A swift twitch...

Today we were visiting some relatives in Stockton, and me and my dad decided to take our kit with us in case the Hoopoe in Co. Durham was still around and we could have a look on the way home.

As the day went on a few reports of Pallid Swifts came on, so we decided that we'd give one a go on the way home. We weren't in much of a rush but I decided to check birdguides mid-afternoon, and got a bit of a shock when I saw that a Little Swift had joined the Pallid on Hartlepool Headland.

We quickly said goodbye and were in the car heading north-east. It took us about half an hour to get there, and at first we weren't sure where to go, but noticed a birder run down an alley way. We followed him towards the town moor where a crowd of birders were watching the two rare swifts over the sea.

Before long, the superb Little Swift flew straight towards us and started feeding up and down the promenade, and was joined by the Pallid Swift which did the same. We started until dusk, and both gave absolutely amazing views flying to within a few feet of us at times, and with some great light. The Little Swift looked stunning through the binoculars and it's definitely one of the best birds I've ever seen!

While the close range made for spectacular viewing, it did make photos extremely difficult, but I did manage a few which I'm happy with...

Little Swift

Pallid Swift - the light had started to go by the time I got round to photographing this!

Little and Pallid Swifts!

A successful day...

With a couple of reports of Black Guillemot at Cheswick last week, we decided that we would target catching up with one today as it was easily the commonest bird missing from our county list.

While the light wasn't great first thing, we gave it an hour or two on Holy Island. There was no sign of yesterday's Shore Larks but a Snow Bunting flew over and we did see 18 Twite and a Short-eared Owl.

Next we did head to Cheswick and parked by the railway bridge. We walked through the dunes and started scanning the sea, and it wasn't long before my dad did pick up a first-winter Black Guillemot about half way out. We watched it for a while, but once it started diving it was really difficult to get onto again.

Having not seen one (it?) for seven years, we also hoped to see the drake Black Scoter while we were here. As we walked north, we noticed a small group scoter just off Cheswick Black Rocks. Setting up the scope revealed the Black Scoter with some female Commons. We enjoyed some really good views of this bird - much better than we were expecting.

Other birds off Cheswick included a Great Northern Diver, Long-tailed Duck, Red-breasted Mergansers and a Goosander. 

Black Scoter - with female Common Scoters

Black Guillemot obviously!

A quick visit to Warkworth...

I had to pick my dad up this afternoon, and we decided to call in for a quick look at Warkworth on our way back home.

The Red-necked Grebe present in the area for the past couple of weeks was showing well below the weir, and the two Bewick's Swans from Chevington a couple of days ago also dropped in, but flew off again before I had a chance to photograph them on the water.

Red-necked Grebe

Bewick's Swans

A decent end to October...

It felt like quite a while since we'd last been on the patch, and when we set out there this morning we didn't have huge expectations. In the end we did have a decent day...

With good numbers of Crossbills being reported around the county, we decided to start at Druridge Bay Country Park, and it wasn't long before we got onto a group of Crossbills. The group numbered at least 35, although there was probably more and they were as mobile as usual.

We checked the dunes at Hadston for redpolls but with no sign we had a look at the sea. My dad picked up a Little Auk moving north, and 3 female Velvet Scoters were in with the Commons.

Chevington was our final call and I was pleased to pick up a couple of Bewick's Swans among the minimum of 27 Whoopers. These were our first in the county for over three and a half years so we were pretty happy! A Long-tailed Duck had also arrived on the pool with 2 Ruff and 4 Pintail.

Bewick's Swans - videograb hence the poor quality

Crossbills

Showy Barred Warbler!

Today we were up on Holy Island, and on the whole it was a bit quiet, but an incredibly showy Barred Warbler at Chare Ends made our effort worth it.

Other birds included a Waxwing, Short-eared Owl and a couple of Yellowhammers.

Barred Warbler

Short-eared Owl

Unusual Redwing

An exciting seawatch...

Yesterday we spent around seven hours at Church Point, Newbiggin. My target for the day was Pomarine Skuas and we sat through thunderstorms and hail without success. We did manage a nice selection of birds including a Little Auk, Red-necked Grebe and Sooty Shearwater, as well as 4 Scaup among large numbers of wildfowl. Birds in off included a Short-eared Owl and Woodcock.

Feeling a little bit frustrated about the lack of Poms, we decided to head back out this morning, and almost immediately we realised we were in for a better day. 3 superb Pomarine Skuas flew north inside the first ten minutes along with several Little Auks.

Over the next five hours or so, we had another 2 Pomarine Skuas including one superb adult very close in, and at 11:10 I picked up a Leach's Petrel going north about half way out. This was a lifer for me and a bird I've been wanting to see for a long time! Great stuff!

Here's some selected counts 07:15-11:40...

1 Leach's Petrel
5 Pomarine Skuas
37 Little Auk
24 Velvet Scoter
11 Manx Shearwater
1 Sooty Shearwater
6 Great Northern Diver
1 Black-throated Diver
25 Long-tailed Duck
1 Great Skua

Pomarine Skua

Across the Tyne...

We headed (just!) south of the Tyne this morning to Jarrow where we hoped to see the juvenile Spotted Sandpiper which has been there for the past few days.

On arrival the bird was showing nicely on the muddy banks of the River Don just below the car park, and over the next couple of hours it showed really nicely, walking past us just five metres away...

Spotted Sandpiper