On arriving at Newton I was not too keen on getting out of the car.... it was pissin down !!
Have I done the right thing here ? Gonna get drenched for nothing I reckon....... but I took the plunge and headed towards Long Nanny....
On arriving at the bridge I started scanning the mud for waders and.........
FUGGIN ELL !!!! LESSER GREY SHRIKE !!!
....FUGGIN ELL !!!....
Yep I swore..... A LOT !! This poor thing was drenched, looked like it had just arrived out of the storm.... I managed a few record shots but it was pissing down and it was looking a bit bedraggled as you can see.....
I made a few phone calls and just stood well back to let the bird feed undisturbed....within an hour or so one or two of the local birders were arriving.... Once people were onto it, it was time to leave... if this was here there could be other stuff to be found....
Around at the tern site a couple of common terns were with the arctics, on the beach there were 2 curlew and 1 turnstone....
In Beadnell Bay a scan produced a cracking male velvet scoter and a common scoter.....
A quick 20 minute seawatch produced....1 arctic skua, 2 manxies and a cracking bottlenose dolphin !!
Then down to the pool... a female garganey was on the flood pool.... not a lot else to report here tho....
Garganey
What a blindin day ! Got piss wet through but it was well worth it......
8 comments:
Great find. These are the rewards of flogging your local patch no matter what the weather is like. On a day like this you need a helgoland trap erected somewhere, i'm sure something less conspicuous was lurking about as well.
Cracking bird! Well done, shame I couldn't savour it for longer - might get up again if it hangs around.
Thanks for the call Gary, much appreciated, how many do I owe you now?...
Brilliant find - well done!
Fantastic find mate! Looks like the nanny is as wet as Minsmere - will we ever get a summer?
Thanks all...
Yep I reckon this must be the best bird I've ever had at Newton.... plus he's looking a lot nicer today now he's dried out a bit...
....I'm just dead chuffed with it !!
Bit jealous I must say though with a singing Thrush Nightingale down here, I can't really complain. (Didn't find it though, despite pounding most of Minsmmere frontage that morning. There is no justice in this world...)
Nice find gary, i enjoyed this two days later, where i had the bird all to myself. It was early though
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