Sometimes you don't always want certain birds to be reported. One such bird is a Taiga Flycatcher. This is another one of those split species that makes birding tricky at times. (2005 from Red-breasted Flycatcher)
This eastern beauty had been located at Trow Quarry on the coast line of South Shields. After a bit of "shall we/sharnt we", I met Ian on the edge of Leeds before going directly to South Sheilds. The weather wasn't great on our journey but brightened up as we arrived on Tynside. We parked up and walked across the sea front to a crowd of around 30 birders & photographers looked at a old quarry face. We didn't have to wait very long to see this Flycatcher going about it's lunchtime duties. Apparently many early visitors had a difficult wait to see the bird. The Flycatcher look regular flights up the cliff face to catch an insect and then would perch lower down to eat what had been caught.
The bird wasn't easy to photograph as it was very dull in its plumage. The exact identification will be decided by DNA again like many these days, surely birding years ago was easier. Someone did however record the bird calling and the sonagram suggested it was a Taiga Flycatcher.
The bay looked stunning from the headland and we added Velvet Scoter, Common Scoter, Eider & Red-throated Diver to the day list. We also saw a Sparrowhawk in the hand at the local ringing station which was impressive. Next stop would be Holy Island next morning......
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