I managed to head up north with GB and LR on saturday morning. Whilst waiting on news of the Long Nanny Shrike we called in to East Chevington. Very similar to last week with two drake Pintail and Shoveler being the wildfowl highlights. No sign of the Bearded Tit but a Water Rail ran through accross the gap in the reeds again and we briefly saw a Bittern in flight low over the reeds in the SW corner before it landed out of sight.
When news arrived we headed up and were greeted with great views of the Lesser Grey Shrike- Lifer, on the fence at the Newton Steads car park. In 2008 I dipped the LGS at Long Nanny and its not often you get a second chance of the same species at the same location, well nearly.
The Shrike was very obliging as it hopped around the ground and sat on thistles and fence posts around the car park before occasionally flying around and exploring the coastal bushes and fly catching before returning to its favored spot. A few Tree Sparrows were also in the coastal bushes.
Next we tried for the Bonaparte's Gull at Bamburgh but had missed it by 20 minutes. Despite grilling the ever expanding flock of BH Gulls on the sea off the castle it never reappeared. With the tide coming in the Common Scoter raft got closer and we picked out at least three Velvet Scoter amongst them.
Long Tailed Duck, Slavonian Grebe and a Great Northern Diver were also on the sea but we didn't see a single Auk sp.
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