Sooty Tern!

This morning I was pretty relaxed when I got up, even when reports of a Sooty Tern moving north in Yorkshire started to emerge. I felt that even if it did make it to Northumberland then it wouldn't be until later in the day. However, the speed of the reports coming in from different locations perhaps suggested that the bird was moving faster than I expected.

Soon the report I was waiting for came through - it had been seen at Whitburn. I got straight into the car and set off to Newbiggin. The drive felt a lot longer than usual and I seemed to get stuck behind slow moving traffic for the whole journey, but thankfully I reached the small crowd at Church Point at around 10:50.

I had just enough time to set up my scope and have a couple of scans before, out of nowhere, the SOOTY TERN was flying in front of us at incredibly close range. The views were stunning and the bird unmistakable with its head pattern, bill and colouration being very striking.

By the time I had reached for my camera the bird was more distant so the photo below is pretty rubbish, with much better being taken by others when the bird was at its closest (these can be seen on Twitter). However, this was one of those moments when photos were an afterthought and I just enjoyed such an awesome view of a much wanted lifer!