Hartlepool Headland and Swillington Ings. Monday 12th November 2018
What are the chances of a Pallid and Little Swift turning up together at the same spot in England? Give up, well they appeared together on Hartlepool Headland, County Durham on Sunday afternoon. Plans to witness this spectacle were put into place with Bob K, Kev C and myself leaving Rochdale at 6am. As we all know Swifts are notorious for leaving the area but the Little Swift had been seen going to roost on a house on the headland. After 1.5 hours driving the news broke that the Little Swift was still present and feeding over the headland, Bob K seemed to be going faster now. It wasnt long before we parked up and saw a modest crowd watching something flying about. We rushed to join the ranks of birders and there it was, a cracking Little Swift! It would come within 10 feet of you as it chased prey items around and it was a real pleasure just to watch the birds antics without the use of binoculars for a change. Photographing the bird did seem to be quite difficult though as the speed of the bird was quite fast. The bird began to range around the headland area and was not seen after about 11-00am. There were no sightings of the Pallid Swift in the area. We had a nice walk around the headland and met Rob Lambert, his wife and babe in arms recently returned from the Scilly Isles. Always good to have a chat to a proper northern lad from Bolton.
After contacting a birding friend of mine from Yorkshire for some information, we decided to call at a water treatment area near Swillington, Leeds. After searching from outside the gated area we finally saw a Water Pipit, it was hitching a ride on one of the arms that spread the water onto the filter beds. Brought back some happy memories of bird watching at various local treatment works. Lots of Pied Wagtails around also with a fly by Red Kite. We called in at Swillington Ings bird hide just as one of the members was opening up, we enjoyed a nice hour or so chatting away about various aspects of birding also seeing; - Bittern, Lapwing, Little Egret, Golden Plover, Dunlin, but not the hoped for Kingfisher. We all got home by 2-30pm after a good day out.
