Back, Sack and Crack

So we're back! After humming and haa'ing from both meteorological websites, boatman and rangers we found a fortunate window of opportunity and made for Inner Farne. Immediately the previous weeks thick easterly bias was felt as birds were everywhere! However the weather's Baltic feel translated into a decidedley wintery avian diversity with Thrush's, Woodcock and Skylark all exaggerating the already numb peripheral appendages. 

The passerine highlights from the past few days are certainly the 2 Mistle Thrush that represented the first spring record in some years and hopefully are an omen of forthcoming rares! Non-passerines were showing well with seabound Whooper Swan sheltering on the north side of Inner Farne, a Glaucous Gull on the Knoxes roost and a Dunlin with a monster bill all providing great cripple potential in our first 24 hours on the islands. Anyway there's a storm a raging outside so I'll be updating with more words and pics in the following days...until then stick these in your retinas:

Greylag Geese circling before deciding that the Farnes are just too damn cold!

Dunlin on the south end, with the far bird showing some crazy genetics in bill form.

Whooper Swan looking confused and rare with the standard Farnes random Shag combo.

Lapwing struggling over the huge SE swells.

Big swells hitting the Wides.

And two from our training week at Gibside...real stonkers for an Islander!