Furrowed-browed Wobbler!

I am close to having one! 

I have spent many an hour (and I do mean many) staring at bushes at St. Mary's, The Haven and Royal Newbiggin.  So far, I am being hammered by the wee blighters.

I found tit flocks, without any hangers-on, and warblers (chiffchaffs in abundance), but not yet have I found a tit flock with a warbler in-tow that has been a yellow-browed.

Ash Lagoon bank this morning - Robins, Blackbirds, Redwings, Kestrel, 13 Whoopers over low and south, 80 Pink-feet high and south, 15 Barnacles low and north over the shore, and a very interesting call repeatedly on the bank next to the 14th tee (near the roped-off area and the half-white vertical railway sleeper).  Never heard it before - metalic-ish, rasping call, either in a series of two or three or a one-off!

Off to trawl Xeno-Canto now and to The Haven after dinner for another go!

Wild up North

Tim - I cannot seem to add a comment to your blog, and I know you read this one.  Your mystery bug is a Hover Fly larva.  Unsure of the species tho'.  And they said a Zoology degree would never come in useful!

No More Lattes?

Regular readers will note my Saturday usually starts with a Maccy D's latte with an extra shot. Today, as I thought I would give North Tyneside a bash, I omitted the drink and went straight to the area around The Haven, Priors Park and North Pier. It was all very quiet but at least it was dry, cooler than of late and the sunrise was spectacular.

Whitley Bay Cemetery was equally sombre, and I was saddened to see that my caffeine-related hero was no more:

Onward and upward and off to St. Mary's next.  Hods of Skylarks over the stubble field on the way in, and the ebbing tide had exposed a load of sea weed that was awash with Sanderling, Dunlin, Turnstone, Redshank and Starlings.

And these guys just off-shore:

Along the path to the west of the wetlands, singing his wee lungs out was this chap:

The rest of the path was quiet save for Reed Buntings, and the willows and the north end of the wetlands were the quietest I have experienced.

On the ploughed field, the three wise..........