A taste of the Med

Thoughts of a cycle to the coast were diminished when Gordon alerted me to the presence of a Mediterranean Gull at Arcot - a moulting adult and only my second in Cramlington.

A ringed bird, Gordons pictures may permit an accurate reading. Flew off east late afternoon...

Common Sandpiper still present, though feeding areas of mud have been reduced with recent heavy rainfall.

Spotty!

News of an adult spotted sandpiper was a pleasant surprise upon arriving home from the Arcot sandpiper fest. Some considerable pondering ensued as a day in the garden had been agreed earlier. Fast forward a couple of hours and I'd cracked, so northwards it was to the "foxton bend" of the river Aln. A small group were already present and a little while later the spotted sandpiper was back on view, on a discrete part of the river - well done to the finder!

Too far for a conventional camera, it was James who kindly took an image with the iPhone - a record of sorts....

A county tick for me (having only seen the Derwent Reservoir bird on the Durham shore)... So a bit of a bonus sandpiper for today.

Sands & Rails

Arcot delivered this morning, with common, wood (2) and green sandpiper all available. A minimum of three water rail, all showing on the mud was great to see too...

Re-tern

Pah.

Just as we thought it was off...

Some incredible close fly-bys this afternoon, but awkward afternoon light and a rather fast flyer were together all too much for the auto-focus... and me.

No re-tern

Thoughts of another bridled encounter were dashed when news broke of the wandering tern down at Saltholme RSPB early this afternoon.

Mark and I had played it cool in the relative heat of the North-easts' splendid weather - heading up to Beacon Hill (marsh tit/tree pipit) and Rayburn Lake (Crane-less this morning).

A brief pitstop in the shameless-esq delights of "RedRaw" for chips then saw us head to the coast - Cresswell had a wad of non-northumbrians hoping to see the tern, so we headed north to East Chevington - more terns here than at Cresswell, but no chance of the bridled once the pager went off.

Moved on...

Bridled Tern, Inner Farne

It was a very early start today, with news last night of the bridled tern returning to Inner Farne...

Alarm set for 04:20, on road at 04:47 and sitting on Glad Tidings IV at 06:00 in Seahouses Harbour.

Taking pictures at 06:10 - a good job too, as the tern soon lifted and went off to feed!

Back home for 09:00

Record shots it is...

My first UK tick since December 2011, so most welcome.

And it's off... blurred but illustrative?!