The Juvenile Birder

Twitch , Eat, Sleep, Repeat! We arrived at Whitley Bay at around 8:00am (after a 3hr drive) in hopes of seeing the recently reported Pied Wheatear. We parked along the side of the road and walked towards the Panama Dip. Upon arrival, we met Phil, who let us look through his scope and directed us to the Pied Wheatear . It was arguably one of the easiest twitches. The beautiful Pied Wheatear was tame and not bothered by the runners or us! It is always great to see a pretty bird without bins and I enjoyed watching this bird, as it flitted around! It sat in plain sight, on the side of a wall, and came closer to us, on his own accord. It was great light too, making for one of my best record shots! We then drove 8 minutes to St Mary's Island in hopes of seeing, what was reported as a showy Water Pipit. When we arrived, we walked down to the promenade and scanned all the rocks and kelp. We met and chatted with a great birder named John, who said the bird was in a single spot, chasing aro...

 Spring Migrants are Here! We arrived at Burton Mere at early evening. We first went to Bridge Pool where the female Long-Tailed Duck was. We then went on the boardwalk to Border Hide where Common Lizards normally bask. It seemed the the lizards were wise and decided to stay in due to the cold. 85 Knot had been reported on Border Pool so we made our way there. It turns out, a few minutes ago all the Knot were flushed by a Marsh Harrier and went back to the saltmarsh. We then went to Burton Point for Green Woodpeckers with no luck. There were no Woodcock seen on the journey either. We then stopped at the Bridge Screen after spotting some Sand Martins. There were many Sand Martins and at least 2 Swallows skimming over the water. There were also a pair of Little Grebes quite close in beautiful summer plumage. We also saw a male Blackcap in the hedgerow and heard lots of warblers. We then went to the Marsh Covert Hide where we saw a pair of Garganey to end the day.

 Ducks and Warblers! We arrived at 9:40am in hopes of seeing a Long-Tailed Duck. We rushed straight towards front desk to get some information. We found out that it was a female viewable from the Bridge Screen. It had been showing well for two weeks so we'd be unlucky if we didn't see it. We went there straight away, not stopping in any hide. When we arrived, it was there. At the back of the lake, by the reeds, a female Long-Tailed Duck briefly made an appearance before diving down again and then back up. After viewing the duck, we headed up to Burton Viewing Point in hopes of seeing Eurasian Woodcock and European Green Woodpecker. We had no luck with them but did catch glimpse of a Common Chiffchaff by the railway bridge. A nice sign of Spring. We then went back to the mere where some Egyptian Geese had been seen. We only saw a Cetti's Warbler to end the trip.