A rainy day

Me and Andy joined the York Bird Club field outing to the North York Moors today. We started the day at Wykeham Raptor viewpoint but a cool cloudy morning coupled with no wind meant the Raptors weren’t performing although Crossbills and Turtle Doves put on a reasonable show, late morning a common Buzzard eventually got up then half an hour later we picked up a Honey Buzzard on the other side of the valley, it showed again a bit later but there was no displaying today, we retreated back to the cars for lunch when a heavy shower came over. Next up was Fen Bog but it was fairly quiet here, a distant view of a Whinchat being the best of it, then the heavens opened up again so we soon carried on into Bransdale, unfortunately we just couldn’t escape the rain and by the time we reached the Ring Ouzel site it had become quite persistent, we carried on at a steady pace just seeing what we could from the cars with the rain finally clearing as we headed back down the other side of the valley, we stopped at another Ring Ouzel site, there were plenty of the usual Moorland birds about, Lapwing, Curlew, Meadow Pipit, Whinchat etc and a few of the group who walked along the stream managed to connect with Ring Ouzel as well, we called it a day after that.

Butterwort

and passing steam train at Fen Bog

Saturday in reverse

Me and Andy were out again on Bank Holiday Monday and decided to give the Marsh Warbler at Blacktoft Sands another go, it seemed to perform better during the mornings and sure enough within half an hour of us getting there it was up singing and showing really well perching on the tall grass stems in its favoured area although just a bit further away than I would have liked for the camera, a quick look from Singleton Hide found a drake Garganey, a couple of Little Egrets and the usual Marsh Harriers flying around. We then headed off for Flamborough and decided to have another look at the Roller en route as it was still present, I was hoping  to get some better pics in the brighter conditions but it was not to be, after initially tucking itself into the grassy edge of the field for almost an hour when it became active again it flew out into the middle of the field and remained distant for the rest of the time we were there. Mid afternoon we carried on to Flamborough which was slow going, an accident had closed the A165 and we had to divert through a gridlocked Burton Agnes but after eventually getting there we soon located the superb male Red Backed Shrike found yesterday and still present in the Gorse Field below the car park, I spent quite some time trying to get some photos of this bird but it was in an awkward position and the couple of times I got it in my sights the light wasn’t very good, we also had the bonus of a Great Skua flying close in past the headland.

Happy after being fed by us in the car park

tucked in the grassy edge

flying off into the middle of the field

a Lesser Whitethroat singing from the top of a bush

Yorkshire ticks

A couple of Yorkshire ticks for me this past week, I nipped to Fairburn Ings after work on Thursday where one of the half dozen or so Black Winged Stilts touring the country at present had dropped in for a couple of days, it was on the New Flashes and typically right at the back so no good for a decent photo but I took a few record shots anyway.

Then on Saturday morrning me and Andy went over to Aldbrough where the Roller seen at Spurn on Tuesday has relocated, it was found on Thursday evening and was still present this morning and performing really well, a superb bird and only my second one in this country, there was also a pair of Grey Partridges in the field and two Turtle Doves flew over. In the afternoon we went over to Blacktoft Sands where a Marsh Warbler has been singing and showing in the vegetation by the path towards Singleton Hide for the last few days but it hadn’t been seen or heard for a couple of hours when we got there, we staked it out for a while and it finally started singing just after 5pm but it didn’t show and soon shut up again, maybe have to give it another go if it hangs around.

talk about blending in with the background