Sundays Travels

Sunday and the weather was a tad better than the previous day so the Beloved and I shot up to Big Waters for an hour.   Not many duck around but the resident Mute Swans had decided to wander into the Feeding Station for a poke around and a bit of a snack. 

Amongst the 30-40 Siskins flying around was a "Mealy" Redpoll although even after looking at various books and pics I'm still not 100% positive, so just give me another 15-20 years and I might be able to tell them apart as quickly as everyone can tell Glaucous and Iceland Gulls apart.

Once again the beloved beat me to the punch with the following pic

We then set off for Howick Hall to see the Snowdrops although the first thing we saw was a Treecreeper

scrambling up the wall, time for a quick rather unfocussed pic but it is one of those

birds that I tend to fit into the prehistoric looking types and never get fed up of looking at them

Whilst wandering around looking at the Snowdrops which were actually still quite firmly closed due to the still crappy weather we did come across an unusual plant.  I asked a couple of knowledgable looking people who were looking around and they didn't know either.  Why did I think they were knowledgeable ? well they were all old (60ish) the male of the species were carrying binoculars, one of the females was carrying a SLR camera, they were appropriately dressed - hang on, I am describing Carole and I and knowledgeable I am certainly NOT

After a nice wander round the stomach was runbling so off to Seahouses for Pie and Chips.  First we stopped off at Beadnell and 6 Black-Tailed Godwit were feeding quite merrily on a high advancing tide. 

There was also quite a few Turnstones moving around at a fast rate of knots

Also a bunch of Redshanks playing follow the "littler leader".  I thought they were all Redshanks when they (16) came flying in and landed in single file along the rocks on the edge of the advancing tide.

Finally, Oystercatchers which are some of the prettiest birds in flight you can see.

It was then time for food so after grabbing a Pie and Chips we headed back to Beadnell to sit and watch the waders being forced off the shoreline and lots of Eider coming close in and doing a bit of this and a lot of that.  Pics taken through car but destroyed due to being out of focus a bit on the risque side.