Hair cut yesterday, blow dry today.

It was a bit breezy out there today and there was a tad more than a nither in the wind. The back of the neck was feeling the chill.
Getting binoculars, scopes and bags out of the car was a struggle at sunny Newbiggin by the Sea this morning but more than worth it. Killy Birder and i flew Mary Poppinesque along the shoreline to Beacon Point as right at the end of the beach the Desert Wheatear was spotted immediately. Enjoying great views in excellent photographic light Brian said "Go on, get in close and get a shot" "No" i replied. "I'll enjoy the views and get an image in a while" GUESS WHAT?  The bird became "mobile" and it was suddenly easier to capture an image of an empty crisp packet in a wind tunnel!! The little darling tormented the life out of the two of us along the cliff edge all the way along to the raised tee of the fifth hole on the golf course. It then, in the blink of an eye, vanished. "OH DEAR" i thought to myself. Everyone who had seen it earlier had commented on how accommodating it was. PHOOEY!. We kept blaming the wind. It was a stunner mind.
We did continue to foolishly kid ourselves we would relocate on the return journey. DID WE BOLLOCKS.
By way of consolation a bird was hopping along the path between the cliff edge and golf course and there was a bonny Snow Bunting. Not a bad second prize. Again no images as the bird was very flighty. Brian spotted a single Med. Gull on the main beach just before we left to head up the coast.
Cresswell water levels were very high and after a shortish visit to the hide the only birds worth mentioning was the large flock of Wigeon just north of the causeway in the field, this flock were commented on by a guy later on. Druridge Pools bypassed we continued on to East Chevington to be greated by a mini twitch of birders by hide number one all focused on the Greater Yellowlegs. I saw part of this bird a couple of weeks ago in the same location but that time the important part namely the legs were submerged, selfishly, it was wading, but today it was on the bank. An Otter was pointed out to us on a couple of occasions. Both times it was feeding, the first time it was wrestling with a large Eel, the second it was on the middle island with a much smaller fish. Some other nice birds were seen here but i'll let Brian continue the story here
I must put an image up so here is another of "Red" from the Rising Sun yesterday

Cracking days birding. Thanks Killy.

Stag gering pose.

Well, an interesting one.

I was told to get out and get my christmas hair cut by the gaffer and while out i visited the Rising Sun. Pleased i did as i hadn't seen the male Red Deer for quite a while. Always enjoyable, even if it was just as the sun was disappearing. He's a handsome beast, especially now with the antlers looking so good.
Nice to see also that the 8 European White-fronted Geese are still enjoying the sweet grass in the horses field and still very close to the waggonway. If you haven't already i would suggest you pop along if you would like a nice close view of these stunning birds.........you might see the stag also. On Swallow Pond a single Whooper Swan and a couple of male Shovelers the highlights while the Dukes Pond Kestrel was hovering looking for its last meal of the day, as usual.

A couple from P.C.

A couple of images from last week taken at iso in excess of 3200 in very poor light but "touched up" in Lightroom. The rain started within minutes of me arriving at Prestwick Carr despite the forecast and i spent the next 45 minutes in the car.Post deluge i headed along for hopefully a late lunch showing by the Short-eared Owls and on the way came across a large flock of Redwing and Fieldfare. They were stretched along the hedgerow of the bumpy road and out onto the Carr. As usual as i got closer they lifted and either moved further along the road in front or out to join the others in various trees and bushes to my right. I hung fire by the small bridge and a few were brave enough to come back attracted by the large amount of food on offer.

 

The owls had indeed put back the lunchtime showing due to the rain. I was treat to over an hour of the birds, 5 at one stage, feeding and interacting. I left them still showing hoping for a view of the Shrike but struck out there.

I bumped into Brian (Killy Birder) with a lady friend who he was taking to see the owls as i headed back towards Mayfair Cottage and on to try and find the Bean Geese in the company of Peter (PC Wanderings). Brian fared well and had excellent sightings it transpired, whereas Peter and i ended up with distant objects about as far away in the field as was possible through the gloom which may have been geese.

" Where are the Starlings ? " John murmured...........

.........there they are.

Whoop whoop

Whoopee                 a swan

Belly nice

Caught up finally with the  European White-fronted Geese at the Rising Sun feeding in the field to the east of Swallow Pond. This is a horse field and the grass is always lush here thanks, i would think, to the manuring it receives throughout the year. I've commented to folks before that the grass must be sweet as the Red Stag favours this field also and the geese have been seen here mostly since they arrived last week. A bonny goose with lovely markings across the adults bellies, making each bird very distinctive.

What a fine goose...adult.

Juvenile...less markings around beak and on belly.

Loads of Blackbirds around the park, great to watch them chucking the leaves around in the undergrowth. No other Thrushes to be seen. Dunnocks were prevalent  with a few calling and a few Tit flocks. Quiet otherwise but i did see the Jack Snipe momentarily as it lifted as a walker almost trod on it at the far edge of Dukes Pond, it shot off towards Swallow.
Here are a couple of more goose images to have a gander of.