08/11/21 Note - Please click on the comments at the bottom of this post. A resident of Newstead has contacted to complain of obstructions and dangerous parking. Please ensure you park safely and legally without obstruction well away from the farm and its entrances. Thanks.
At the very tail end of autumn, November can still be a good month for rare and scarce in Northumberland. No sooner had October fizzled out like a damp banger, November came raging in with a raft of good birds, all in the far north of the county.
Due to work I didn't have time to visit the Richards Pipit at Low Newton, or the Great Shearwater, Bonaparte's Gull, 4 Grey Phalaropes and Black Guillemot at Stag Rocks, but I did manage to clock off early on Monday for a 12 mile dash up the A1 for my 3rd Wilson's Phalarope at Newstead Flash.
What a delightful bird it was too, as are all phalaropes, it made us dizzy with its constant spinning like a Waltzer on the choppy surface of the pond. Distant for photos, it was good in the scope where it could be seen snatching insects from the surface.
I had never heard of this water feature before this morning so Mike Hodgson did well in passing it then finding a great little bird like this on it. It made me think, along with that stunning Eye browed Thrush in the highlands, how many good birds drop in to anonymous spots and are never seen? Must be a few, but its just a lottery finding one. Literally a 'needle in a haystack' scenario, but its things like this that should keep diligent patch workers spirits up.
