Purple patch

A spare couple of hours saw us head out for a bit of relaxing and, of course, some birding. Purple Sandpiper is a superb bird to watch clinging onto the rocks where the sea meets the land. With the tide in they do a bit of foraging around the rock pools.

Back inland to Killingworth Lake for more waterbirds...plenty of Coot...

...Jackdaws picking at the scraps...

...and a couple of Magpies playing in the park.

Pochard is a duck that is not that easy to find these days but there always a few on the lake.

Tufted Duck - well named.

The Moorhens are used to people wandering past so it's a good opportunity to get a close up shot.

There were a couple of Little Grebe resting beside the ducks...

...and a bit of a flap for good measure.

These bird are well fed so it was funny to see this one desperate to get a tasty morsel off the ground. The bird was ringed on 27th November 2013 as a juvenile - I doubt it will stray far.

First and last.

This may be first post in2013 but it's a bunch of photos from the end of 2012. A quick visit to Killingworth Lake to get some shots of the water birds...plenty of Coots milling around.

There were a few Goosander floating around but they kept their distance - male bird...

...and a fancy hairdo for the lady.

Plenty of Tufted Duck but not too many with a decent tuft.

Pochard don't seem to be as numerous any more but you can always get good views of them on the lake.

The females are not that dowdy when you take a good look.

There were not too many Goldeneye and the good looking ones kept their distance while I was there.

A different story with the Moorhens as they come racing over to see if they can get a free handout!