Pallas's Warbler, Whitley Bay

In the gloom of November on the track behind the Cemetery....

Wryneck, Whitley Bay

Enjoyed superb views of the Wryneck at the Whitley Bay Crematorium this afternoon...

The Un-countables

Started the day finishing a prolonged week of nightshift - the 06:15 stop-off at Arcot produced nothing new for the year, only a calling and drumming green woodpecker and woodcock (that flushed from the roadside hedge).

Thoughts of what to do later in the day were assisted by Tim Sexton and his post of blue-headed wagtail at Whitley Bay. Nice sunshine (albeit cold temperatures) and more importantly, a defined short walk from the car park saw me there late afternoon, just as the tide was getting a wee bit high.

The wagtail flock was impressive - may be a dozen white variants, a few pied and the apparent blue-headed. I say apparent - I did wonder about the paleness of the "blue"... however a quick skim through the Birding World article (Volume 20 Number 3) perhaps supports this bird being blue-headed rather than a  "channel" variant - the darker ear-coverts may add to the weight of "bh" argument.

Whatever - a bonny bird nonetheless. The other uncountable was also photographed, perhaps a little less vigorously - so a pic for the blog with a nice nit of litter in the background will suffice.

In addition to the wagtails the beach contained plenty of rock pipit, a wheatear or two, many sanderling and redshank. Loads of swallow moving north.

News of a great white egret saw me heading Prestwick bound, but news from the site suggested otherwise. And that ended that sortie.

-1

British Birds arrived in the post today ~ the annual rare birds in Great Britain issue. Usually a welcome read, but not today, as the "redhead" that wintered on Kenfig in the early 2000s' has now been removed off the British list :(

Pah - I even had to make two trips to connect!

Spurred buy the yellow-browed warbler reports from Tynemouth and Holy Island, I did a quick scoot of Whitley Bay Cemetery this afternoon - no luck!

A single house martin over the street on my way back was a late individual...

Black

Good Friday started bright but cold. The male black redstart continues to flit amongst the tombstones at Whitley Bay Cemetary, and occasionally I was in the right place at the right time. I do like black redstarts! Northumberland has had a bumper year so far, with many black reds' on the coast...

An early afternoon patrol of the Prestwick / Berwick Hill / Kirkley / Bellasis Bridge area did not reveal any sign of the white-tailed eagle, nor much else.

News of the Suffolk lesser kestrel aroused interest, but with no further sign at time of writing, the "tick mobile" remains parked on the drive-way and a quiet Saturday looms.

Red & White tales...

Had a late start today, after a tiring earlyshift. Took the easy option and headed to the coast to take a look at the two reported black redstart at Whitley Bay Cemetary. I had no issues picking them up, with a female appearing first on top of a grave stone in the south-east corner, quickley replaced by a spanking male! Camera assembled I rattled off one test shot to check exposure etc, looked ok but not the best angle... so waited for the  bird to turn around. Instead he flew west into the graveyard. And that was it!                                                 

Not a sniff of either again!! So the onlt shot taken is the one here in this post - so near but so far!

I took a few wanders around the graveyard to no further avail, and as 17:45 passed my mobile rang. A certain large raptor that had disappeared earlier  had been picked up again on the east of Prestwick Carr... White-tailed eagle... it was time to leave!

Twenty minutes later or so I pulled up to the east of the Carr to find a few happy and a few sad birders - the bird had drifted north. Turn-around time! As I passed the few remaining news broke that it was passing Bellasis Bridge... so that's where I headed and found that the road had been closed for flooding just short of the bridge. More annoyingly, the WTE had been seen to drift north at 18:15, presumably off for good.

There was some good banter with the lads, and the sucessful few headed off not long later. At 18:40 a large group of wood pigeon lifted to the north-west (see google map streetview below) and in the middle ... a huge thick-winged raptor drifting south west. !!!! This bird was massive! Granted it was a very poor view, but for the 30 seconds or so that it was showing it was surreal!

I guess there is a real chance that this bird will be around again tomorrow...