This amateur film records the sighting of a species of bird which had strayed from its Arctic habitat and settled for a while at Hartlepool. The white-billed diver, also known as the yellow-billed loon, attracted many enthusiasts armed with cameras and binoculars eager to catch a glimpse of a rare visitor. Title: 1981 The film opens on an urban garden as a garden birds take some seed or crumbs from a slab of concrete or a flat stone laid flat on the grass. Most of the visitors seem to be...

This amateur film records the sighting of a species of bird which had strayed from its Arctic habitat and settled for a while at Hartlepool. The white-billed diver, also known as the yellow-billed loon, attracted many enthusiasts armed with cameras and binoculars eager to catch a glimpse of a rare visitor. Title: 1981 The film opens on an urban garden as a garden birds take some seed or crumbs from a slab of concrete or a flat stone laid flat on the grass. Most of the visitors seem to be the common house sparrow. Title: rare visitor to england – Title: - white billed diver A static image of a newspaper cutting has article headings which read, ‘From Bristol to see Hartlepool’s rare sea bird’ and ‘Bird watchers flock to docks.’  The film cuts to the dockside at Hartlepool, followed by a distant view of a solitary bird floating on the water. A number of bird enthusiasts have gathered on the quayside with cameras binoculars to catch a glimpse of the rare bird. The film doesn’t reveal any features of the bird, patterns on the plumage for example as it stays at a distance away from the bird watchers.  The camera picks out a ship leaving the harbour, past smaller vessels in the foreground. A brief view of enthusiasts on the quayside watching the white billed diver still some distance from the camera’s position. A brief view shows a number of small boats moored at the quayside, then the film cuts back to the solitary visitor, which then dives out of sight. Title: The End