An early start saw me heading out and it wasn't long before i was travelling along the A1 north.A stop en route for a quick kip at Durham services had the desired affect and i carried onto Prestwick,easily finding the birds chosen area.It was still dark,and chucking it down,so i stayed put as i waited for it to get light and thankfully it began to stop raining as well.
After getting the kit together,the first half an hour or so of light were nervy to say the least,but i eventually found the bird at incredibly close range,being perhaps as close as five feet away!.It was just too dark to photograph the bird,so plenty of plumage study was had.
The bird was being harassed by a Robin while i watched it,so was pretty jumpy,being seen in a few different areas and thankfully when it flew,the call was heard on several occasions and i noted two different types,one similar to Citrine and another which sounded more flutey and flava Wagtail like.
As the sun came out,the bird looked much paler,with the light change and it was great to see it spending much time finding plenty of Chironomid Midge larvae to feed on.
After enjoying my fill of views of the bird and my 9th new bird species for the year,i carried on my journey and headed for Cheswick/Goswick to look for the Black Scoter.
After parking up at Goswick golf club,a quick walk over the course and over the dunes,saw me getting in position and i began to scan the sea quickly finding the whopping Common Scoter flock,which must have contained at least 600 birds and i thought to myself this isn't going to be easy on my own as the birds were continually diving as well.
I persevered and eventually had a five second view of the Black Scoter as it aggressively attacked a male Common,before i lost it again,but at least i had seen the bird,get in!.
It wasn't long before i was onto him again and this time i watched him for about ten minutes,as he swam about posturing to the female Commons and preening,the yellow area on the bill really standing out,even at long range and at 60x.
Other species encountered here,included some lovely views of a Black-throated Diver and a more distant Great-northern,with 6 Long-tailed Duck(Including 2 cracking drakes),10 Red-throated Diver,3 drake Red-breasted Merganser,2 Puffin,6 Razorbill and 10 Eider also entering the notebook.
I was really pleased to finally see the drake Black scoter,after dipping on my last visit in January 2017 and this bird became my 10th new bird this year and 476th species overall.
As it was only 1.30pm,i decided to travel the short distance over to Bamburgh,just south along the coast,as a Black Guillemot had been present on previous days.
Plenty of looking here for the Black Guillie,sadly saw the bird had moved on,but fine compensation was had in another Great-northern Diver,2 Long-tailed Duck,60 Common Scoter and a very nice flock of 110 Purple Sandpiper which gave point blank views as they roosted,preened and bathed on Stag Rocks.
So what a fantastic days birding/twitching was enjoyed today,in one of my favourite areas in the country and it was a real shame to travel home,but i will be back next year at some point no doubt.
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| Juvenile/1st winter Eastern-yellow Wagtail,Prestwick Carr. |
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| Looking Along The Coast From Goswick Towards Berwick Upon Tweed. |
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| Looking Along The Coast From Goswick Towards Lindisfarne. |
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| Bamburgh Castle Taken From Stag Rocks. |
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