Two of the flock of over two hundred that Howdon Blogger and i had where the burn joins the Tyne next to the railway lines on Saturday. We could actually claim Waxwings in Durham and Northumberland at the same time as, on a couple of occasions some of the birds drifted over the river to perch high in trees at Newburn before returning after a few minutes. At one time in particular some of the birds dropped into the bushes beside us and were too close to focus on ! While in Seaburn later on a single Waxwing flew past while we were at the Bee-eater site but that bird had gone missing for ten minutes and as i recall the Waxer passed through at that time so we are unable to claim having both birds in view together.
Yesterday a 14km. walk from Druridge to Hauxley was very pleasant if not overly exciting on the bird front. Merlin and Kestrel were notable birds of prey while heading north along with a Short-eared Owl on the return leg. There was very little wind which gave rise to possibly hearing, if not seeing any Bearded Tits at East Chevington but drew a blank as i passed through as did the other nine birders i encountered in that vicinity. I also drew a blank hoping for a possible November dragonfly at the educational dipping pond and nearby southern corner of Druridge Country Park despite some nice warmth in the sun and there being reasonable numbers of insects on the wing. (There were sightings in the south yesterday on BDS)
