Captain's Log 

Garden And Saltholme Pool Hide

It was only 10:00 and the place seemed quite busy. Obviously the good weather had encouraged people to come out. I've noticed that the average age of the visitors to RSPB sites is probably around mid to late sixties. Unless there is a school trip you don't seem to see many young people about. Maybe it is selection bias because I only tend to visit sites on weekdays when kids are at school and younger adults are working. I hope that is the case.

As soon as you leave the Visitor's Centre you enter the 'garden' section of the site. This is a good place to see the small birds like finches and tits. There was an abundance of butterflies. I counted 10 Red Admirals on one Buddleia bush alone. Dragon and Damsel flies skittered about near the ponds. It was a great start to the Saltholme's trails. I decided to wander over to the Saltholme Pools hide first. The last time I was here (October 2022) they were building some wooden bridges over some pond areas. That is all finished now and they provide a good viewing platform on to the ponds. Once in the Saltholme Pools hide I watched a few Avocets wading around looking for food.The guy sat next to me mentioned to his mate that he hadn't seen the Peregrine yet. I've never actually seen one in the wild and I didn't see one today either.

Paddy's Pool Hide And Wildlife Watchpoint

Paddy's Pool hide was busy and all the windows slots were in use and so I had to sit on the bench at the back. Somebody soon departed and there was an undignified scramble to get their seat. I'm not proud of tripping people up and shoulder barging oaps out of the way, but sometimes needs must. There were a lot of birds on the lake but most of these were Canada Geese. Some Grebes were fishing but they didn't seem to find anything. It wasn't long before I decided to move on and there was a massive scramble for my seat.

I opened the door of the Wildlife Watchpoint hide and was met by a chorus of excited squeals and shouts. This was from a primary school party, rather than an oap outing. I figured that if any wildlife was around here, then they'd have been scared away long ago and so I rewound my entrance and continued along the trail.

The nearby ponds were buzzing with Dragon and Damsel flies. I spent a while trying to photo one in-flight, but gave up and went for the easier option of when they stopped for a rest. I went for a coffee in the cafe. It really is a tremendous view from there out on to the site. I'd be quite content to sit in there all day.

Greatham Creek

I drove the short distance from RSPB Saltholme to the carpark at Greatham Creek. The tide looked to be out and I couldn't see any seals from the hides along the road. I did see an Egret catch a small fish though and so the journey wasn't totally wasted. I crossed the road and headed off on the trail to the hide where Greatham Creek runs into the Seaton On Tees Channel. I saw the head of a seal momentarily appear in the creek and so I knew the seals must be around. On reaching the hide I was delighted to see lots of seals on the mudflats. They were resting and some seemed to be asleep.

On my return journey back along the trail to the road, a couple past me with a dog. When they were about 50 metres ahead of me the hound suddenly decided to bound off away from the owners. It jumped over the fence into the nature reserve and started chasing some sheep. Its owners called him back, but it completely ignored them. It was only when the 50 odd sheep ended up at the far end of the reserve, that the dog started returning to the owners. It was a good job the farmer hadn't been around.

I drove to the carpark at North Gare to check it out for a future walk. It is situated next to a chemical works. I parked up and got out of the car and was hit by an awful, overpowering smell that was emanating from the factory. It was that bad I thought I might have arrived after some sort of chemical spill. I could see a worker in the yard in full plastic gear, but he hadn't got a mask on and so I presumed it wasn't poisonous. The security card on the gate came out of his cabin and lit a cigarette and so whatever it was can't have been inflammable. I was only out of the car for a couple of minutes but it actually made me feel nauseous. I couldn't stand it any longer and so drove off. I'd have to find alternative parking arrangements.

Drink It All In

The site has a Visitors' Centre and it's well worth starting the day by having a pot of tea in the upstairs cafe and taking in the dramatic landscape through the huge glass windows. Nearby was the Middlesbrough Transporter Bridge with its bright blue girders. Over to its left were the white girders of the Riverside Stadium. Over to the right were cooling towers and three high structures that resembled windowless tower blocks. Everything seemed to have been built for function rather than aesthetics. Beyond these structures were the Cleveland Hills topped with thunder clouds. The distinctive profile of Roseberry Topping could clearly be seen. Pot of tea finished I set off to explore the reserve. 

An Incontinence Of Lesser Yellowlegs

My first port of call was the Saltholme Pools hide. There was about half a dozen people in there when I entered. The blackboard of today's sightings included 35 different birds. I sat there for half an hour and spotted only a dozen or so. I'm obviously no expert. One of the birders thought he could see a falcon. His mate looked through his scope and didn't sound too confident; he thought it might be a pigeon. Maybe I wasn't the only amateur here. I looked where they were looking but couldn't see any raptors or pigeons.

I wandered around to the Paddy's Pool hide. I chatted to a local birder in there. He rattled off what he'd seen today. I think he was wanting me to rattle off my spots too, but I'm afraid he was disappointed. He confirmed that there were falcons here and that they nested in the towers. I presume he meant the cooling towers or one of those other tall industrial structures surrounding the area. He was quite excited about a Lesser Yellowlegs he'd spotted in a nearby pool. These birds are apparently very rare. He told me where to look for it, but then couldn't resist following me over there to have another look for himself. It wasn't there, of course. I looked it up when I got home and found that a group of them is called an 'incontinence' of Lesser Yellowlegs. 

Wilderness Trail

The weather seemed to be clearing up and so I decided to venture out on to the Wilderness Trail. The RSPB's trail map describes it as 'not for the faint hearted', and that sounded just to good to avoid. In reality, the only part that got my heart beating a little faster was having to walk around some young, frisky looking cattle. I did see a large raptor flying over the marshes. It had a distinctive white head and I think it was a female Marsh Harrier. I got a good view of a Little Egret at the Wildlife Watchpoint hide. It was walking slowly towards me into a perfect photo spot and then another Egret flew in behind it and chased it off. Back at the Visitor Centre I had another pot of tea and a muffin. I could sit there all day and watch that view out of the window. 

Greatham Creek

Just over a mile up the road from Saltholme is Greatham Creek. Grey, Harbour and Common Seals swim up there and rest on the mud flats. A couple of viewing areas have been built, with the better one being near the road bridge. I saw maybe 20 or so seals on the mud flats and a few others swimming. I crossed the A178 and followed the river eastwards towards the sea. I was still surrounded by huge industrial complexes. The scale of It was hard to comprehend. A large offshore wind turbine company had stacked some of the massive towers so that they looked like skittles. There was a smell of coal tar and burnt plastic in the air. A seal swam along the river as though it was the most natural place to swim in the world. There were a couple of hides along the trail, but their sighting boards were blank. A huge, dark cloud covered the sun and cast everything into shade. The place looked much more menacing now, and I made my way back to the car. 

RSPB Saltholme is a remarkable place. With so much industry about you'd think it would be the most improbable place to support wildlife, and yet it seems to thrive. Hopefully when I return, I'll be able to see an incontinence of Lesser Yellowlegs.