Sunday 25th March

Following various legal delays, I ended up staying with friends and relatives before moving in to new house.

Malcolm and did a nice inland walk along the line of the restored Alnwick railway line, where we saw a couple of youngish goosanders scooting along the Aln after a good view of a wigeon at Amble the previous day. An eider duck also sailed in on the tide at some speed.

Wigeon

Waxwing

Joining my sister Hilary at the weekend, we did a bit of twitching in the hope of catching up with some waxwings that had been showing up in the middle of Forest Hall.  They were still there alright - two of them, also juveniles apparently.  It was hard to get a decent shot and this was the best I could manage.  The colouration seemed distinctly pale and I wondered if this is typical of young birds rather than the result of low sunshine.

These birds stayed in the same location for a fortnight or so and by the end of it, local residents were complaining about them.  They certainly weren't too shy about standing in the middle of the road to get a better view.

Our attempt to see a scaup on Killingworth Lake later in the day did not work out and mostly there were just more wigeon and a more adult (I thought) goosander plus swans / canada geese and other bits and pieces.

Goosander