They can't all be good.

The photographs not the birds.
While walking along the path to the Oddie & south facing hides at Druridge my 6ft 4 inches of height comes in very handy since they put in the new path ( at least 2 years ago now) I get good views most of the way along over the walls screening the Budge Field ….. this came in handy as I noticed a long snake like white neck poking out from the reeds to the west of the site on Sunday morning. Hurried along to the hide and sure enough there was a Great White Egret in full view from this other angle and two folk were sitting watching it. I rattled off a few images, just in case, and went outside, so as not disturb the couple in the hide, to ring Gary who I had passed leaving the path and heading along to the Budge Screen. I wanted to know, jokingly, why he hadn't informed me of its presence !!!! "What" was his reply followed by "is that big white thing in the corner it ????" Gary labels himself BLIND PEW on occasions, you can understand why. As I headed back to the hide the couple left saying something like "You've missed it" The bird had flown ! Hence the lack of decent images. I texted Dave to let him know and he replied saying that an Egret had flown over him continuing north high up. He went on that it was hard to judge size & presumed it was a Little Egret but it must had been the GWE. It wasn't reported again.
A single Sand Martin feeding over the Dru Pool was my first Hirundine of the year.
No Wheatear though.

The beast from the north

Having checked out the fish quay at North Shields at least twice a week all winter for a white winger I had just about given up hope of seeing one this time around. Low & behold a cracking 2nd winter Glaucous Gull turns up BUT it fails to show for me on my following three visits. I'm a morning birder generally and all those visits had been early in the day and it was noticeable that most folk had seen it later on particularly late afternoon.
I headed down early on Sunday, as usual, and scanned the quay roofs from up on high by the High Lights but again out of luck. I dropped down to the quay and spent a further two 30/45 minutes sessions freezing my nuts off as the extremely chilly wind was coming straight down the river from the west. In between I visited a relatively balmy Tynemouth without any success with either the Black Redstart or Kestrel pair but I did get a rather nice Grey Wagtail under the Priory at the end of the pier. So I had 20 minutes at the quay again before I had to return home and two smiling birders pointed to one of the shed roofs and there was the Glauc. …… for all of two seconds before it lifted and headed immediately over towards the south side of the Tyne and drifted towards South Shields ferry landing before being lost to view !!!!
I couldn't return until Friday afternoon having frustratingly seen daily images of the gull on Twitter but was finally rewarded with some brilliant close encounters with the brute. A fine specimen indeed. Mission accomplished !!!!!! HOOOOORAH.

and finally …. a bit of beauty after the beast.

One o five

The number of Whoopers I ended up with on Druridge Pool last Wednesday. Started off the just the one, as captured with a single Great-crested Grebe below, before the others joined it in small groups from the fields just north. The volunteer warden and I counted them in ….. 20 odd, 40 odd, 70 odd..... slowly heading towards the ton before finally getting there with five on top. Another four drifted towards the pool before disappearing behind the copse to the left and not being relocated.
Here's a few shots of them coming

Sadly I didn't have a camera with lens attached with a short focal length to capture them all on the pool.

First of nineteen

Two thousand and nineteen, that is. My first SEO. The shrewder amongst you will know exactly where. Pleased to say I beat the crowds of toggers.

My first in Northumberland

Having seen Bewick Swans in Kent a few times i had frustratingly missed out on the few occasions that they'd turned up in Northumberland. I went up to the weir at Warkworth on Sunday after two had been reported there since Friday but they had been going missing for long periods favouring fields just to the north of the river which was inaccessible and had missed out but only had time for a short visit. I was however treat to the sight of the Red-necked Grebe which was also in the vicinity.
Had planned a day out on Wednesday but feeling slightly under the weather gave that a miss but did manage to get out for a few hours on Thursday later on when the car was available. It worked out well as the forecast decent weather for both days didn't materialise on Weds but did on Thursday and on arrival at the River Coquet found the BEWICK SWANS in the company of many Whoopers and a few Mute. Great views for around twenty minutes before a number of Whoopers decided to leave with the Bewicks following closely behind. They veered off to the left after following the river for a short while looking to head back to the favoured field I mentioned earlier.
Headed off to Druridge Bay Country Park for another bird which had hung around for a few days namely a Great Northern Diver. Another hour of fantastic birding with the diver coming reasonably close a couple of times. A bank of cloud had dropped as I arrived at the country park so the light wasn't a good as it had been 20 minutes earlier. Still nice to get so close to a lovely bird.

Rose-coloured Starling

I had to post a couple of images of the Rosy from Ashington yesterday. Captured in a back garden having walked along an alleyway between the houses. Luckily i'm 6 foot 4 inches as the 6 foot fence caused viewing problems for many. I had to balance on tiptoe to get my shots !!! A beautifully marked adult, i'm sure you'll agree.