To the open arms of the sea

Popped up to Northumberland, pootled out to the Farnes and, after an interminable wait, lasting something approaching a whole 15 British minutes, slipped Bridled onto my 'Birds I have seen' list. And there it will reside, rattling about between Sooty and Little until Grey-backed/Spectacled and Aleutian can be wedged alongside.

Bridled beauty (image courtesy of Thomas Chinnick Photography Ltd), I missed this shot buggering about with narky terns (more of which tomorrow). 

The bird hung around for the next two and a half hours, mostly loafing on the foreshore with its Roseate, Common, Sandwich and Arctic cousins.  Given the surroundings and avian company, it seemed rude to cut and run after a Rock Thrush and flog ourselves silly up to Aberdeenshire and back,... so we didn't.  And, as so often happens, the Moirai rewarded restraint in the face of temptation with a little gift,... the sighting of the day, if not year,...

IT'S THAT BLOKE OFF THE TELLY!!! YOU KNOW, THE ONE WHO DID THAT THING AND THEN DID THAT SONG AND NOW TICKLES FISH FOR A LIVING,... YEAH!!! HIM!!! 

Robson Green, presumably ecstatic having successfully bagged the Bridled Tern (once again, image courtesy of Thomas Chinnick Photography Ltd). Did you know that Robson & Jerome's 1995 version of 'Unchained Melody' sold 1.86 million copies and is the 9th biggest selling UK single of all time. It sold more records than John Lennon's 'Imagine'. Chicken. Oriental. 

  Unbridled Guillemot, a bit like a northern penguin but more likely to be covered in polyisobutene than chocolate.