of 2025 - April

At this stage, is there any point in saying much? It's year 6 of keeping count of all the beautiful birds I'm lucky enough to photograph and I can't stop now! Last year I surpassed my goal and photographed 101 species all within the North East of England alone. I'm not sure if I'll beat that impressive number in 2025 but I'm happy to try. Here is what I photographed in April!

Taken 2nd April - At Home
Rock Dove

Taken 7th April - At Home
Blackbird
Wood Pigeon

Taken 10th April - At Marie Curie Hospice, Newcastle
Chaffinch

Taken 18th April - At Home
Great Tit
Long Tailed Tit
Carrion Crow

Taken 19th April - At Home
Blackbird
Goldfinch

Taken 20th April - At Home
Wren
Jackdaw
Rock Dove
Dunnock
Great Tit
Herring Gull
Magpie

Taken 22nd April - Berwick 
Collared Dove
Mute Swan
Redshank
House Sparrow
Sandwich Tern
Herring Gull
Cormorant
Eider
Wood Pigeon
Linnet
Meadow Pipit
Swallow
Rock Dove

Taken 28th April - At Home
Wood Pigeon

Taken 30th April - At Home
Blackbird
House Sparrow
Starling
Blue Tit
Robin

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Thank goodness for our Earth Day walk. Without it, I'd have missed out on the majority of this month's new sightings! Adding 7 to the annual total, I've finally tipped over the 50 mark, which is exciting. All this without any visits to a WWT site too...more on that another time though. May is a busy month for me with our holiday and such, so I have no expectations when it comes to birding and if I can even add one species to the yearly list, I'll be happy. 

Annual Total - 

Blackbird
Black Headed Gull
Blue Tit
Bullfinch
Canada Goose
Carrion Crow
Chaffinch
Coal Tit
Collared Dove
Common Pochard

Coot
Cormorant

Curlew

Dunnock
Eider

Goldeneye

Goldfinch

Great Tit
Great Spotted Woodpecker

Greenfinch

Greylag Goose

Herring Gull

House Sparrow
Jackdaw

Kestrel

Lapwing
Linnet

Long Tailed Tit

Magpie
Mallard

Meadow Pipit

Mute Swan

Nuthatch
Pink-footed Goose

Phesant

Reed Bunting
Redshank

Robin

Rock Dove
Rook

Sandwich Tern

Shelduck

Shoveler

Song Thrush

Sparrowhawk

Starling

Stock Dove

Stonechat
Swallow

Tufted Duck

Wigeon

Wood Pigeon
Wren

Total - 53


Monthly (New Spotting) Total
January - 29
February - 11
March - 6
April - 7