With a bit of a north-easterly we decided to do a bit of seawatching from Hadston Carrs. We stayed about an hour but it proved very quiet. Moving south, Chevington was similar, although the Long-tailed Duck remained on the north pool. It had been joined by 7 Red-breasted Mergansers and another 5 Mergansers were on Ladyburn Lake. A short while later we had just been checking the geese when word came through of a White-billed Diver passing Whitburn.
With another sighting coming from Tynemouth shortly after, we rushed back to Hadston. When we arrived word had just come through of it passing Newbiggin and it had taken just 25 minutes to get between the two sites. So, when forty minutes went by and we still hadn't seen the bird, we thought we had missed out. However, we were really pleased when at 11:58 the White-billed Diver flew past nice and close inshore. A nice patch tick and our first Patchwork rarity of the year.
Other birds past Hadston on our second visit included 3 Velvet Scoters and 2 Ruff which were a bit unexpected. At Druridge, the number of Black-tailed Godwits had increased to 15, and a Water Pipit was giving good views even if it was a bit distant.
We finished the day at North Blyth, where 2 first-winter Iceland Gulls and a first-winter Glaucous Gull were showing across the river.
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| Iceland Gull |
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