On the Bus again !!!

17th March A walk around Newbiggin via the west side of the Golf Course then Beacon point the tide high and a group of pipits on the seaweed up to 10 birds and I picked out 4 birds that had the look of  Littoralis  but all keeping either their distance from me or each other constantly chasing each other from their chosen spot, a quick look in the bay on the way back 4 Med Gulls on the beach 

 2 of 4 med Gulls in the bay

 2 Dunlin in a small left behind as the tide fell

18th March Another bus trip this time to Amble then I walked down to Cresswell for the bus home its a long walk not much to show for it but it was another fantastic day its just good to be out 

 only added a single Siskin on the feeders,unable or unwilling to carry the scope all this way I was unable to give East Chevington and Cresswell a good look over , Red Throated Divers in the bay and a small movement of Gannets north.

 Looking back at Amble single Common Scoter in with the Eider here

 Coquet Island which despite being so near I have never been on yet !!
Lapwing on the slopes from the Tern Hide ,plenty of Feral Geese this reserve has been dubbed the "Goose Farm "

 Hauxley was the lunch stop giving me time to count the 148 Curlew roosting on the island also a Bar Tailed Godwit to add to my bus list
Spot the birds ,2 grey Partridge hide in what looks like hardly a dip in the ground ,I had not seen the one on the left till I looked at  the photo, a small flock of Linnets also  here with a couple of Twite in  which is why I was scanning the ground for them  , 30+ on my last visit

21st Started with another visit to ST  Mary's but it was rapidly obvious  there was not mush around the waders pushed off the rocks which included a couple of Purple Sandpipers  so I headed towards Tynemouth for a walk along to the Fish Quay ,lots of Butter Burr in flower a very large patch  along the steep grassy hillside ,nothing of note at the Quay so I got the ferry across and a bus along the coast to Whitburn just to work out how to get there but  by this time it was late afternoon 

Photos out of sequence this is the  Fish Quay from the ferry 

 Curlew leaving the rocks as high tide pushes the waders off, the prom is one of the best places to see this

 Large patch of ButterBurr near Tynemouth

 This rather tatty Comma sunning itself on the path

 Tynemouth Castle from the Ferry

22nd took the bus to Newbiggin  started off in the bay only one med Gull seen though the tide was well out walked along the beach to Beacon point but it was not till I headed back saw my first Wheatear of the year and on the bus list, it was in no mood to hang around and headed north along the beach , picked up 6 or so pipits but they just flitted overhead and back along the beach also , high tide is a much better time to get a good look at them. Stopped off at Ashington for the Waxwings sitting atop a small tree and dropping onto some berries across the road , just getting the camera out the bag and they had gone waited around but they did not return ,plenty of berries though so they should hang around .

My first Wheatear of the year

 Always lots of Dog Whelk shells in the bay ?

 Looking across to Beacon Point Newbiggin, several signs of old trees along the shore this the best example of  I suppose an ancient tree, Cresswell beach has an excellent showing of tree stumps but only seen occasionally.

23rd another sunny day  with a walk along the coast to St Mary's Island stopped at the cliffs to get some close up flight shots of the Fulmars only to find not one around nor further along in the next bay , the wetland had a few teal Mallard, Redshank and 2 Snipe not seeing many Snipe around, 5 Purple Sandpipers and 3 Knot with the numerous Sanderling, Redshank and Oystercatchers on the rocks as the tide came in 4 Pied Wagtails and a few Pipits along the links beach could not get anywhere near them.

 Low tide view of St mary's Island