On Tour - Northumberland - Part 2

We called in at a number of reserves on the coast south of Amble on the Tuesday, my favourite reserve though at Hauxley was closed because of major refurbishment works, opening again today (24th) I believe, sad to have missed it, we will have to wait until our next visit to the North East.

So we started at Druridge Pools, (Northumberland Wildlife Trust) visiting both hides and the screen, with the undoubted start being the Spoonbill,

there was plenty of other birds about of course, plenty of Shelduck with ducklings.

 A pair of Swallows had a nest in one one of the hides, we were as quiet and still as possible and they got used to us, not before giving us an angry look from just outside the door though.

 Plenty of Tufted Duck about

 as well as of course Black-headed Gulls,

 and a flock of about 8 Black-tailed Godwit.

 Not many Lapwings, but one patent with a youngster

Also seen at Druridge, Curlew, Teal, Gadwall, Kestrel,Coot, Moorhen, House Martin, Swift, Shoveler, Canada & Greylag Geese, Great Crested Grebe, Redshank and Mute Swan.

From Druridge we drove the 5 minutes down to Cresswell Pond, again NWT, the start here were 5 Little Gulls resting up on the scrape,

and a couple of Tree Sparrows sunning themselves,

There were a few Avocets along with chicks, but mainly right over the other side of the Pond, not good for a any photography. One little start was a male Reed Bunting singing his head off to the right of the hide,

there were a couple of females about, but they weren't interested.

In addition at Creswell; Shelduck, Tufted Duck, Cormorant, Little Egret, Oystercatcher, Lapwing, Redshank, Sedge Warbler, plus the Hirudines, Corvids and Gulls.
We stayed a while before driving to the Ice-cream shop in Cresswell Village, purchasing said Ice-creams and sitting on a bench overlooking the sea, just in case any dolphins passed by. (Happened to us a few years ago!) But not this time.

Time to head north again, this time stopping at East Chevington (NWT) for Marsh Harriers and aq late afternoon cup of tea. No sooner had we made the tea when,

a male Marsh Harrier came through bringing something back to the nest, a great end to a quiality days birding!