This morning saw me take the very long drive to Northumberland. I was hoping to see the Greater Yellowlegs, a very rare wader in Britain. I had seen them in the US a couple of times, but the draw of an Eastern type Black Redstart in the same county did the trick. Now to find the birds. A pager message said the bird had flown from Hauxley (which seemed to be the best place early in the morning to see the bird, and best for really close shots), before we had arrived. Another message said the bird had been refound at East Chevington, South pool. We arrived at the North pool, wrong one, to news the bird had disappeared again!! Had a quick look through the birs on the pool. There was a fairly large flock of Geese, mainly Greylags, but there were probably 25 White-fronted Geese and a smaller amount of Pink-footed Geese. A few waders there too, Dunlin and Redshanks.
We decided to go to Hauxley to hope the Yellowlegs would relocate there. Around the car park there was a small flock of Tree Sparrows. I spoke to the warden who explained where the bird gets normally. Again the pager went off, the Yellowlegs was at Cresswell pond! Got there fairly quickly and the bird was there, seen from the hide, but the other end of the pool, so i went to that end only to find it back at the hide end!! Giving me the run around, but did manage some distant shots.
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| Greater Yellowlegs |
With probably only an hour and a half of light left, i decided to go to Holy Island for the Redstart. After parking the car and a fairly quick walk along the beach, there was my second quarry. This bird showed really well as the light went, but well enough, i suppose.
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| 'Eastern' Black Redstart (form phoenicuroides) |
Bloody long drive home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But, two stunning birds ticked off.
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