Blacktoft

Trip out after work to Blacktoft Sands, fairly routine stuff although there were a good number of Black Tailed Godwits down at Ousefleet and a Short Eared Owl was out hunting from Xerox, I eventually ended up at Singleton for the Raptor roost and finally got my first Cetti’s Warbler for the reserve when one sang several times from that end, had to be on the cards really when it was rumoured up to 30 have wintered here, on the Raptor front single Sparrowhawk and Kestrel plus half a dozen Marsh Harriers were about it, I managed to miss a male Hen Harrier due to an ill timed phone call from work.

Raptor watching

I was out with Mark and with it being a reasonable weather forecast we decided on a bit of Raptor watching down Troutsdale this morning, dropping in from the Snainton end our first stop at that end of the valley soon produced firstly a Buzzard soaring and then a Goshawk flapping lazily along a ridge, pleased with our early success we dropped further into the valley and down to our usual watchpoint but apart from a brief sighting of a Gos upsetting the Wood Pigeons and a Peregrine dashing through we had quite a wait for anymore action, eventually late morning the Buzzards started getting up in numbers and then at least three more Goshawks appeared, a pair was displaying for quite a while, good scope views but they never came close.  With time marching on we decided to move on and check out nearby Langdale Forest where a wintering Great Grey Shrike had been reported this morning, the forest roads were quite driveable and we managed to get out to the Lun Rigg area which the Shrike has been favouring, we had half a dozen Crossbills over but despite a good search there was no sign of the Shrike. Then the weather turned and it started snowing eventually becoming quite persistent so we admitted defeat and dropped down to Scalby Mills with the intention of photographing the American Wigeon, that was not to be though as the weather was just as bad on the coast and the sea had become very rough, the Wigeon were a fair way out and although we found the American Wigeon it wasn’t easy to stay on as it bobbed around not helped by it spending much of its time asleep. At a bit of a loss of what do next we went up to Holbeck where a couple of the Med Gulls have started to attain their summer finery then decided to call it an early day and took a steady scenic drive back over the Wolds, quite a lot of Hares but nothing of note birdwise.

lovely blue skies during the morning

but a grey afternoon

Sunday 28th: Teesside again

With the reappearance of the Penduline Tits yesterday it was up to Teesside today, called off at Haverton first and found one of the roosting Long Eared Owls but it was still fairly obscured so still no clear shot. At Saltholme news came over that the Penduline Tits were still present as I was checking in so it was a quick dash out to the Wildlife Watchpoint hide but upon arrival it seemed nobody there knew anything nor indeed did anybody else around the reserve, everyone was a bit baffled by the report but certainly after staking out the area with many other birders most of the morning it unfortunately became a no show day, a lot of the Ducks looked good in the morning sunshine though and the female Smew was back on the main lake this week. After lunch I drove up to Blackhall Rocks north of Hartlepool where a couple of Richard’s Pipits had been found a few days ago, they were in an area of very long grass so it was just flight views although the one I saw was calling a lot as well, bumped into Darren, Mike, Richard and John from Leeds here and spent the rest of the afternoon with them. Driving back through Hartlepool we had decided with it being a nice sunny afternoon to have another session with the Shore Larks, just two now but they posed well, no Snow Buntings today though, we then carried on to Dorman's Pool although I stopped off at Newburn Bridge on the way where one Med Gull sat on a lamppost but there was little else. At Dorman’s Pool, Darren and co were already heading back from the hide with news there had been no sign of any Water Pipits for more than an hour and had decided to try an area around the back of Saltholme East Pool, no joy with the Pipits but we got superb views of a hunting Short Eared Owl, we returned to Dorman's and eventually a flock of Pipits flew in, mainly Meadows but in the end we got some decent views of two or three Water Pipits on the telegraph wires.

still hiding too well

smart drake Gadwall

the Shore Larks in nice light

the Med

and Shortie on display

Last of the set

I went out after work today to North Cave Wetlands for the last of the trio of good Ducks that have been in the region, the Green Winged Teal, still present on Village Lake this afternoon though like the other two it was distant, looked good in the afternoon sun though, also a couple of Red Kites over the back field and a Little Egret on Dryham Ings. Went back via the LDV to search for the recent Bewick’s Swans, had a look from Bubwith Bridge, North Duffield Carrs and Thorganby and although I managed to see Mute, Black and Whoopers easy enough they were a bit too distant to be able to pick out any Bewick’s.

Saturday Gulls and Sunday up North

I joined the York Bird Club at Rufforth Airfield on Saturday morning for a session with the Gulls, many thanks to Tim, Ollie, Chris and Jack for a very entertaining and informative morning, my tally of the more interesting Gulls were a juv Glaucous, juv and 3rd winter Iceland plus adult and two 1st winter Caspians, although I'm sure the lads will tell you they're all interesting.
Out with Mark today and with there being nothing much in Yorkshire, a better weather forecast for further North and the elusive Long Billed Dowitcher still tantalizing we headed up into Northumberland again this morning, first port of call was the hide at Cresswell Ponds and a smaller wader asleep at the back of a group of Lapwings proved to be the Dowitcher, it eventually woke up and came a little closer, though not close enough, preened for a while then flew back again, but at least we saw it this time. Mid-morning we took our leave and headed further North to Stag Rocks at Bamburgh to search for some sea Duck, a large flock of Pinkfeet were seen en route, it was a very calm sea and at first glance apart from a few Eiders seemed to be empty but we eventually found several small rafts of Common Scoters, of which one was accompanied by four Slavonian Grebes and another by a Black Throated Diver but most impressive of all were up to nine spring drake Long Tailed Ducks, they really do look smart at this time of year and it's a shame they didn't come close, we dropped back to Seahouses Harbour where the Eiders posed as usual but we also had the bonus of Black Redstart hanging around on some garage roofs. We headed back South calling back at Cresswell, the light was a bit better this afternoon and the Dowitcher was a bit closer roosting with some Redshank but it remained asleep until the flock got spooked and then flew off to the back again, we carried on for home with the plan of calling in at Boldon Flats for a Green Winged Teal but we couldn’t remember how to get to the reserve and had to give up, annoyingly looking at the map when I got home we had been so close.

The Dowitcher, always distant

wing stretch

a bit more AV

Eiders at Seahouses

Herring Gull

plus this Black Redstart

back at Cresswell some Redshank and friends were roosting

including the Dowitcher

and then they were off, Dowitcher in the middle