White Wingers

With some good Gulls on offer me and Mark headed off for Teesside this morning, Andy was leading the York Bird Club outing and they had also decided to go there so we met upwith them a few times during the day, we started at the Fish Quay on Hartlepool Headland where we soon located an immature Glaucous Gull on one of the roofs, it was generally quiet for Gulls though but a local birder informed us that the Kumlien's type Iceland Gull was on view just around the corner, we went round and found the bird typically sat asleep on the other side of the dock, there was also an immature Little Gull and adult Kittiwake feeding just out in front of us and the Kumlien's did eventually wake up and had a fly around before heading off probably out to sea, we had a quick look off Parton Rocks for yesterdays Red Necked Grebe but there was no sign of it today. We headed back to Teesside calling off at Newburn Bridge for the Med Gull, on its lamppost as usual, then it was Dormans and Saltholme Pools looking for a 2nd winter Iceland Gull that had come on the pager but it must have quickly moved on so we soon made our way to Cowpen Bewley Woodland Park where the drake Ring Necked Duck and a female Smew were on the pool there but they kept their distance. We decided to end the day at South Gare hoping to connect with a large flock of Snow Buntings seen earlier but they didn’t show this afternoon but there was a good selection of Waders etc, three Twite landed on wires briefly and there was a female Scaup on the Blast Furnace Pool.

Glaucous on the roof

adult Kittiwake

and immature Little Gull

Sleeping Kumlien's

eventually woke up

and had a fly around

some nice sinensis type Cormorants also

Med Gull leaving its lamppost for the beach

Pintail at Saltholme

distant Redhead Smew

the Ring Necked Duck came a little closer

female Scaup at South Gare