North East wanderings

I had a trip up to Whitburn Coastal Park this morning where a Buff Breasted Sandpiper has been showing well the last couple of days but despite a good scan of the ploughed field it been frequenting there was no sign of it today, nothing much else in the area so after lunch I headed back South calling at Blackhall Rocks, just a couple of Eiders, Hartlepool Headland, very quiet, Newburn Bridge, a couple of Med Gulls and some Common Terns on the beach, North Gare, dark clouds looming, I high tailed it to Saltholme and sat out the shower in the Phil Stead Hide then when it had passed I went for a quick look at the redhead Smew on the main lake finishing off with what is possibly my sixth Great White Egret of the year on the East Pool, certainly the closest one though.

Med Gulls at Newburn Bridge

and Common Terns

Black Tailed Godwit at Phil Stead hide

and Curlew

redhead Smew Saltholme main lake

Herons and Egrets on the East Pool

closest I've ever got to one of these