On our way back from Cornwall to home yesterday we took a slight diversion, via the Tees estuary – it only added 250 miles to our journey, and boy was it worth it! We arrived at the end of the road which passes the former Teeside steelworks, on the south bank of the river, in failing light and gentle drizzle. A quick enquiry of a local birder confirmed that we were in the right spot and that the bird had been there ten minutes ago – but had then flown out to sea! Luckily ten minutes later it flew back, did a circuit of the estuary before coming into roost on the pilot pier directly in front of us. A superb adult (female) Brown Booby – last seen in April on the Dry Tortugas, Florida – a distance of nearly 4,500 miles, as the Booby flies. Two Booby species added to my UK list in a week 😉 . It was late by the time we got home…

A couple more record shots of it in flight.