Resuming

All of a sudden, 2018 ends and the first month of 2019 is almost over... some highlights and some images...

Snow Bunting, St Mary's Promenade December 2018. A chance to try an alternative camera body - 5D mark IV. Full frame, so some magnification lost ... but pleasing detail. 

Little Owl

Black Redstart

Glaucous Gull, Norfolk

January was busy with a good variety of species picked up in Northumberland... highlights including Firecrest, four species of Owl, Smew, Marsh Tit, Black Redstart, Snow Bunting, Chiffchaff and local Little Egrets. The final weekend was spent in Norfolk - a great place to boost the earliest and an abundance of good quality species. Highlights included Bewick's swan, Red-necked Grebe, Cattle/Great Egret, 11 species of BOP (inc Owl sp number 5, Hen Harrier, Rough-legged Buzzard), Water Pipits, Dartford Warbler, Brambling, Hawfinch and Arctic Redpoll

Rough-legged Buzzard... distant...

Unexpected

Digital zoom on an iPhone isn't the best...

Female black redstart wasn't expected in the garden on Sunday - and by the time I'd grabbed the first recording device, the iPhone, she'd flown across the other side of the neighbours garden. 

Tynemouth

Not quite playing the game today, the Black Redstart fed just out of range and down on the shore... Fulmar are back on the cliffs though...

The start of the end

Pleasant couple of hours at Tynemouth this morning, with a Black Redstart favouring the cliffs adjacent the pier, and an immature Glaucous Gull in the vicinity.

Should have taken the 500mm... all images with the 100-400mm

Out of the shadows...

Start

Black Red variety. In Cramlington of all places! Nice surprise on a sunny November morning at the Sporting Club.

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...

Black Redstart

Couple of record images of the camera shy black redstart at the entrance to Druridge Pools. Pity it was not as confiding as 1st winter birds tend to be! Still at least three wheatear present at the same site.

Had the Eshott common crane again on the route home, initally very distant then flew north reasonably close...

Start: Black Red.

1st Winter @ Whitley Bay Cemetery (Northumberland), November 2008