A Pallas`s Warbler and a Firecrest had been seen fairly regularly at a sewage works in Fishburn, County Durham and had been present for around 2 weeks. With Kevin C freshly returned from the colonies, Steve B, we planned a trip to try to locate the birds. A decent drive up the A1 managing to see a Red Kite on the way soon had us in the sleepy village of Fishburn around 8-30am. A muddy walk to the northern end fence line of the sewage works, then finding another 6 other birders meant we were in the right area. After about an hour of watching Goldcrests, Chiffchaff, Blue and Coal Tits the Pallas`s Warbler was seen. You wouldnt say it showed well, but most of the birds features could be made out as it made its way through various Larch trees. The Firecrest was not seen and as Kevin C looked like he could use a warm drink we headed back through the mud to the car.
We headed south to Teeside and visited Dorman`s Pool, Saltholme RSPB area hoping to see either Green Winged Teal, Glaucous Gull or Caspian Gull that had been seen the day before. Guess what? None of the birds were present when we were there! Better news about the roosting Long Eared Owls from the Haverton viewing platform though, about 3 birds had been seen this morning. We got to the correct area and enjoyed decent sightings of these enigmatic (mysterious) birds. At the Seal Sands area 2 freshly arrived Avocets reminded us that spring is only around the corner, a Grey Plover and a Greenshank near a flock of moulting Black Tailed Godwit`s were also nice birds to see. As we made our way past the visitor centre at Saltholme, a flock of 50 or so geese were seen that later proved to be Barnacle Geese.
One of Steve B`s trip`s over the tops followed, passing through the immortalised village of Goathland of Heartbeat fame (one for the older readers) managing to see lots of Red Grouse and a fly over Merlin was an added bonus. Our plan was to visit the (in) famous Wykeham Raptor Viewpoint (soon to be twinned with Swanton (No birds) Novers) near Scarborough that had produced 9 Goshawks on Friday, 7 on Saturday, surely we couldn`t fail to see at least one of this species? We saw lots of Buzzard`s, Crossbill`s and enjoyed the stunning scenery but after one and a half hours we had no luck with of target species. The usual shenanigans on the A64 slowed us down considerably as we headed for home after another good day out.
