Who would have thought this possible 40 years ago? A Brown Booby with Hartlepool Headland in the background.
With the number of UK records of Brown Booby increasing (well into the teens now and maybe involving more than 10 individual birds) I could wait until one came a bit closer than Cornwall. Eventually it was too much to resist one at my old stomping ground Teesmouth (and also this one belongs to the Atlantic subspecies, which I hadn’t seen yet). Rather than just a booby sat on a buoy as so many of my sightings around the world have been it was great to see it bombing around the river mouth, viewed from the South Gare, joining feeding frenzies of gulls, cormorants and some of the hundreds of young auks (Razorbills and guillemots) also here. I guess that’s why it is hanging around. It fed by snorkelling and then dipping its head in the water, coming up with small fish numerous times, while flapping its wings around. Luckily the biblical deluge to the north did not reach us and we were able to drive home with ease, after a great fish and chips at Seabreeze in Redcar! That was about it.
Brown Booby passing the North Gare - site of Britain’s first Sooty Shearwater record in 1828!
Looking towards Seal Sands at high tide
South Gare harbour fishing boats