Monday 12 November 2018

The Hartlepool Little Swift today ...

Shortly after first light the Little Swift was visible in a recess around the first floor bay window of a terrace house on The Headland where it was seen to go to roost at around sunset yesterday ...


... at 7.03 the white rump of the roosting bird showed up in the dark corner ...


... at 7.19 it began to stir and look around ...



... and dropped from its perch and flew purposefully along the terrace towards the sea and round the end of the terrace ...

With the sun still another ten minutes away from rising it was relocated on the north side of the Headland as it performed circuits ... sometimes low over the sea ...



... and then wheeling round above the horizon ...


... a leg trails slightly ...

The throng of observers numbering well over a hundred watched from the promenade as it flew low over the rocks that were presumably harbouring some invertebrate food ...

As the sun came up the plumage was illuminated ...







This much admired vagrant from somewhere in the N Africa / Middle East / S Asia region  follows on from the last accepted record which was in 2015 and with the previous one another three years before that ...



... and good for me to be back on my old patch with a late autumn treat ...


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