The weekend Terned out well

An afternoon trip to Blacktoft on Saturday as there had been some Spoonbills recently plus there was also the chance of some early returning Waders, the Spoonbills had bunked off to Alkborough before I arrived but there were a few Waders around, a few Black Tailed Godwits, 10+ Spotted Reds, a couple of Green Sands etc, several Cetti’s Warblers were still singing and quite a few Marsh Harriers were about including several playful juveniles also the female Montagu’s Harrier made one of her sporadic appearances, having failed to attract a mate this year she often goes missing for long periods. 

Spotshanks not doing a lot

Godwits were a bit more active

family party

playful and vocal juveniles

one obligingly landed in front of the hide

This morning, Sunday, I made a trip to see a summer plumaged White-winged Black Tern that has been touring round a few West and South Yorks Lakes for the last couple of days finally settling at Rother Valley CP yesterday, it was still present today commuting between the Main Lake and the Wildlife Lake where it offered some fine views, a lot of familiar faces there this morning which was very enjoyable in good company watching a very smart looking bird.

initially seen on the Main Lake which was quite big

it moved to the Wildlife Lake to rest, it had been on some nearer posts earlier but during the time I was there
it rested on this distant mound

it also had the occasional fly around

Any good birds in Norfolk, Knot today

The week before I went to Lanzarote a Great Knot had turned up at Titchwell, out of the question for me but Mark went for it with the Rochdale lads on the Saturday but then failed to see it, however the bird returned the following day and has remained in the area since and although fairly mobile between various sites it has been quite faithful to Titchwell most of the time, after going for the Scoter at the weekend and not wanting to risk leaving it a further week me and Mark took Tuesday off and along with Pete Watson went to go and see it, however you've guessed it the bloody Knots had decided to either move on or change their feeding area and there were no sightings of the Great one from anywhere all day, we remained at Titchwell until late afternoon ever in the hope it may just drop in at any time but no such luck, there was plenty of other stuff to look at though, some nice Godwits, juv Bearded Reedlings, female Red Crested Pochards, Red Kite, Buzzards and Marsh Harriers but a disappointing day really.

we made friends on the beach

quite a few Sedge Warblers singing away

juv Bearded Reedlings showing well

and a good selection of Waders, apart from Great Knot that is

well grown Avocet chicks

The Big Twitch, a day of mixed fortunes

Out with Mark and our mates Darren from Leeds and Dave from Rochdale on Sunday for a big twitch up to Murcar Golf Course near Blackdog Aberdeen for an “American” White-winged Scoter that had turned up over a week ago, an overnight drive found us on site at first light with the daunting task of searching through the massive numbers of Eider and Scoter on the sea, it actually didn’t take long to pick out what turned out to be a fairly distinctive bird mainly by the big white wing patches although when it came a little closer a couple of times the other features like the more pinkish bill with the small bump on the culmen, the larger eye patch and browner flanks could also be seen, it mainly kept company with a few Velvets but as to be expected it was hardly what you could call photogenic, but you know me I just had take some record shots. An excellent start to the day, the main target and new bird for all of us in the bag nice and early plus had shown better than expected (a nice calm sea helped) unfortunately the rest of the day didn’t quite go as hoped, we headed a bit further north first to the Ythan Estuary to look for the drake King Eider which would have been a nice bonus but there was no sign of it nor of the recent American Wigeon, a couple of Arctic Terns showed well as they fed close by though, we headed back and had a look from Blackdog itself where a King Eider had been reported yesterday, lots of Eider on the beach but distant and a couple of scans revealed nothing more than common. We carried on south cutting across country at Forfar to the Loch of Lowes near Dunkeld as me and Mark still needed Osprey for the year, the female was sitting on the nest but there was little action so we soon moved on. We had decided to head back to Northumberland and try for the long staying Bonaparte’s Gull on the Wansbeck Estuary but paid a quick visit to Musselburgh on the way, it was quite windy here making for a rough sea and we failed to locate the Surf Scoter this time but a big flock of female/imm Red Breasted Mergansers made an interesting sight. We got to the Wansbeck Estuary late afternoon, the tide was in and there were hardly any Gulls around at all, we had a little look around to no avail, failed again, it may have been on the nearby Castle Island but by this stage we’d had enough and decided to call it a day.

distant American White-winged Scoter

with a little imagination you can make out the pinkish bill and brown flanks

Velvets in flight

lots of Yellowhammers around

Arctic Tern at the Ythan Estuary

Eiders at Musselburgh, no two look the same

part of the large flock of Red Breasted Mergansers

Local update week ending July 1st

Got back from Lanzarote in the early hours of Sunday morning but after a lie in, a bit of sorting out, family visits etc I managed to get a couple of hours on Strensall Common late afternoon, it was very quiet the best of it was a large flock of Swifts and a male Stonechat with three youngsters in tow (nice to see them back and breeding). The Ings remained quiet in rather variable weather this week but the first Meadow Browns and Ringlets were about, bird highlights included a Hobby terrorising the Hirundines on Thursday and seven adult Mute Swans and a Common Sandpiper along the river on the Friday.

male Stonechat at Strensall Common