Albert is back!

 

Plan for today was to go to Bank Island this morning to look for wood sandpiper. No sign of the bird but good views, poor photos of hobby and egyptian  geese.

I then got a text message from Chris Downes to say that he was changing his plans and was going to Bempton as Albert was back. A quick phone call home to let them know what I was doing and off I set.

Not the quickest of journeys as I was in a convoy of cars and the front one was only driving about 30 miles an hour.

Eventually I arrived and had to park in the overflow car park. I met Chris on the cliff top path.

We joined other birders on one of the view points. A message was posted on rare bird alert to say that the albatross was on the sea and could be seen from Jubilee viewpoint but it was distant. We could not see it and there were several false alarms as people realised that they were looking at a juvenile gannet.

It was very nice to see a chap called Mark again. It was a couple of years at least since we had last seen him. He had to leave to go to work, but very kindly came back and told us that people could see it from another view point, so off we set. Again it was a question of looking a long way out to see and we could not locate it.

In the meantime we took a few photos

a person on a jet ski came past and we wondered if they would disturb the bird, They did , but the bird just flew a short distance.

gannets were plunge diving into the sea to catch fish.

A birder had managed to locate the bird through his telescope and kept us all informed with a running commentary.  Then about 3 o'clock it all happened. The birder who was doing the running commentary told us all to keep a look out as the bird was now flying and coming our way. It started out flying just above the sea but gradually gained out and was at our eye level as it came past us.

the above picture was taken by another birder , and has appeared on his twitter a/c, Steve Williams.

I am the 3rd person in the picture.

These are the pictures I managed to take.

the bird flew down to Staple Newk  and landed on the cliff.

it was a long way off, but you might just be able to make out the bird in the centre of the picture.

A day to remember. Spending time with Chris, seeing Mark again and finally catching up with Albert.