A little blue

A venture out in the rain this morning provides encounters with the immature blue-winged real on the river Wansbeck, less convincing wildfowl at Hauxley and a little stint at Cresswell. We didn't bump into the caspian gull at Amble, but at least the chips were there.

Fea's!!!

Newbiggin a few minutes ago!!!

Can't quite believe that that happened... Great crack waiting for the Fea's to fly past having watched updates from the east coast. An adult Sabine's gull and a steady passage of sooty / Manx shearwater were good too, along with1 great skua and 4 Brent geese.

Did that just happen?...

Tracked on the phone...

Definitely Maybe...

Winging it.

Headed back to Amble this afternoon to have another look at the third year Caspian Gull. Ever-present but again frustrating as it opted to stand up a height, be it on rooftops or flag poles.

Tricky to locate in the car park...

No Blue-winged Teal for me this afternoon - although the Spotted Redshank, Greenshank and Common Sands were compensatory. May try again tomorrow...

Mid evening Med

Some sky watching from the garden this evening as hundreds of black-headed gull fed on flying ants. A couple of highlights during the hour (1830-1930): my first "over the house" Mediterranean Gull (and only my third in Cramlington!), and a single Swift. Also "note worthy" is a garden perspective were 100s of Barn Swallow, lesser numbers of House Martin and a few Sand Martin, perhaps 6 Meadow Pipit. Pulse quickened with the appearance of a falcon with the Swallow - alas just a Kestrel.

A few from the triangle

Great Kiskadee

White-tailed Tropicbird - "long tail" to the locals

Grey Catbird

Immature Yellow-crowned Night Heron & Green Heron

County Casp Catchup...

Flew back from Bermuda on Thursday evening, arriving London on Friday morning - a couple of train journeys, a ride on the metro to pick the car up - home for a couple of cups of coffee then up the road for an evening visit to Amble.

Greater Black-backed Gull, Black headed Gull and Herring Gull, along with Starlings and Jackdaw very much enjoyed the slightly stale croissant (courtesy of British Airways) and cheesy wotsit crisps... Caspian Gull did not.

Frustrating views as the Casp sat on top of a telegraph pole watching the feeding melee - assumed to already be content with chips throughout the day.

Still, a County tick and only my second in the UK - so a happy, if somewhat jet-lagged, chap.

Hopefully, as others have already stated, it'll hang round and complete its moult. Raggy could certainly be a term to describe this bird!

Territory birding

A casual week or so in Bermuda is resulting in few birds - while white-tailed tropic birds cruise the coast like black-headed gulls, there isn't much else of note so far! Lesser and greater yellowlegs and a semi p sand on the hotel golf course have been nice and the great kiskidee are very entertaining - noisy, inquisitive and colourful to boot.

Good job the scenary is decent...

Legs and Co

Entirely unexpected, not the bird, the views.

"Showing Well"

mmm...

Still, nice to get another go at the Stilt Sandpiper this morning, tucked in with Lapwing on the Budge Field. A few Snipe and  a Little Egret too.

A leg to stand on

Nightshift sleeps interrupted with noisy school kids on holiday - a quick glance at the phone and news of a Stilt Sandpiper at Cresswell. Bingo.

As far away as it could be, but a cracking county second, and a momentum keeper given yesterdays pratincole!


iPhones at the ready...

Ouch.... it gets worse....

Hot under the collar

Unexpected pre-work trip for the Collared Pratincole at Castle Island!

The collector

Courtesy of LiverB, garganey today, again at Arcot. No sign of the scoter but that perhaps was not expected. A water rail made a brief appearance though...

Cramlington action...

Caught up with Barn Owl at West Hartford this week after many failed attempts over the last two...

A greenshank on Thursday was good too - WH looks good for waders.

Saturday morning was call about seeing stuff others had found earlier - so I take no credit for the first Cramlington record of Common Scoter at Arcot, Shoveler and  Dunlin at Northumberlandia...