Dense fog in Dutch Harbor cut short our intended 2 day visit to St Paul Island to a frantic 24hr dash! The seabirds however performed admirably with Red-legged Kittiwake and Least Auklet top of the hit list. #Birding

Whiskered Auklet and Laysan Albatross were our top targets, tho the numbers of Ancient Murrelets and Tufted Puffins were utterly breathtaking! #Birding

Harlequin’s are well represented around Dutch Harbor, the challenge being to find a little sun to light them up! #Birding

A memorable day out of Dutch Harbor in the Aleutians on Sunday in search of some of the local seabird specialities. A cracking day all round! #Birding

An early frontrunner for bird of the spring on SMI Wetland emerged this pm, a female Nightjar. Pretty bizarre given these wintery weather conditions! #NEbirding

The male of the pair before yesterday’s monsoon. #NEbirding

The first breeding attempt in over 20 years on the wetland and yesterday happened. A rise of 200mm. Who’d be a ground nester. #NEbirding

Male LRP on the roadside verge in the first car park @ SMI, completely bonkers! #NEbirding

Ever so pleased yesterday’s reported AGP on the Wetland had the decency to make another appearance this morning. A 2CY Grey Plover, one of those classic birding banana skins out there to trip up the unwary! #NEbirding

A large ‘Greenland’ type Northern Wheatear freshly arrived on SMI Wetland yesterday afternoon. #NEbirding

Gropper doing what it does best on the patch this morning #NEbirding

Shelduck prospecting the cliffs at SMI, an annual occurrence though they never seem to find them to their liking #NEbirding.

Not sure which is the rarer sighting, this 3CY Spoonbill or cloudless blue skies over Blyth this pm! #NEbirding

Northbound Black-tailed Godwits, a splash of colour on the mighty Blyth Est this morning. #NEbirding

To get 2 Green Sands in the same week is quite exceptional for SMI Wetland, where random autumn flyovers are usually as good as it gets! #NEbirding

What a great way to sign off on our Chilean jaunt. As the sun was setting on our final evening in Torres del Paine this female Puma gave some wonderful scope views. Iconic! #Patagonia #Birding

A roadside Black-Chested Buzzard-Eagle in Torres del Paine, the full crop and bloodied claws probably explained its reluctance to fly! #Patagonia #Birding

Super smart Aplomado Falcon sitting up nicely on the Chilean steppe. #Patagonia #Birding

A day mooching around the back roads more in hope than expectation of finding a Tawny-throated Dotterel amazingly came up trumps late in the day. Looking into the sun unfortunately but a flighty group of ten were still utterly sublime! #Patagonia #Birding

A brilliant boat trip into the Beagle Channel produced a wealth of penguins, albatross’s and blubber. Both Snowy Sheathbill and Gentoo Penguin proved welcome new birds while BB Alberts and Southern Giant Petrels were almost continually on view! #Patagonia #Birding

Rufous-Chested Dotterel along the seawall in Ushuaia. Well up there on the trip ‘most wanted’ list, so pleased to find one still retaining most of its breeding attire. #Patagonia #Birding

This Magellanic Plover necessitated a fair bit of legwork to locate on Tierra del Fuego. With a restricted global range and an estimated population of below 500 individuals, it probably qualifies as the rarest bird of the trip so far. #Patagonia #Birding

All hail the King. A sensational experience visiting the mainland colony of King Penguins on Tierra del Fuego. Even better than I hoped it would be! #Patagonia #Birding

Male Magellanic Woodpecker, a woodpecker the size of a wheelie bin. This one must hit the trees so hard, it’s blunted the tip of its bill! #Patagonia #Birding

Inca Terns, these jewels were lining the ledges, window sills and air con units of our seafront hotel in Vina del Mar. Just like the Kittiwakes on Newcastle Quayside! #birding

Peruvian Diving Petrel was a welcome lifer, giving off a real Little Auk vibe! #birding

Red-legged Cormorant, BB Albatross, Chilean Skua and Westland Petrel among some of the days star performers. #birding

Fuegian Storm Petrels a potential future split from Wilson’s perhaps? #birding

Salvin’s Albatross from a wonderful pelagic off Valparaiso last weekend. #birding

A few more of the phenomenal DSP from last week. A bit of a ball breaking three hour drive to get to the location but I ended up doing it three days running! #birding

That’s the first leg of our Chilean road trip up in the Andes done and dusted. With Diademed SP being firmly numero uno on the bucket list, our jaunt could hardly have started any better!

One of three DB Brents that have been visiting SMI Wetland this week. The high water levels resulted in some exceptionally close encounters in front of the viewing wall at times. #NEbirding

An exceptional 2 Grey Plovers today @ SMI inc a weird looking pale-billed individual. #NEbirding

Water Rail squeezed out of the shadows by last week’s freeze up. #NEbirding

Grey Plover in the north bay @ SMI this pm. A scarce occurrence here. #NEbirding

Male Snow Bunt putting the brakes on along Whitley Bay links this pm #NEbirding

The SMI Water Pipit was hunkered under the cliffs in the north bay late yesterday pm #NEbirding

Dark-bellied Brent on SMI Wetland this morning. The first record of the year here fittingly on the final day! #NEbirding

Ginormous crop of yesterday’s Russian WFG on the outskirts of Whitley Bay. The field was empty today with the Pinks having moved up to Gloucester Lodge, Blyth for a change of scene #NEbirding

Big crop of Martin Kerby’s fab Black-throated Diver off Tynemouth Long Sands this pm. A rare opportunity to see one locally that wasn’t belting past on a seawatch! #NEbirding.

I can probably count the number of Med Gulls I’ve had in Marden Quarry over the years on one hand. So 2 adults present this morning proved quite exceptional. Not had time to chase the ring up yet however. #NEbirding

The potentially wintering Firecrest continues to light up Marden Quarry this morning, tho it can be very difficult to locate at times. #NEbirding

Greenland WFG with Pinkfeet at Backworth yesterday. Given their current population decline, arguably the rarest bird seen in North Tyneside this autumn! #NEbirding

Snow Bunting along Whitley Bay prom yesterday, typically ridiculously approachable. #NEbirding

There seems to be a fair few Black Redstarts locally at the moment. This one was along the prom at Cullercoats this pm. #NEbirding

The Marden Quarry Firecrest, the first one here since 1992 and what a banger! #NEbirding

Quality over quantity off SMI today in some decent seawatching conditions. An afternoon Leach’s Petrel proved the best of the bunch with Sooty Shearwater, Bonxie, GND and Little Gulls providing some canny back up. #NEbirding

The SMI Casp fest continues with this 1stW out in the murk late pm #NEbirding

The Marden Quarry Cetti’s continued to offer more tantalising glimpses this morning. Fingers crossed it’s the beginning of a protracted stay! #NEbirding

Tyneside’s tiniest typha bed came up trumps today when it pulled in this patch first Cetti’s Wblr. A quite unexpected addition! #NEbirding