5-02-09 Blyth Harbour

Thursday the 5th ,not having much time today so I decided to go down to Blyth Harbout to see what was around, before I left I put some scraps out for the birds ,there is a pair of Collared Doves around and has been as many as 23, there common now but hard to believe they only started to nest in this country in the mid- late fifties? and the nest site was top secret, I heard them on an episode of Heartbeat once and wondered if they had reached that far by the late 60's, anyway I like having them around they have slight resemblance to a bird of prey as they zip into the garden enough to put the wind up the rest of the birds , if only for a second or two.
The harbour held only a few Gulls but the fishing boats had left and on their return late afternoon brought back many gulls , a lot of which as the boat entered the harbour , they left and flew back out to tag on the next boat , a couple of kittiwakes hanging about , no sign of Iceland or glaucous , a Pied Wagtail minus its tail was an odd sight as it flitted around still nimble enough to avoid my efforts to get a photo, a couple of Rock Pipits on the beach.
Collared dove common in the garden , but there must still be a few people around that twitched them in the past.!!!!

looking a little ungainly as it sits around, but what a different bird in the air !!!!

Slight hint of brown in the wing, and darker bill on the left hand bird

Having robbed a Cormorant it could not swallow watched it for ages , and I gave up before it did and went off elsewhere