Mr & Mrs

Some creative planning meant arranging meetings at Blyth and Widdrington such that there was sufficient time in between to take in a coastal jolly in the lovely sunshine. Plenty of Pink footed Geese at Cresswell and Hauxley was nice but the Smew pair at Druridge Country Park was too tempting even though I knew they would be sitting as far away from the shore as physically possible.

Pitched up at the boat landing and sure enough there they were almost directly in front of me but a good hundred meters away. V and Colin were there and despite the excellent conditions equally frustrated by the limited photo opportunities but the views through the scope were splendid. We spent a good half hour encouraging folk on the far shore to create as much disturbance as possible to flush the birds toward us. Eventually somebody did but they flew to a point equally distant where after a brief feed they slept then flew back to their original spot when these two shots were grabbed.

Can't complain. The experience was far better than the freezing half hour in greyness at QE Park last week.