A rare outing

Had a dodge out of the borough this morning looking for the Little Bunting at elba park, i had this bird last year but thought i would catch up with it in summer plumage. First i checked lamesley and the flash pools area, but nothing new to report. At elba park i started to search for the little bunting but no sign of the bird, an Osprey drifted across heading NW was new for the year for me, bumped into Ron H who was also looking for the little bunting and another guy from durham. We searched for 2 1/2 hours and still no sign, i decided to have one last search of the hawthorns when i heard a ticking coming from the reed beds? i saw a bunting creeping in the reeds and thought this could be the bird as i didnt know this call, i went back for the other birders to give a hand and we all went to the area where i heard the bird calling when a dog walker said that there were some birders looking at the bird across the field :0 off we went again :( on arriving the birders said they didnt have the bird but this is the right area, we spent another 1/2 hour looking when some guy shouted that he had the little bunting! we all rushed over and bingo, the little bunting was giving cracking views feeding in the stream :) i managed a few hundred shots, lol. Then it was time to call it a day, on my way home i had another British and Gateshead year tick, 3 sand martins over Axwell park was a great sight :) at last they have arrived. A great day out and it looks to get even better this weekend :0