Saturday morning, weather forecast pretty good so I thought I would have a further look at the Squacco Heron. Arrived at what I thought was quite early only to find Vee and Nigel already looking. It was eventually tracked down by a chap from Harrogate and then flew up the river right next to the Blue Bridge where it paraded up and down for the next couple of hours with too much "light" at times. Took quite a lot of pics but only kept a few (how unusual although you know the bad workman blames tools thing (cant wait to get "my"camera back from the fixers)). When I left at 11ish there was about 30 people there.
Off up to Big Waters where the water levels are becoming quite high and the island has just about dissappeared although the scrape and cut have vanished, as can be seen from the picture below. The cut has been foreshortened by the camera and is at least 20m long and normally your more likely to catch a deer or fox strolling on it than ducks "paddling". Plenty on the pond though, 11 Goldeneye, 110+ Greylags, 4 Mute Swans providing a bit of flying fun and also spotted a Treecreeper and several Redwing.
After a walk around with Alan J I headed to Newbiggin where I tried to hone my sea-watching skills LOL. Not a great lot flying around although I did manage to recognise a few as they flew closer but who gets Cormorants and Eiders wrong although I did spot a couple of Gannets. Got a long distance shot of an Eider flying (my first one) so cropped to hell here it is.
I've come to the conclusion that there is a few thing I need for Sea Watching:
1. A better telescope.
2. A cornea transplant.
3. 5 years more experience
4. An experienced birder sitting beside me patting my head when I get it right and ................... when I get it wrong.
Fill in blanks spaces if you want to
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