Tynemouth.

 Having failed to see the black Redstart on Wed afternoon I decided for another try on Thursday morning this time I had more success and it was a much better day weather wise, things got off to a slow start with the bird being very unsettled and at a fair distance it did settle a little but stayed quite distant as can be seen in the following pics.

                                              All the photos are quite heavily cropped.

Its just looking to see if I had gone yet !

They never seem to fail year in year out always turning up.

Thanks for looking

STAY SAFE

Joe.

Redstart !

I had a couple of hours spare yesterday so a quick trip to Tynemouth to see the Black Redstart was on the cards (or so I thought).

On arrival two other people were there with the same intention as me, I was greeted with been here two hours and not seen it yet little did I know that was going to be the theme for the rest of the afternoon,the two people left and I was joined almost immediately by Simon a bit of a catch up followed then we got our eyes on this stunning Purple Sandpiper which stood out a mile from a second bird close bye, if only there had been a bit of sun on it (it was indeed almost purple).

 

These Rock Pipits kept us busy darting and chasing each other around" hoping one was the Redstart."

And likewise this Grey Wagtail

Alas no Redstart but still worth the trip for that Purple Sand.

Thanks for looking

and STAY SAFE.

Joe.

Nice surprise

 A visit to the members hide this afternoon produced a nice surprise and a first for me on the pond in all the years i have been going there.

A flash past the front of the hide first thoughts was Sparrow hawk which i thought landed in the tree off to the left but further investigation proved it to be a Little Owl wow never seen one here before,here,s a few pics.

Shortly after that a pair of Mistle Thrushes landed in the same tree and started calling.

All together a nice afternoon

Thanks for looking 

Stay Safe

Joe.

Red Flanked Bluetail.

 Another tip-off from Paul C saw me driving down to w/bay to view the RFB along with twenty or more other birders ,high up in the tree canopy and being kept on move by the resident Robin it wasn't easy for me to get many usable images at all but here's the best of my bunch .

Very nice to see again .

Thanks for looking and

STAY SAFE.

Joe

Spoony on the pond

 A phone call from Paul C had me making a quick dash down the pond as a Spoonbill was on the island ,this is a first for me on the pond i believe it to be a juvenile bird as it is still carrying its black tipped primary feathers,here is a few pics and bifs as it left heading south east.

Thanks for looking

Stay Safe

Joe.

Wet and dry

Its hard to believe these are more than likely to be the same bird.

Holywell pond 

A couple of nice surprises this week with a Marsh Harrier (cream crown ) giving it the once over,its been seen a couple of times now.

Not the best of pics above..

A more secretive bird now living up to its reputation ,unlike Northumberland Park last year!.

Still nice to have around and keep an eye out for.

Thanks for looking

Stay safe

Joe.

 

A quiet week on pond

 A very quiet week indeed with little or nothing in the way of waders ,this could be part of the reason why.

 

Plenty of fighting going off as well 

I was zoomed in to the limit with the above pics

Activity on the pond at present seems to centre around Lapwings and Geese

My best for the week was 2 Snipe and  1 Dunlin quite disappointing.

Unfortunately that carried on at home with this fella waiting for me !

Quiet at home  now.!!

Thanks for looking and stay safe.

Joe