Unusual Suspects

Wednesdays ' commute home from work was abnormal, with a diversion to Ryhope to see the Scop's Owl that had been found earlier in the day. Armed with only my iPhone, I was dependant upon others generosity to view through optics...

Great view all considering, and perhaps a venture back should the owl remain.

Nearer home, on the return journey, another unanticipated bird - a nightjar - at St Mary's. Still without any optics of my own, other folks Scope's were put to use, even though the subject was roosting a mere few feet away!

Saturday saw a trip north - this time armed with camera and scope...

Goswick GC has held an obliging immature Long-tailed Skua this week - and some crippling views were obtained. Seems this bird has taken a fancy to try and eat golf balls - pecking furiously! Yellow-browed Warbler also present.

The return journey saw a pit stop at Stag Rocks, where only one of the Black Terns was picked up offshore - thankfully for me it was the White-winged.

Another WWBT...

Final blog image from yesterdays enjoyable session with the juvenile white-winged black tern at Cresswell Pond... very white underparts on this species at this age.

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It seems that blogger now allows images to be posted at original size, permitting better presentation of .jpgs ~ hopefully this autumn will give plenty of opportunity for scarce and rare bird photography.

White-winged Black Tern

News this afternoon of a juv white-winged black tern at Cresswell Pond was a good excuse to not do any exercise / wash the car / do ironing / cut the lawn.

I arrived a little after three to find only a handful of people watching this active marsh tern feeding at the north end of the main pool. A strong headwind was suffice to "hold" the bird in a bay for feeding, but it was still a very tricky subject to photograph. Several others arrived over the next hour and good views were had by all, albeit in awkward light.

At 16:15 the bird lifted and headed out towards the sea... only to return a few minutes later to give equally good views for a further thirty minutes before heading north, possibly to Bell's Pond.

 

 &Two wood sandpiper, two ruff and a greenshank were also available.