Great Grey Shrike

The plan for today was to start off at Seaton Sluice to do a bit of seawatching but the thick mist put paid to that, so I headed off to Woodhorn to have a look for the Great Grey Shrike , I gave it a good hour but no sign , so I moved on to Newbiggin parked near the mound and walked over to the golf course two Redshank on a small pool and two Ring Ouzel flushed  not much else for me but checked out the area where I last saw the Ring Ouzel and one landed in the Gorse than dropped onto the grass.
Moved onto Cresswell  with a brief stop at Snab Point to have a look at the sea but got distracted by Fulmars flying back and forth along the cliffs, Cresswell North end Two Avocets and a further two on the shore of the main pond , White Wagtail and Wheatear , Andy Mc informed me the Shrike had returned so I headed off and spent the rest of the time having some cracking views of it till it flew out of sight and did not return, Three Swifts over in the distance picked up by Steff, still very cold today but at least no rain !!!

 Ring Ouzel pops out from the Gorse and onto the grass to feed, great to see out in the open !!

 Fulmars at Snab just loafing about and enjoying their flights along the cliff

 "Tubenose" clearly seen in this shot

 30 Sandwich Terns at Cresswell being rather raucous but nice to hear !!

 And  a nice confiding Wheatear in the cattle field

Just got some short video of the Shrike before it flew off, but it did give cracking views !!!

River Blyth

Another cycle ride along the River Blyth without the camera this time as I had the scope , so it was digi or nothing went straight along to look for the Little Egrets ,but the council is working on the new path  ( I think it's to make it easier for people to dump rubbish , or faster for the numerous unlicensed and uninsured motorbikes that seem to use this as a rat run so beware) any way found three of the Egrets but looking into the light so I had to go around and look back down but now they where some way off . Further down a Wheatear caught my attention so I spent some time trying to get some shots in a brief sunny spell , at least 200 Great Black Backs roosting  on the old pit workings , 2 Goosanders fed along the north edge later 3 Mergansers by the old power sattion. Later I went down to Ridley Park via any trees or bushes I could find, there was a very good site that was last used as an old wood yard with a tangle of bushes,Brambles etc; giving loads of cover but now the site is cleared and it's just grass. Ridley Park at this time most of the birds concentrated behind the Tennis Courts the cover is thick with little access, I could hear a Yellow Browed calling  but failed to find it all I got was  Chiffchaff, the Great Crested  Grebe was still around but the light no better making it look dull.

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 I presume the Yellowish tone to the legs of these two birds is an indication of Juveniles ?

I am sure Dulux could come up with some fancy name for those yellow feet

 This Wheatear proved very difficult to digiscope  with a fence blocking not my view but the scope as in was set , I persevered as its all good practice for that one day "biggy" , Wheatears are fantastic looking birds even this Autumn male looking smart

Typical of trying to photograph birds the sun barely breaks through the clouds then went dull, only to later come out with full force, but by now the bird has gone !!!