Hat trick!!!

Out early again this morning with SH but not for birding in the county instead we headed south, North Yorkshire to be precise to see the Black Throated Thrush.

On the way down we stopped at Cowpen Bewley Country Park. There were 50+ Tree Sparrows between the hedge and the feeding station in the car park with Reed Bunting and Great Tit amongst them.
When we got to the pond I thought that it looked farmiliar and soon noticed the train track behind it, this is the mystery pond I have been passing every week on the train.

The male Ring Necked Duck - Lifer, was easy to pick out amongst a group of Tufted Duck at close range in the south east corner of the pond. Its silvery grey sides were the first features that I noticed. It didn't stay still and dived occasionally but still gave good views, a good start to the day.

The sky had been grey all morning and finally when we were on the North Yorkshire moors it began raining heavily then snowing.
A soon as we got off the moors the weather calmed down and we could see Whitby on the horizon, I didn't realise Newholm was so close to Whitby, only 2 miles away.

We parked and found the birds favoured spot, a front garden with a full feeding station. Only two birders were present and they gave us the bad news that Thrush hadn't been seen so far.
Whilst we waited the feeding station was full of life.
2 female and a male Bullfinch were on the log feeders with a good number of House and tree Sparrows and Chaffinch were also on the feeders and in the surrounding trees.
Also nice to see was a pair of Marsh Tit in the bushes of the next garden along, whoever lives there has an impressive garden list!

The two other birder walked off around the corner to where the hedgerow ends and the public footpath begins and as soon as they did the Black Throated Thrush - Lifer,
flew over the garden and landed in a tree at the far end of the street.
We followed it as it flew from one end of the street to the other landing in trees occasionally before finally it settled in the trees above the garden feeding station.
It also gave excellent views as it fed from the feeding station and sat looking at us from the tree.
Although it is not as impressive as the male BTT, it was still a nice bird and looked like a silvery version of a Fieldfare.

On the way back we stopped off at Saltburn were the 1st winter Glaucous Gull was showing well on the tide line, I picked it out on the way past in the car mainly because it dwarfed all the other gulls surrounding it.
Our last stop of the day was Newburn Bridge at Hartlepool. A Med Gull was amongst the BH Gulls on the sea front near to were we scanned the rocks for Black Redstart.
2 Stonechat and Rock Pipits were on the rocks and it wasn't long before the female Black Redstart - Lifer, showed itself all to briefly.
We got a few views of it as it flew further down the beach and could clearly see the orangy red under its tail.

All in all it was a very good day but the birds seemed to easy to see and find, if only it was always like that.