Whitburn warblers revisited

Managed to tick the Barred warbler at Whitburn which i dipped yesterday, it showed a few times but rather elusive, so no shots i'm afraid :( not to worry though as that's another year tick taking my total for the year to 254 :) a few more autumn twitches, 2 weeks on the Scillies and a winter trip to Norfolk could bring my year total to nearly 300 :0 not a chance :) lol, but i'll give it a go :0

Warblers at Whitburn

Arctic Warbler - Greenish Warbler x 2 - Barred Warbler at Whitburn today, I managed to get Arctic Warbler which was a year tick and also 1 of the 2 Greenish Warblers, no luck with Barred but i'm sure i'll get another shot at a Barred :) The Arctic flew from the left mound into right mound at southern carpark calling about ten times and showing briefly at 8am, the Greenish was in the big mound near the ringing hut which showed on and off well at times. The Arctic was my predicted tick :) with a big bit of luck and fingers crossed i'll jammy another one tomorrow :0

Greenish warbler (all shots)

No sign of Arctic warbler

Dipped the Whitburn Arctic warbler today :( just glad it wasn't a lifer "phew". Had a juv Red backed shrike in the reserve and a sparrowhawk over, not much else at the coast but tomorrow could land something as NE winds are forecast :0 back in Gateshead and Shibdon pond had 2 ruff and 2 greenshank still, this time the ruff were showing well for some shots. A black-tailed godwit and 2 green sands were at Lamesley wm.

Another cracking bank hol

Weather was great and so were the birds :) new year tick for the day was a Wryneck, what a bird and only on show for a lucky few :) :) :) Back in Gateshead i had Migrant hawker at Shibdon along with 2 Ruff, 2 Green sand and 2 Greenshank, whilst at Burdon moor Southern hawkers and 5 Spotted flycatchers were on show :) i Thought i would get some year ticks over the past couple of days, i predict i'll get 1 more year tick over the next couple of days before the rain and sw winds return on thursday :0 :( just set myself up for a fall, lol

I never get sick of twitching wrynecks :)

Spotflys at burdon moor

2 year ticks

Plenty birds to go for on the east coast today, but bagged a Greenish Warbler and Little Stint in Northumberland. Dipped Booted warbler, Icterine warbler and Wryneck :( good job none were lifers. Other birds picked up today were pied fly, sooty shearwater, manxies, 3 arctic skuas. Playing out again tomorrow :0 lets hope these easterlys bring some more migrants in?

Little Stint at West Hartford flashes

Wood wasp, this flew into my parents conservatory :0

on the move :0

Winds are looking good for some migrants to turn up until tuesday when its back to west winds, watch this space :0 and east coast hot spots :0 bit of seawatching in the morning could be interesting with another chance in the evening and monday morning looking good also :0 here we go autumn is off :)

Another quiet day :(

Not a lot about today, only new birds in were 3 Dunlin at timber beach, 9 Golden plover were here yesterday :0 waders starting to move back in, could be ok at the weekend as the wind direction is forecast to move NE (should get stuff moving?), a bit seawatching might be on the cards for sunday? Got some better shots of the ruff at Lamesley flash pool and of the Greenshanks at Shibdon. Butterflys in the garden were, Purple hairstreak, Speckled wood, Wall, Peacock, Large white, Comma and Small tortoise shell, some were coming to my new butterfly patch already :)

1 of 2 Greenshank at shibdon pond showing well

Swallowing a small fish

Touchdown

Stacked converters for this shot

Peacock in the garden

New butterfly patch :)

2 Greenshank at Shibdon

2 Greenshank now at Shibdon pond
2 Ruff and a Green sandpiper at lamesley wm + flash pool
9 Golden plover at Timber beach
No sign of any Whinchats at Burdon moor :(

Taken with 400mm lens + 1.4 + 2 x converters

2 Gateshead year ticks

Burdon moor - 3 x Whinchat a Gateshead year tick :)
Shibdon pond - Greenshank a Gateshead year tick :) cheers George for the text.
Far pastures - plenty of Common darters
My Garden - 2 x Red underwing moths? i keep finding these moths every year in the long grass or on my cottage wall, i'm sure they are Red underwings, im not sure of the status of these moths but i think they are rare"ish" up north? would Chester birder like to id the moth in the photo for me ;) lol, cheers.

Red underwing moth?

2 of the 3 Whinchats at burdon moor

Greenshank at shibdon pond

Common darter close up

Common darter

Purple Hairstreak in garden

Had a garden tick today, Purple Hairstreak butterfly in the ash tree :) the bad news is that it has put doubt in my mind to the earlier white letter hairstreak i had as i have not seen any since :( it is possible that it was a female which had just hatched as that would be dark brown on the underwing aswell. I'll just have to keep searching the elm tree in the hope i can finally tick one, until then its off my garden list. No sign of the bonaparte's gull for the third time :( at whitburn, looks like i'll have to wait until its pinned down again?

Buzzard today at Axwell park with shrew

adult med gull, 1 of 5 at Newbiggin last week

four ruff at Lamesley flash pool last week

Another tern

Started off the morning with a dodge around gateshead.
Shibdon pond - black tailed godwit, water rail
Lamesley flash pool - 2 x ruff
Timber beach - common sandpiper
Then i decided on another try for the bonaparte's gull, no luck again after a 2 hour search :( but a bonus was an adult Black Tern off Whitburn steel and 2 med gulls adult + 1st year birds. Hopefully its found again and i'll be straight down for it :0

white-winged black tern

Went to east chev for the juv white-winged black tern :) it was in the roost at 9pm sat night.

Photo taken with samsung note 2 with leica apo televid 77

Didn't have the same luck with the bonaparte's gull at whitburn today :( but its been in the area the past four years for a few weeks :0 so there is still a chance yet ;)

Year ticks keep on coming :)

This time a Sooty Shearwater off Newbiggin-by-the-sea, thought i would get my seawatching off to a start with a trip up the coast, very quiet but did get that year tick, also had 20+ manx sheartwater and a dead minke whale off shore :( Cresswell had Knot-4 x greenshank-6 avocet, then it was back to stella to look for the yellow legged gull again but no sign this afternoon :(

Dead whale :(

drum roll please :)

Its confirmed as a Yellow legged gull, thanks to all parties who confirmed the id of this bird:)

Extensive black on wing tip, small mirror on p9 and full black band on p5 just visible on right wing :) adult yellow legged gull.

Dark mantle, yellow"ish" long legs, heavy bill, good head shape all features of ylg.

probable yellow legged gull on tyne

Had a probable ylg on the tyne at stella today, ive got to look into it a bit more before i call it but its looking good, rba and gull research have both being sent the photos, ive had an email back from rba and it does look good for ylg but they have to look into it further to make sure its not a hybrid? Lesser black backed x herring. Here is a couple of photos, it would be a gateshead lifer for me if its eventually called as a yellow legged gull? Fingers crossed ;)