Northern Success!

Northern Success!

We arrived at Druridge Country Park at around 8:30am after getting a lift from Keith & Dave. As soon as we got out of the car, we were greeting by around 120 Pink-footed Geese flying overhead, making their iconic call. I immediately began scanning the lake from the car park hoping to find my target bird. Whilst scanning, I was pleasantly surprised to find a pair of Red-breasted Mergansers on the lake, something I didn't expect to see on an inland lake, but not too special as we were still fairly close to the coast. We then walked further round the lake towards a big crowd of birders, when a lone birder headed our way and told us that the bird had flown down to the other end of the lake. We then went back on ourselves, but once at the other end of the lake, we still couldn't find the bird, only a few Goldeneyes and two Little Grebes. While we were scanning through the birds, we found out that the bird had been seen again, near where we had parked. We quickly made our way there, and immediately managed to spot the beautiful White-billed Diver! 

As we were watching the bird, we noticed it was slowly coming closer to us. After a bit of waiting, I noticed it was within range of my camera, and managed to get a few record shots of it. However, since the lake was frozen, the bird was unable to come any closer, and slowly, it dove out of sight behind a few reeds. We then made our way back to the car and after quickly refilling our tyre pressure, we set off to go find a mega rarity. 

We arrived at East Chevington at around 10:00am in hopes of finding the mega rare Grey-headed Lapwing. As soon as we got out of the car, we started scanning the fields in had recently been seen in, yet to no avail. We then checked the pools which had a few Northern Lapwings on them, yet no Grey-headed Lapwing. We did however spot a Kingfisher briefly in flight and hear a Cetti's Warbler. We then decided to do a quick seawatch at the dunes, spotting hundreds of Common Scoters, a few Red-throated Divers, two Eiders, a Shag, a Razorbill, and a Red-breasted Merganser. Whilst doing our seawatch, we were accompanied by a Song Thrush which was sat on a nearby post. We then set off to try and find a dull, but rare bird.

We arrived at Ross Back Sands at around 1:00pm and started making our way over to Guile Point, where our target bird, the American Pipit, had last been seen. Along the way, we spotted around 200 Barnacle Geese fly overhead. After a long, hard trek through two miles of sand, we eventually made it to Guile Point. We joined a few birders who were tucked away inside the dunes and almost on cue, the American Pipit came into view and started showing down to 6ft away, coming closer and closer. 

Although it was a dull bird, it showed really well, before getting spooked by four Meadow Pipits. We then went over to check the saltmarsh. On the saltmarsh, we noticed a large flock of Oystercatchers and Dunlin, with a few Knot, Bar-tailed Godwits, Turnstones, and Curlew mixed in with them. We also spotted a small flock of Pale-bellied Brent Geese, as well as a Rock Pipit. As the light was fading, and we had a long walk back, we made our way back to the car, greeting Simon and Dawn along the way. Once at the car, we decided to check out one last spot nearby, to see if we could find anything interesting. 

We arrived at Fenham-le-Moor at around 4:00pm and immediately started scanning the estuary. Whilst scanning, we noticed a very tame Song Thrush, so Keith put some seed and mealworms out for it, which it gladly accepted. The seed also attracted a Robin, which, at times, came up right besides our feet! Out on the estuary, we noticed many Pale-bellied Brent Geese & Shelducks, along with a few Turnstones. Then, a huge flock of Rooks flew overhead calling, before going down out of view, presumably to roost. The perfect end to a brilliant day.

Overall, a great day with my first lifers of 2025 (White-billed Diver & American Pipit)!