No Whiskered Tern, but....

.............what a crackin' day anyway!

Started with plenty of Sparrowhawk activity at 06:30 when taking the pup for her cock-a-doodle poo (Viz's Profanisaurus will explain) including two duelling above Chez Moi!  Accipit-astic!

Off north, first stop East Chev. and Drake-like (Sir Fancis, not a male duck), I surveyed the sea from the top of a tall dune.  Seven RBM's and one RT Diver, with nothing else on the surface but plenty of Gannet diving action. 

The burn mouth had a gathering of Terns; Common, Arctic and a solitary Roseate.  The South Pool was a duck fest, and the North Pool was one loaded with Coots, Lapwings and Greylags.

Off to The Pools, again the sea was nude in Diver terms, so off to the Oddie, only to find a Little Egret present, dining on Sticklebacks.

And its larger cousin also snacking on wee fish!

Also present was one Dunlin, one Common Sandpiper, one Greenshank and several Common Terns.

Next stop, Snab Point, which was disappointing other than four Med Gulls in with a flock of mixed Gulls just to the south of the headland and hods of Sanderlings on the shore.

Bothal Pond almost lived up to its name - Bot All, except for another Greenshank on the NE shore.  And barra-lods of Coots.

And so to Morpeth, yet again, in pursuit of a Kingfisher.  As ever, zilch.  BUT, Sir Cowell of Kingston had mentioned that Mitford might be worth a punt, and worth a punt it was.  Within 15 seconds of getting to the riverside, voila, a Kingfisher low from the right.  And after a little wellie-led exploring, I found the wee laddie further down stream, but inaccessible, so the shitiest record shot known to man or woman follows.

Two Cross

Popped up to East Chev. this pm for the Black-throated Divers.  Ticked within seconds of surveilling the sea, which makes a pleasant change.  At least eight Red-throats too, and at one stage, six in the same scope view.  Nice!

But back to birding reality with yet another Rosy Tern failure, and at Morpeth, no tick for the ever elusive Kingfisher.

If at first you don't succeed..........................

Adam and Eve

After this morning's debacle (item @ 19:00 hrs), I tried to cram an hour in at Seaton Sluice this evening.  Just as I was about to sit and over look a beautiful and apparently busier sea, the moby goes and it's No. 1 Son telling me his new footy had been pinched by some locals.  The shortest sea-watch known to man was followed by some Sweeney-like driving and just as I got to 'the scene', ball recovered and all's well (except a wasted 20 minutes and 15 miles of diesel and fading light).

Not to be out done, off for 30 minutes at Arcot.  Usual suspects there BUT sneaking along the periphery of the reed mace along the east shore was Rallus aquaticus.  What a corker!

Would you Adam'n'Eve it?!?!