As is tradition we started the day off overlooking the causeway, we were rewarded with fantastic views of waders such as Greenshank and a check of the Dunlin flock revealed a Little Stint. An immature Peregrine chanced its arm at some of the birds feeding on the falling tide and the spectacle of Pink-footed and Brent Geese never fail to impress.
On the island itself we stopped to look for a reported Red-breasted Flycatcher but to no avail, though heading out toward the castle we did get in on some migration action with Siskins flying overhead calling. We had good views of flocks of European Golden Plover swirling around, but they didn't seem keen on landing and so we couldn't locate an American Golden Plover that had been around previously. We had good views of Red-throated Diver, but a Northern Wheatear was showing down to a few feet as were some Rock Pipits.
Down on the causeway from St Cuthbert's Island we had fantastic views of thousands of Golden Plovers to the backdrop of moody skies. The lure of a reported Red-breasted Goose proved just too hard to resist. So we finished off with an absolutly splendid adult Red-breasted Goose amongst the roosting Barnacle Geese, they were favouring the mudflats at the southern end of the causeway.
(Red-breasted Goose amongst Barnacle Geese - © Andrew Kinghorn, Birdwatch North East).
We finished the day on just over 60 species. Bird of the day was undoubtedly the Red-breasted Goose, a real treat!