Sabine's Gull

A trip down to Nosterfield this morning after a steady-away seawatch. No sign of the Sabine's Gull when I got there and the only news was that it had flown west earlier. An hour of searching and I picked it up distantly, in flight. Luckily it banked and flew back to drop on the smaller pool to the southwest of Flask Lake. Superb close views as it ate sticklebacks in the shallows.

Sabine's Gull

A detour to Bolton-on-Swale on the way home gave 5 distant Red-Crested Pochard.

Red-crested Pochard

White-winged Black Tern

A traumatic couple of weeks with a dip of the Elegant Tern in Poole Harbour and then the Albatross passing Whitburn on what should have been my day off.

A trip up to Newton Scrape after work last night was looking to have a depressing conclusion with no show for 20 minutes. Luckily the White-winged Black Tern reappeared and gave a great display as it twisted and turned over the scrape.

White-winged Black Tern

A whole lotta...

I got the news last night that the Rose-coloured Starling in Stanhope had been showing well nearly a mile away from where I spent yesterday afternoon. This morning I was back to the back-streets of Stanhope where, after a 40 min wait, the Starling put on a great display. Unfortunately dull and dingy so photos not as good as I would have hoped.

Rose-coloured Starling

From here it was over to the west coast, just north of Workington,where the Blyth's Reed Warbler was still singing well. Unfortunately just poor views as it spent most of the time hidden from view.

Double Dip

The day started off well with a great display by the Marsh Warbler at Bowesfield Marsh, constantly singing from the tops of reed stems. A couple of Grasshopper Warbler were reeling nearby.

Marsh Warbler

It then went downhill from there. A couple of hours at Billingham failed to turn up the Rose-coloured Starling, but a big thank you the residents who allowed us to stand in their gardens. The double dip was complete with no sign of the other Rose-coloured Starling at Stanhope.

Death Row...

A rare visitor to Gateshead from last Friday.

Ruddy Duck

Last of the Mohicans?

On Wednesday seawatching was slow, with the star bird a dark-phase Arctic Skua. I followed this with a trip down to Bowesfield Marsh where the Marsh Warbler was still singing. Unfortunately it was too windy and I had to make do with brief glimpses and no photos. Still a Durham tick for me.

In the evening the first Gateshead Little Egret of the year was at Lamesley.

Little Egret

Little Owl

Roe Deer

Thursday's seawatching was much better, no star birds, but 329 Manx Shearwater was a good count.

A trip up north in the afternoon gave a nesting Coot.

Coot

At Cresswell a Barn Owl was taking advantage of the dry weather to hunt and my first Little Gull of the year was on the pond.

Barn Owl

Barn Owl

Little Egret

Little Gull & Sandwich Tern

Other than working...

A look up to Muggleswick before work this morning and managed to year tick Wood Warbler before getting out of the car. Very late this year, but two birds now on territory. Also here were several singing Pied Flycatcher and Cuckoo.

Wood Warbler

Yesterday a trip to Marsden after work eventually gave great views of a female Red-backed Shrike in the evening sun.

Red-backed Shrike

Slow going locally as we enter the doldrums of summer with a few dragonflies and butterflies to entertain.

Broad-bodied Chaser

Four-spotted Chaser

An excellent trip up to Slaley last week for Nightjar with some stunning close views and some rubbish photos.

Nightjar

 On 25th May the only Whinchat of the spring was at Burdon Moor.

Whinchat