Bird tales

Some very strange black 'clouds' approaching when I glanced through the kitchen window at work this morning. They turned out to be geese, flying in from the North Sea towards the northwest. Stood and watched them for a few minutes and counted 10 huge skeins - there must have been thousands of birds in the air. An amazing sight!

More bird news - there was a water rail in the reeds beside the pond on Wooler Common early this evening - we saw it for only a short time, but heard it cheaping away for much longer. It was too distant and moving around too much for a photo, so this mallard will just have to do!

Off to the Open Mike in the pub this evening.