SPOTTED REDSHANKS & ANOTHER TERN!!! 21-08-10

Had a pleasant couple of hours out today. First I headed down to Saltholme for an hour or so. Amazingly the Whiskered Tern is still around, now into its third week. Its fascinating to see its plumage changing! There were plenty of waders on show, including Ruffs, Black Tailed Godwits, Greenshank, Green Sandpiper and a pair of SPOTTED REDSHANKS - my first of the year. It was great to meet up with Seggs and Jan and have a good old chinwag.
From Teesside I headed back up the coast to Whitburn Steel. Again, plenty of waders were on show including a huge flock of Golden Plover. But it was the Tern flock I was more interested. I had gotten a text to say a juvenile BLACK TERN had been seen in amongst the flock so I got my scope out and started scanning. As expected the Common Terns dominated, with a handfull of Sandwich Terns and even a couple of Roseates dotted about, but no Black Tern. I checked again. Then a third time. Definately no Blacks. Then without warning the whole flock lifted and took to the sky. Nightmare!!! The majority flew away to the right and never returned. A small flock however circled and came back down. I decided I'd have one last check then head home. Unbelievably the Black Tern was there. No idea how it happened but there it was, in amongst the remaining Common Terns. Another nice year tick, taking me to 205 for the year.

BLACK TERN (above) & SPOTTED REDSHANK (below)