Ter-if-ek

More about the attempt at the world record for the number of telescopes in one hide later.

First of all a catch up from last Sunday. I arrived at East Chevington just after noon; the male Harrier gave an elegant fly past over south pool. There were lots of terns on north pool including an excellent view of Common, Arctic and Sandwich tern all sitting together on the perching rail.

At Druridge Pools I enjoyed good views of the four Spoonbills, in spite of the howling gale. Very few small birds were in evidence, but it was good to see a pair of  Stonechats busily searching for food, presumably for unseen offspring.

I decided then to look in on the Avocets, but as I crested the hill near Calico Barn I saw a coach pull up, so I stopped at the pull in next to the north extension. There were two Avocets squabbling, seventeen Dunlins and six Ringed Plovers feeding busily.

Having not visited Bee Hive Flash for some time, I had a quick trip and found a Wood Sandpiper.

Now back to today. Again I decided to start at East Chevington. A brief sight of the male Harrier again over south pool and a guy told me that there were Little Gulls and a Little Tern on the north pool.

I had good views of five Little Gulls both resting and feeding. There were at least three Arctic Terns, probably four times that number of Common Terns and I didn't bother to count the large number of Sandwich Terns. No sign though of the Little Tern.

A single Barnacle Goose accompanied the Grey Lags and a pair of Mute Swans glided around with their brood of eight.

A sudden flurry of activity among the terns revealed a Cuckoo flying low over the pool, followed by a gang of angry Sandwich Terns.

Having decided that my next port of call would be Cresswell, my plans were changed by two visitors to the hide announcing that a Terek Sandpiper had been seen at Hauxley.

It was apparent from the car park at Hauxley that the word about the Terek had spread. The Warden advised that the Tern Hide was favoured, but a guy leaving the scene directed us to the Wader Hide. Whilst there were probably no more than a fifteen in the hide when I got there, it was certainly very full. I had my fill of the rarity and four Black Tailed Godwits and then departed for home via Cresswell.

I viewed Cresswell Pond from the north and three Avocets were busily chasing around the north extension. A dozen Dunlins were disturbed by the noisy trio. A few Gannets were busy circling far out from Snab Point and a family of four young Lapwings enjoyed a dabble in the muddy flash next to the travellers' site.