John came to collect and we took a short jaunt up the coast as far as Beadnell.
At High Newton, a nice pair of Kestrels were sunning themselves outside a quite obvious nest hole in an old ash. This species has been much in evidence this last few weeks with hovering birds seen all over and today was no exception. I think I saw 7+ individuals this morning.
At a quiet Newton Pool the rarest sight was Jimmy Steele and Colin Bradshaw in the hide briefly before heading off to have kippers for breakfast....10 Goldeneye and 10+ Teal were the only things of interest on the pond. The beach was slightly better with 3 Grey Plover, 14 Bar tailed Godwit and 3 Purple Sandpipers with commoner waders. My first Gannets of the year flew north offshore.
We then moved to the north end of Beadnell Bay and walked south as far as the Long Nanny burn mouth.
A nice flock of duck were sheltering in the lee of the harbour wall - 47+ Goldeneye, 3 Red breasted Mergansers and a good few Eiders. Another wader roost on the rocks gave us the finishing flurry with 11 Dunlin, 8 Purple Sandpipers, 3 Turnstone, 1 Ringed Plover, 24 Oystercatcher, 10 Curlew, 10 Bar tailed Godwit, 1 Redshank and 1 Grey Plover.
It looks like the weather will be turning very mild later this week, so if the wind drops there may be some moth trapping...
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