Things to do when your bored in Blyth

Throw fireworks into a reedbed! Whilst helping LMcD do his WEBS count at Blyth yesterday we checked Baites Filtration Pools. 6 Teal and 4 Gadwall flew from the largest area of water at the pools when some idiots started throwing fireworks in the reeds. Has nobody told them water and fire dont mix.

The river Blyth was only frozen around the edges so quite a gathering of wildfowl were on the water. 80+ Teal and 60+ Mallard were along the shoreline with groups of Redshank, Curlew and Dunlin.
3 RB Mergansers, 3 Eider and 20 Goldeneye were diving around a group of Tufted Duck which held a drake Pochard.
A Fox was bounding through the snow covered fields on the far side of the river and as we left to check the Quayside a Jack Snip flew down river before turning back and landing on the far shore. We think it had been resting on the near shore and flew off as we passed.

In the car park at the Quayside a Turnstone feeding amongst a group of Feral Pigeon was a strange site. On the river 6 Coot (a Blyth Mega apparently) were feeding amongst the gulls.