To the ends of the earth

Sometimes the twitch and the bird combine to make a brilliant day. News of a White throated Robin at the other end of the world (Hartlepool) filtered through mid morning. This is usually way beyond my twitching distance but for such a cool bird the rules had to be broken. I had some work to finish first so I couldn’t leave until just after noon and ran into endless traffic problems on the way north (M1 partially closed, massive traffic restrictions, etc) so I didn’t arrive until 4.30pm when I managed to park just twenty yards away from the bowling green. By this time it hadn’t been seen for around an hour (long trip for a dip) so after waiting for 15-20 minutes I headed off for a general wander. Bumped into someone who said it was showing in the doctor’s garden – the other side of a ten foot wall.
What happened next was inspired chaos: two guys quickly had their vans against the wall while guys with ladders strapped to vans appeared out of nowhere.
First the vans.

Then the ladders appeared.

There was a crunch from one of the van roofs as the weight of birders covered in kit got too much for it.
I eventually got onto one of the vans and looked over the wall to see the White throated Robin sitting in a shallow depression under some rose bushes. Frankly it looked like someone’s stuffed toy. After two minutes I jumped down to let someone else take a look and waited for a turn at a ladder.
Later had much better views as the bird bounced around the compost heaps at the back of the garden.

All the guys who had brilliant views of the bird from the doctor's garden missed out on one of the best twitches ever.

Stopped off on the way home for the stunning male Red backed Shrike at Seaton Carew. Only took the point and shoot but it was showing brilliantly so should have taken my SLR. Hence these two handheld digiscoped shots.