Blyth Estuary

An extended walk along the banks of the River Blyth as it changes from mud flats to more stony sides obviously the birds change waders and gulls feeding on the mud and waters edge ,Goldeneye & Mergansers moving upstream with the incoming tide  ,Black Headed Gulls dip feeding on whatever comes from the surface water  drain that pours into he centre of the river . In between the two bridges one rail one road is where the mallards are feeding also up to a dozen Moorhens ,this day the water was fairly fast flowing and I was surprised to see a Dipper on the far side well that was it scope set up to watch it feed as it dipped into the water and bobbed back up like a cork the water instantly running off it's back . I tried to follow as it was underwater crossing the flow on a diagonal path as it walked along the river bottom but the trouble with digiscoping is once youv'e lost the target its very hard to pick it up again having to take the camera off to re-aquire the bird ,but luckily it posed in-between its forays . The faint call of a second bird could be heard and I picked it up further upstream as it softly called from its perch on a small rock  ,there flight call is usually much clearer alerting you to there passing , and the song is also faint sometimes barely audible above the sound of the water ,but it must be clear to other Dippers, I spent a good 40 mins watching these two birds which is better than just ticking them off and walking on .

Just a couple of short clips I left the sound on in the hope of picking up the call but its impossible to hear over the traffic and flowing river.

You can see just how fast the river is running , an amazing creature that can virtually walk under water , the ever flicking nictitating membrane crossing the eye as it makes a cleaning sweep ,it seems to work from top to bottom ,also the dipping and fanning of the tail.

As I got back further down the river the tide had pushed in this Common Seal popped up to check me out , I love the way they just sink back  into the depths  !!!