Lapland Bunting: After last weeks Bank Holiday weekend which was comprised of back to back weddings and photoshoots, swiftly followed by a busy working week surveying water voles and birds I was keen to get out and see something cool.
So teaming up with Kristian we headed over to the beautiful St Mary's Island in Whitley Bay to togg the long staying lap bunt.
And we weren't disappointed.
These cool little birds are not commonly sighted in the UK, only ever appearing in low numbers typically along the on the East coast. They overwinter in the here doing so from September and October until May, after which time they leave to breed in those colder Northern European regions across Scandinavia.
Lapland buntings have quite a long hind claw which gives rise to their other common name of 'Lapland Longspur'.
These stocky visitors from the North are ever so slightly larger then reed buntings and are covered with a beautiful chestnut sort of colour accompanied by a distinctive pattern on the head.
Most of the time, these birds can be found on the ground and sometimes in small flocks, this bird was on it's own.
To say this bird was not shy would be an understatement, at one point I could have reached out and picked it up as it walked towards me.
I didn't even need to use my 'army crawl' manoeuvre' when I get on my belly and use my field craft to encroach a little further and allow the bird to walk towards me. This bird trotted right up to us.
I've only ever seen lap bunts perform like this on the Great Orme, but even then they were not as bold as this individual, it wasn't even phased by ignorant dog walkers who decided to ignore the small group of birders and let their dogs run right past us when they could have simply taken he nearby path to avoid us, and the bird.
After seeing the lap bunt we headed over to Widdrington Moor Lake and picked out the Slav grebe but failed to find the red-necked grebe which was reported retailer.
