News of an Eastern Crowned Warbler, a 1st for Britain, broke late on Thursday 22nd October but given work commitments on the Friday & a previous promise to take the kids shopping on the Saturday meant that the Sunday was my only option to see this bird.
The weather on the Saturday evening looked clear on the east coast with a strong wind coming from the west. Good conditions for the bird going overnight I thought !
Dawn on the Sunday found about 500 birders looking into a small quarry with several sycamores & a few elders which aside from a couple of Blackbirds & a Dunnock was completely birdless. It quickly became fairly obvious thay the quarry in the quarry had gone together with its accompanying Yellow Browed. I had well and truly dipped !
I carried on about 45 mins down the road to Saltholme Pools with its new state of the art visitor's centre set amongst industrial Teeside. Views from the hide overlooking Back Saltholme Pools were impressive & included several hundred Golden Plover & Lapwing on the saltmarsh. Their uneasyness suggesting that danger was not far off and the appearance of a female Merlin confirmed this.
A Slav Grebe was an unusual visitor & 3 Goldeneye had just joined for the winter.
In the afternoon I went round to the pools that can be seen from the road and saw the eclipse drake Blue Winged Teal that had been there since September although there wqas no sign of the Pec Sand.
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