Started the day finishing a prolonged week of nightshift - the 06:15 stop-off at Arcot produced nothing new for the year, only a calling and drumming green woodpecker and woodcock (that flushed from the roadside hedge).
Thoughts of what to do later in the day were assisted by Tim Sexton and his post of blue-headed wagtail at Whitley Bay. Nice sunshine (albeit cold temperatures) and more importantly, a defined short walk from the car park saw me there late afternoon, just as the tide was getting a wee bit high.
The wagtail flock was impressive - may be a dozen white variants, a few pied and the apparent blue-headed. I say apparent - I did wonder about the paleness of the "blue"... however a quick skim through the Birding World article (Volume 20 Number 3) perhaps supports this bird being blue-headed rather than a "channel" variant - the darker ear-coverts may add to the weight of "bh" argument.
Whatever - a bonny bird nonetheless. The other uncountable was also photographed, perhaps a little less vigorously - so a pic for the blog with a nice nit of litter in the background will suffice.
In addition to the wagtails the beach contained plenty of rock pipit, a wheatear or two, many sanderling and redshank. Loads of swallow moving north.
News of a great white egret saw me heading Prestwick bound, but news from the site suggested otherwise. And that ended that sortie.
