Bridled Ter....no !!!......22-6-10

Bullfinch now a regular visitor to the garden and here a pair taking a bath together, it never fails to amaze me how much birds enjoy a bath some come back 2-3 times for more.

22-6-10 With the news of Bridled Tern on the 21st at East Chevington, it was a long shot but worth a try, checked the spit at BlythEstuary , and a couple of places along the coast in the hope of gathered terns , but too early for that .

Only a few birders at EC scoped the Terns picking out , Sandwich,Arctic, Common and later a Little Tern, with also some Little Gulls Black Tailed Godwit.

Had a walk to look for Orchids at least a 100 spikes of Lesser Butterfly Orchid, Twayblade & lots of Common Spotted, no sign of any Bee sure I have had them in late June before, first Common Blue of the year, Small Heath, only a few Blue damsels on the small pool , but later in the day Four Spot Chaser(lots this year), and Emperor with a single Black Tailed Skimmer at Woodhorn.

Also called in at Druridge for the male Ruff, nice bird it sat fast asleep behind a rock and we had to wait till it decided to have a wander, difficult to capture a good image with it colouring.

The message of reported Bridled Tern at Budle summed up the day , but it was still a good day out.

Druridge Pools ...........Glossy Ibis

Glossy Ibis reported from the Oddie hide and showing well ,so I thought another chance to get some shots, no sign when I got there, gave it a good scan then into the south facing hide to see if it could be picked up no sign ,so back into the main hide and the bird showing the the extreme left side of the west end, it flew around a few times when chased by a Heron and eventually went south and lost to view , It was howling strong wind coming in the open shutter , apart from 5 Heron and a few Mallard ,Teal and a single juv Great Crested Grebe, nothing else of note ,stopped at Cresswell and gave the south pool a scan but no sign and nothing else on there to bring it in , it does seem to prefer a few other birds around.
Last stop on the way home as the wind had me beat , Woodhorn Flash south good gathering of Gulls and in with them an adult Med which joined the Black-headeds behind the plough in the side field also picked out a second winter bird, and a 1st winter passed near enough to get a couple of shots , so not only the first time I have seen Meds follow the plough but I got three , could easily have been more given the closeness of there chosen quarters of Newbiggin just over the hill.
It looked as though it was going to come right past the hide but only circled a few times eventually going south lost to view

four Pink-feet heading north over the main pond

1st Winter Med Woodhorn Flash the south pool one of three that was following the plough

Three of five Wagtails at the road end