Stew Graham

Hi Tom, all well, thanks for asking. Had no end end of car troubles this year which has limited my time up the coast but I'm sure Autumn will see me twitching something up that way sooner rather than later! Hope all is well with you too.

Hi Dawn, could you DM me your email address please.

It really is Tom.

Thanks Dawn, I'll follow up later with more details.

Hi Dawn, mainly Greylags & Canadas possibly and Common Gulls. Usually @10 visibly infected birds per day which are typically expired by the next day. Corpses have only been removed once (60+) about 3 weeks ago. I'm really concerned for when the Wigeon, Teal and Goldeneye start returning.

6 weeks since I contacted Northumbria Water & DEFRA about bird flu at Whittle Dene and signs have finally gone up. 1st large flock of Pinkies arrived late afternoon (43) and half of them landed in the infected flock so in a few days I'll be counting dead Pink Feet. So depressing #NEBirding

Had them on the ropes for the first 15 minutes then they were well on top without doing much. 2 awful bits of defending and it was game over. Even after Gordon's goal they managed the added time so well, we never got near their goal again. No disgrace though mate, they are a class team.

Very pleasant run up to Musselburgh today for lifer Marsh Sandpiper today with nice supporting cast of 8x Curlew Sand, Wood Sand, Little Stint, Greenshank, and Ruff. Unfortunately dipped the Icterine Warbler at Barns Ness but managed Redstart & Pied Flycatcher.

Greenshank, Ruff & Reeve with Lapwing flock

Wheatear on fence

Despite the depressing sight of the geese and gull corpses piling up due to avian flu at Whittle Dene, there's been a few nice autumn visitors this week with osprey, greenshank, wheatear and ruff & reeve #NEBirding

Finally got to see North Tyneside's star attraction this afternoon. It was lazing on a Sunday afternoon. #NEBirding

Get in!!! Without doubt the latest I've ever ticked Osprey at Whittle Dene but worth the wait. One was spotted by Steve Rippon this afternoon but I got this one at 20.30. Showed really but no fishing attempts. Was being mobbed constantly by swallows. And relax... #NEBirding

It's clear there's no chain of command. you can scout all the players you want mate but but somebody has to get them over the line... we can't even see the line these days. Elanga is f*cking miracle.

should be following the Brighton model and getting prospects from Europe & South Amierica, it's the PL premium that we can't afford. We need 5 starters and a few for squad depth and we're miles off at the minute. Trafford deal should have been done day one the transfer window.

After City getting linked with Trafford and the lack of new contract for Isak I was just thinking yesterday that we must be vulnerable to an approach for Eddie right now if he isn't backed or they continue dragging their feet. Fortunately non of the top teams are looking right now but...

3 singing Quail at Whittle Dene this afternoon per Steve Rippon, however the day really picked up when we found 2 juvenile Cuckoos!! Really nice views if a little distant. Only my 2 & 3 on the site so I'm owa the the moon 👍👍 #NEBirding

Dipped the Caspian Tern at East Chev by 10 minutes at 4pm this afternoon so went straight to Widdy Moor, Drurridge the Cresswell with no luck. Went back to Chev and waited 2 hours then the beast returned!! Long-awaited county tick 👍✔️🍾 #NEBirding

Juvenile Scaup at Whittle Dene this afternoon was an unexpected year tick and my first on site for 3 years. Challenging light made photos tricky 👍 #NEBirding

Osprey at Whittle Dene this morning at 10am per Steve Rippon. He had one on the Northern Res and then again on the Western Res, thinks they may have been 2 different birds. I still haven't had 🙄 @nebirding

I got talking to Leo's Dad and brother before the Brentford game. They'd only found he was on the bench that afternoon and drove up from Wolverhampton. Really nice lads, was made up for them 👍

I think you're a bit more generous than me Jeff. Looking at the season, personally I was very impressed with Bournemouth and Fulham. Liverpool & City gave us a good game obvs. Brighton and West Ham were smash & grabs, we should've beaten both. Forrest had very good half hour. Wolves were unlucky.

Was delighted to find Spotted Flycatcher at Whittle Dene this week as we didn't record one last year. A bird that's becoming very scarce in the Tyne Valley, I picked one up briefly on Monday and then we found 2 Friday 👍👍 #NEbirding

Couldn't disagree more mate. Well organised but mediocre at best. We stunk the place out though. Wolves were were much better than Everton and we stuck 3 past them. No sweat though, job done.

This is worse than the Steaua v Barcelona final 😴

Didn't see Little Owl at all last year so was delighted that one was back around the farm this lunchtime. Also very happy that Common Tern 7.93 has returned for its 5th year in a row 👍 #NEbirding

hard agree.

I wouldn't be averse to going the Juvé route and coming up something very modern and marketable although the bed wetting would be off the scale if we did.

I've never really liked faux-heraldic crests so I wouldn't lose any sleep if we binned the current one

A few more from Sicily 2/2

Sicily was a bit disappointing on the birds front. I'd expected a lot of spring migrants and lots of raptors. It turned out to be very quiet on both fronts despite its location and the excellent variety of habitats. Most of the reserves were empty but had bags of potential. 1/2

Sicilian bar snacks are on another level, the lager is Tenants! Go fuckin’ figure!! Searching for Apollonia #hwtl #nufc

First Yellow Wagtail at Whittle Dene this afternoon. Stunning male popped up onto a fence post about 20ft away POS P900 simply refused to focus on the huge yellow object in the middle so you'll have to use your imagination 😡 #NEBirding

Huge influx of common migrants at Whittle Dene today. Lovely to hear Willow Warbler and Blackcap singing everywhere in the sunshine. The 18 Whooper Swans have relocated to the fields to the North but the Egyptian Geese were showing very nicely from the hide 👍