I have had a hectic weekend, but it has not been without it's birding highlights. Our local RSPB group has become incolved with a village birdlife garden project and the primary school that is linked to it so this necessitated a trip up the Tyne valley for me on Saturday. As I have found before birding from a train can be quite rewarding. Two highlights on this trip were 2 male Goosanders flying up the Tyne and a Grey Heron. After our work at the project, where I have to say I was inspired by the efforts of the youngsters involved and their enthusiasm, I enjoyed lunch at a member and friends home. Not only did I know the company and lunch would be good but there is also the wonderful garden which attracts lots of birds. Sadly the Redpolls had moved on, but I did get excellent views of a male Great Spotted Woodpecker and Long Tailed Tits etc on the feeders.

Anyway after lunch the chat inevitably turned to birds and in particular the drake Smew that had been reprted near by on the Tyne. It was decided that we should take a little trip to try and find it. Well I am pleased to say we did find it with a couple of Goosanders. We looked through binoculars, I rarely go anywhere without them and found the birds sheltering next to some reeds down river from the Stocksfield bridge. It has to be said it was a very distant view! We walked down by the river side as the birds looked well settled in a small area of calm water as the river gushed past, brown and at high speed. Sadly as we got close someone appeared to disturb the birds, not sure if it was another birder or not as he left in his car, and the birds flew west up river. Oh well, at least I saw the Smew!

On my return journey as I pulled into Newcastle Central there it was a Bittern! There was certainly a large number of twitchers with cameras along the platforms. My carriage stopped right next to the Bittern and I got a much better view than the twitchers. The twichers in this case were of course steam locomotive enthusiasts and the Bittern in question was a steam locomotive! A grand sight and if you would like to read more about it's interesting history, here's a link. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LNER_Class_A4_4464_Bittern

The drake Smew was a new one for my UK year list BTW

take care