A Spring day at Spurn

Out with Mark yesterday, we opted to do Spurn and although it was fairly quiet we had a good day picking up a few year ticks along the way the first being several Whimbrel over the Kilnsea Wetlands as we arrived and a Lesser Whitethroat near the Riverside Hotel, first one of the year for Spurn too. We checked out the bushes by the Bluebell Caravan Park next where a Firecrest had been seen earlier but we couldn’t find that so we carried on round the Triangle eventually ending up in the Canal Scrape Hide where several Wagtails were feeding including a White and a couple of Yellows, one of these was an interesting bird it looked good for a Blue Headed apart from it having a green cap, it caused a bit of a debate some thinking it was a moulting bird others a hybrid type. After a bit of lunch we headed back out to the Kilnsea Wetlands, there was a massive flock of Linnets feeding here with one or two Wheatears plus two pairs of Avocet, one pair look to be on eggs, and a Little Egret, we carried on to Beacon Ponds where a large flock of Dark Bellied Brents were accompanied by the Black Brant and a hybrid type, there was also a Long Tailed Duck moulting into adult plumage, then as we made our way back to the car our third Marsh Harrier of the day went over upsetting everything. At a loss what to do next we decided to head back to the Bluebell and have another look for the Firecrest even though it had not been reported all day, it proved a good move as we found it, it had moved up the road a bit from where it had been seen in the morning and we watched it as it made its way along the hedge eventually flying into the hedge over the road where we unfortunately lost it again. Back at the car we noted an increase in Wheatear and Yellow Wagtail numbers around the Borrow Pit then ended with another session in the Canal Scrape Hide but it proved rather quiet late in the day.

the 1st Marsh Harrier over the Triangle

Wagtails: Pied

White

Yellow

and the Blue Headed type

Black Brant

spooked by a Harrier

it was so active not easy to photograph

Baikal Teal

Day off yesterday as the car was in for a service and MOT, then how frustrating to hear a Baikal Teal had been found at Flamborough, fortunately it decided to hang around for the rest of the day allowing me and Mark to go for it in the evening, it was still on Northcliffe Marsh where it had been most of the day although fairly distant but I got good scope views and even though it was way too far for the camera really you've just got to take some record shots haven't you. The big question now of whether its genuine or not I'm sure will be hotly debated but seen flying in off the sea and moving on today must surely stand it in good stead, whatever the outcome it sure was nice to see and if it is accepted its a bloody good Yorkshire tick.

A little beauty and more spring migrants

It was back up north again today with Mark starting at the Lambton Estate in Houghton le Spring where the Little Bunting we saw at Elba Park last Autumn had been refound but right on the other side of the park, with it being a different parking area to last time we managed to get ourselves lost again but we eventually stumbled upon the right road, the bird had been lost to view when we arrived but was soon relocated and gave really good views as it made its way along the banks of a little stream, it is looking very smart now and was obviously doing a circuit, we watched it do this several times but it became increasingly more flighty as the wind strengthened late morning. We then headed back down to Teesside and went straight to Saltholme as Mark wanted to see the Lesser Scaup that was still present, it was on the Allotment Pools today and a bit more distant than last week but we had good scope views, no sign of the Arctic Tern seen earlier though, we then pottered around the rest of the reserve and despite the really strong wind we picked up a few more Spring migrants including all the Hirundines plus Yellow and White Wagtails. We ended the day with look down the Zinc Works Road where we came across a group of birders watching a Jack Snipe close to the road, we stayed with it for a while hoping it might come out into the open but it just sat tight.

Bold as brass

kept itself hunkered down

Common stuff

I spent a couple of hours at Allerthorpe Common this afternoon, it was a good start with a flock of around 40 Crossbills in the tops of some Silver Birch trees by the entrance gate but another cold day meant the Common itself was fairly quiet, if there were any summer visitors in they were keeping a low profile, a couple of Green Woodpeckers gave me the run around as usual as I tried to photograph them.

Closest I've got to one in a long while

AWOL Duck and some welcome Spring migrants

I decided to head up to Teesside yesterday with a Lesser Scaup in mind, when the reserve opened I took a leisurely walk out to the Triangle Pool at Haverton where it had been the last couple of days only to be told it had flown into the reeds five mins previously, I hung around for quite a while expecting it to eventually swim back out but to no avail although my first Wheatear of the year was a nice distraction, I eventually admitted defeat not quite believing it could have remained in the reeds all that time and carried on back round to the visitor centre picking up my first Chiffchaff of the year as well. Back at the centre my suspicions were realised when I found out the Scaup had actually left the Haverton area, landed briefly on the main lake but then flown off again, Oh well, I had some lunch then checked out the Fire Station Pools where I got another year tick, a Little Ringed Plover, a look at Seaton Common next didn’t find much at all so I headed back and took a walk out to Seal Sands, Long Tailed Duck and Slavonian Grebe were showing here but fairly distant there were also a few pairs of Avocets back in the Greatham Creek area plus Spotted Redshank and Greenshank among the more commoner Waders. Late afternoon back at the car I checked for any news and found the Lesser Scaup had been relocated on Back Saltholme Pool, I dashed back there and managed to see it with barely any time to spare before the reserve closed, good views through the screen but would have been better had the hide still been open, I ended the day over at Dormans Pool where I managed to find the long staying Green Winged Teal but again it was very distant.

a couple of crappy record shots