A few from yesterdays ocean voyage.

Picked up upon a tweet a couple of weeks back advertising a pelagic going out from the Tyne on Sunday gone- too good to miss I thought at £35 for the full day! and also I hadn't been on a one for years so booked up.

 Really nice day had with the lads from over the water- the usual suspects bird wise and some great views at times.

 A few Sooty Shearwaters had,this one showed really well- interested in the gull gathering from the chum slick created from the boat.

 I think it's a first for me, getting any shots of Manx Shearwater settled on the water?  2 birds in feeding mode with Kittiwakes and a immature Little gull (not in the pic).

Skuas passing thro-  couple of Bonxies and also 2 Arctics..if my memory serves me well?

Missed out on the bird sweep stake (number of bird species seen from departing port to returning)  by one! Curlew seen close to the jetty taking the count to 35.

Hopefully I'll be on this one again next year.!

Mull 16

 After not setting foot on Mull for 3 years, we decided it was time we returned to the Isle of Bliss this year. As always we set off early doors to take in the pleasures of Oban harbour before embarking on the ferry crossing- this alas didn't go as planned, the weather put pay to this. Thankfully a small window of opportunity opened before leaving Oban.

 Red-breasted Mergansers

 Great-Northern's still around the lochs on Mull and showing great at times near the shore.(still trying for good pics of these) Didn't manage Red-throated on this visit.

 The only Whimbrel this week - 8 in the fields around Fidden farm.

 4 Golden plover at Pennyghael one morning.

 Iona on the first ferry Monday morning and the longest spell we've spent to- date to hear a Corncrake call here. It took 2-3 hours unbelievably on this visit and we were just about to give up and try another day when this male popped up right in front of us calling. The Tea break was postponed indefinitely.

 Whilst he sat here his mate ran through the grass just feet way.A locals comment was just classic after our wait- 'try going to sleep here' ..

 Closest I managed of Raven on this visit-

 Golden eagle above the cottage (seen on 3 occasions here) - we stayed here this year,http://www.isleofmullcottages.com/cottage/the-byre.html  cracking base and cottage with great views.

 Loch-na-Keal Goldie.

 Nice birds-:-)

 Expectational visit regards Hen Harrier - Grass point first drop- in after getting off the ferry and we bump into Mick and Mish! and Hilary a couple of times also this week.

 Kintra male displaying above the bay with a kill

 Female hunting at the regular drop in ;-)

 Otter picked up at four different areas.

 Wild goat?

Another fantastic visit to Mull -Eagles,Harriers,otters etc. we dipped on Mountain hares this year around the Ross area and Twite but cannot complain..

Cracking few hours out west on Sunday and a bit more local.

 Another impromptu jaunt on Sunday - out west for the first time this year resulted in my best count  of Black grouse seen to date. This after nearly coming a cropper on the St.Johns chapel to Langdon beck road, which the summit area was a tad naughty snow wise on this visit. So a bit of a detour via Stanhope followed-got there eventually....

In the usual fields to the north of the hotel- 33 males picked up (could well have been more) after a few counts from the car. Only 3 females and theses hid well.

 7 males near the Cow Green turn off - providing the closest views on this visit

And 15 males rested up just north of Langdon beck seen from on the St.Johns chapel rd. 

 Cow green

 Saturdays visit along the Don seems to have restored my belief - only the one really old 'glue- like' sign on this rock over a week ago and some great pics on the net of Water Vole sightings this week. Great local sightings along the Don wildlife wise.

The Green-winged teal at the flats on Saturday- closer!

A few from the weekend and more.

 I paid a couple of visits this weekend to the Hebburn area after learning about Redpolls coming to feeders at a site I've never visited before (thanks Paul! ).Polls have been pretty low on the ground this winter in our area so thought I'll give it a try. Really pleasantly surprised with what has been created at the Monkton community woods. Nice woodland type walkways in a urban area and a viewing screen overlooking a feeding area which the locals and folk looking after this site seem to keep topped up.

 5/6 Lesser Redpolls on Saturday visited whilst here, but only one yesterday on a shorter visit. More around the area after reading a report from today!

 All the usual suspects visiting the feeders - another nice place to pop into when in the area!.the more eyes the better watching this area.

 Seeing Dabchicks (Little grebes) ain't that rare a sight really in ST ....but this pair on the Cockcrow pond (ok technically it's Gateshead) is something I hadn't seen before-not that I visit much and don't hear of any reports from here.

 And the best shot I've managed of the Green-winged teal at Boldon flats on Sunday- still distant but closer than any other visit.

 And my first Water Vole sighting for the year a few days back in Station burn, a couple of ripples of water encountered along this stretch of the Don before one showed briefly.

Couple of latrines found on this visit, hopefully more to follow in the coming weeks. No luck so far with fresh otter sign on the few visits so far this year here or the Scotchy dene-hopefully other folk have had better luck.

Well it had to be done- the Fudge

 I had a half hearted attempt at trying to see the 'free flying' un-ringed Ferruginous duck at Washington wwt a few weeks back.But that just resulted in waiting for any male to get out of the water to check his legs out....nil points.

 So off I went again today after seeing reports of this bird hanging out on the reservoir lake in one of the wild sections here.

 He was still there when I arrived and stayed there for about 20-30 minutes. In that time he hung
around mainly with the Tufties but never seemed settled with his companions here .Three times he swam to one end of the lake and took off to fly to the other end- into the wind. Then he finally done a one heading off towards the enclosures.

Plastic fantastic or not...great to see.

Only the second time I've had the pleasure of Shore lark.

 Set out yesterday with the better half and the dog in tow. First off we thought we'd have a look at Hawthorn dene woods since it's been about a year since we last visited this site.The parking area by the farm was packed when we arrived here,must have been some sort of ramble going on? When we eventually reached the small feeding area the signs didn't look good- no evidence of anyone keeping up feeding the birds here now. We put down seed and waited a canny while before deciding to wander a little further as no birds came down-returned later and sadly the same result...zilch. Hopefully it was just wor luck on this visit.

So it was head scratching time after this...where to try next? Saltholme did appeal for the obvious reason/s but alas no, not with the dog in tow. So the next best thing -some place in Hartlepool that I've only heard of in reports. Found the Spion kop cemetery (eventually) and about 6 cars were parked up with birders etc. all scanning the scraped off area just to the south of here. Five Snow bunts flitted around but it hardly surprising they kept disappearing due to the disturbance from the motor X types that use this area. Gave up after a short wander with the dog....Gave it another go a while later- this time it was quiet and after scanning the ground the reason for the visit was found feeding at the southern end of the barron area.

Cracking! only the second sighting we've had- the first being the Trow bird a few years back.

Not the best pics but went away happy just seeing them.