At the moment I am lucky enough to be dividing my time between living at home in Northumberland and living in my uni house down in Norwich.
This week I am back up north, and on Sunday I had the chance to catch up with some of the good birds on offer along the Northumberland coast. First up was the Pacific Golden Plover at Longhoughton Steel which gave some really good views just underneath the small cliffs. Much more confiding than the Holy Island bird of last year, we were able to really appreciate this smart bird throughout the time we spent on site.
Not only was the Plover showing well, there were also decent numbers of seabirds passing offshore. They included at least two juvenile Long-tailed Skuas and a second calendar-year Pomarine Skua, along with several Arctic and Great Skuas, three Sooty Shearwaters, plenty of Manx Shearwaters and a few Roseate Terns.
Next we stopped at Druridge Bay Country Park, where the moulting adult White-winged Black Tern was performing well in the drizzle although rarely coming close to the shore.
Finally, the low water levels on the north pool at East Chevington is proving attractive to waders at the moment, with a smart juvenile Spotted Redshank being the best. The regular turn over of other juvenile waders has been good to see too.
