Great day in Cleveland

In the morning I had been vismigging / seawatching at Hunmanby Gap. It had already been a successful day as I patch ticked (added to Patchwork Challenge) a Corn Bunting south, a Mealy Redpoll south, 9 Whooper Swans south, 5 Scaup south and 4 Goldeneye (1 south, 3 present). Other notable birds were 273 Siskin and a Swallow south, (not bad for high pressure and westerlies). Full counts can be found here on trektellen. I got home between 9 and 10 and I was going with dad and gran as we took her back home to Hartlepool.

I knew that there was an 'Eastern' Black Redstart at Skinningrove and a Pied Wheatear had been confirmed at Redcar. Both of these places were 'on the way' (with a slight detour). Going to these places would mean sacrificing a visit to Saltholme and the Jewish Cemetery (to try and see Twite). We all agreed we go for the rarer birds. On the way up a few decent birds were seen from the car window: Jay, Fieldfare, Mistle Thrush (these were the best). We got to Skinningrove and drove down the south side of the village, this was when we realised none of us actually knew where the bird was. Then, in the distance I saw some birders walking north on the other side of the river. We drove over and parked, we walked along the seafront. We found some birders and we got onto where the bird had been favouring. We saw it flit across the gaps in rocks a few times. However after a few minutes it came out onto the rocks and showed itself nicely. My gran was particularly impressed by the brightness of the orange. It was a fantastic little bird. I didn't manage to see one near Scarborough a few years back so I was glad to see this one. The bird was accompanied by Rock pipits, a Robin and a Dunnock.

'Eastern' Black Redstart (as are the below pictures)

After around 20 minutes watching the Black Redstart we drove to Redcar, on the way we saw (from the car) a flock of around 40 Golden Plover and lots of Redwing. We found the old cinema and saw the Pied Wheatear fluttering around. As I was walking down on to the beach for a better view, 5 Whooper Swans flew north. On the beach there were Turnstones and just offshore there was a smattering of Eider, along with Cormorants, Shags and a Red-Throated Diver. Whilst standing on the beach the Pied Wheatear was very active and gave superb views. This was a great lifer to end a great day. After dropping gran off we headed home. Driving over the Tees there were 3 Whooper Swans. we were surprised that we didn't see any Red Grouse on the moors. The only two new birds for the day on the way back were a Rook and a Blackbird (partly due to the light going early now the clocks have changed). This was a great day in Cleveland.

Pied Wheatear

Pied Wheatear

Whooper Swan

Turnstone

Pied Wheatear

Eider