Ambling around Amble harbour.........

.....this brute alighted atop the mast of a small fishing vessel tied up and surveyed the scene. Looking down indignantly on hundreds of Black-headed Gulls squabbling and fighting over chip scraps thrown for them by the clients of the local fish 'n chip emporium.

Great Black-backed Gull, Amble Harbour.

Amble turned out to be our most northerly stop on a brilliant days birding with John. HOWDON BLOGGER
Sightings included Jack Snipe and Red Breasted Mergansers at Cresswell, over 1,500 Pink-feet close to Druridge, East Chevington brought us the Slavonian Grebe fairly close before it lifted and disappeared for a while before returning and landing distantly over by the large island. A bonus came in the form of a Bittern which i initially spotted while i was checking out fence posts for Short-eared Owls over towards the coastal path. No Shorties but the Bittern rose briefly from the reeds before disappearing almost immediately. I was the only one to see it at this time but was happy when it lifted again some five minutes later and all present had a view.

What a beaut !

Amble not only held the ubiquitous gulls but the expected Eider Ducks. John and i spent a brill. thirty minutes observing 24 of them in an enclosed area where the 12 male and 12 females courted and cavorted. Fascinating to watch this interaction at close quarters with the climax (sorry) being a female laying full length on the water and a male mounting her. A Bar-tailed Godwit probed the mud at a distance and another highlight being the three separate flights of Snipe which came in independently off the North Sea. Thoughts of the Vismig talk we attended the previous night sprung to mind. We left Amble and the Eiders still doing their Frankie Howard impersonations..................and the Great Black-back

any excuse to show another image

and headed back down the coast. We were the first at Cresswell earlier and had the hide to ourselves for well over an hour but all the time we were there the Jack Snipe was tucked up. We were going to call back but there were plenty of cars parked as we passed and made do with a Shortie by the side of the road. The Brunswick Village area beside the A1 gave us nice sightings of a Starling gathering which ended a great day. THANK YOU HOWDON BLOGGER.

Nearly forgot..........best sight of the day was the look on Johns face when his missus rang him and descibed what turned out to be Waxwings in his garden. This is the young lady who also rang him and described what turned out to be the White Stork that flew over her head in Wallsend a couple of weeks ago.
CAN YOU IMAGINE YOUR MISSUS HAVING WAXERS AND STORKS ON HER YEAR LIST AND YOU HAVEN'T !!!
NIGHTMARE