Spurn Weekend Day 2

First full day back at the site where I spent 3 months solid. I got up nice and early, half 5 and was just on my way up to numpties when Steve ran down saying Mick had got Bee-Eater up in Easington and turtle dove at Wetlands. As a result I jumped in the car with Steve and we rushed off to Easington to see if we could track in down on the wires. We could not, which follows the pattern of the bird the previous day.

I decided the wetlands would be a waste of time and instead got a lift back to Numpties where I hoped the bee-eater would go past. There was a steady trickle of swifts moving down over numpties and a few other bits and pieces. It was not pulling up trees but there was enough to keep you sharp whilst seeing some good stuff.

During the morning a reported 3 Grey Herons came in off the sea, though 2 were before I arrived. It was bizzare to see these great big birds which I usually see flying over wetlands or fields, out in the sea coming inland, and made for some more unusual photos of the birds in their habitat.

-Grey Heron

The wind was an absolute nightmare so we were watching from the downwind side of the seawatching hut. It was just as well as otherwise we would have missed some good stuff. Early in the morning Rich Swales picked out a couple of Egyptian Geese flying in the distance, which was the rarest bird recorded at spurn all weekend, but they were distant and seemed to drop down over the ponds, though we heard nothing.

Next I picked up a flock of Canada Geese at the same sort of distance. However, not yet completely familiar with the workings of Spurn I considered them 'just' Canada Geese and kept them quiet, until I mentioned it in passing later to a cry of them being suppressed. Awkward! Given they were now very unusual and I had only got the facial pattern on one of the birds I told Paul that there had been one Canada Goose and 5 other geese sp. but after seeing that a flock of 6 Canadas had been reported earlier in the week it would make sense that they were all canadas. The weird workings of birds at Spurn have caught me out again.

The highlight of the morning for me came a little later on. It all happened very quickly but simultaenously we heard a call that sounded familiar but I could not put my finger on it, and a pair of birds flew past us, the one closest to me was clearly red and a reasonably large finch sp. Had I time I would have got it, but the others there were onto it straight away, Common Crossbill, my third Spurn Tick of the morning. There seemed some confusion that it might have been two Crossbills and a Linnet but we will never know as the birds kept on going over and beyond the buildings at the Warren. I was pretty buzzing after that to be sure.

The same thing happened again not long after, with another call I knew I recognised but could not put my finger on it. This time we picked up the bird much quicker, though it still went through pretty fast, a Siskin, which is only my second for Spurn.

There had been Cuckoos calling yesterday up at wetlands but by late morning we had 3 flying about over Clubleys. Two went back to canal hedge but one did a full loop of clubleys allowing me to get some decent, if not exceptional, shots of the bird in flight.

-Cuckoo

By early afternoon the numbers of Swifts had started to pick up and we were soon on over 1000 having passed through. Other stuff continued to be around, and next on the list was a Hobby that one of the birders had picked up coming in over the Borough Pits. Obviously that's a long way away and I managed no photos of it. It kept diving below, and stayed down for a while before coming back up. It did this a couple of times before moving back out to sea and going south, again at a distance.

The Siskin decided to come back, unlike the crossbills, and did a loop over our heads before heading south again. I was keen to try and grab a photo but caught my camera on my bag, breaking the screen. fortunately no internal damage was done but it does mean I have now broken 2 cameras at Spurn, which is far from ideal.

-Siskin

After 8 hours up at numpties I decided to go for a little walk round the triangle, despite Ian saying it was a big mistake. The wind, of course, kept everything down in the triangle and the only birds I saw were Grey Plover and a solitary Brent Goose (Pale Bellied) from Canal Bank.

-Pale Bellied Brent Goose and Grey Plover

I was thinking to myself that I should have stayed at numpties when the inevitable happened; Pete text me saying that the bee-eater had gone south while I had been away. I was gutted, but felt surprising not bothered. Whilst I had not seen the bee-eater, major bummer, I had always wanted to tick it where I could appreciate it, and not some flyby, so I did not feel as bad as I could have done. That being said, it did not help me when I was being ripped to pieces by the guys when I returned to numpties...

I waited at numpties to see if it would come back, but it did not. I helped Steve count Swifts and in the end there were around 2300 that went through, which is not bad going at all. Another fantastic days birding at Spurn, with 3 Spurn Ticks to boot.

Species List:

Numpties: Egyptian Goose, Gannet, Swift, House Martin, Linnet, Woodpigeon, Magpie, Black-Headed Gull, Brent Goose, Lesser Black-Backed Gull, Sandwich Tern, Carrion Crow, Whimbrel, Mallard, Little Tern, Grey Heron, Kestrel, Jackdaw, Feral Pigeon, Starling, Common Crossbill, Great Black-Backed Gull, Greenfinch, Canada Goose, Collard Dove, Goldfinch, Oystercatcher, Reed Bunting, Skylark, Little Egret, Collard Dove, Common Scoter, Pied Wagtail, Cuckoo, Siskin, Common Gull, Grey Plover, Graylag Goose, Hobby, Tufted Duck, Knot,

Spurn Weekend Day 1

Having some time off is lovely. I spent the last week patching Orgreave and off twitching, but for the weekend I decided to make my first visit of the year to Spurn, which has been long overdue. I arrived back from the greater-legs at 2.00 in the morning so allowed myself a lie in to recover fully before setting off for Spurn at around lunchtime. Pete had set off on the Wednesday before I had contacted him and as such I was travelling by public transport again.

I arrived in Patrington after 4.00 before Paul picked me up and took me the rest of the way. On the way I received the outstanding news that the Red-Necked Phalarope, which had not been seen since Tuesday, had reappeared on Holderness field. So when I arrived that was where I first went.

Paul had described the exact pool to me but I still could not pick it up. I went via Beacon Lane but neither of the first pools I came to had the bird on them. However, on the final pool I connected with it. The RNP was swimming around the pool, which was around 50 meters away. I grabbed a few record digiscoped shots but the bird was distant.

It was a stunning looking bird. The only other phalarope I have ever seen was a grey, but my views of that were distant and brief, so to see one like this, swimming around the pond not too far away was a real treat. Add to the fact that this was a summer plumaged bird and you really have got it all. I was later told that it only had one leg, so I guess it does not really have it all, but it seemed active and healthy enough...

Of course phalaropes are incredibly dainty and small birds, and I got a nice record shot of it alongside a female Pied Wagtail giving a really nice example of just how small they are, what super birds!

-Red-Necked Phalarope and Pied Wagtail

Whilst I was there Pete text me letting me know there was a Bee-Eater at Kilnsea wetlands, so I ran the short distance along to see if I could see it. The bird had obviously moved on and the wetlands themselves were very quiet but I did spot a pair of Gadwall on there, which is a Spurn tick for me.

-Red Necked Phalarope

The bird then moved across to the other end of the pond. We followed it round but this meant the light was ideal for photos so I got out the DSLR and started using that to take photos. I'm not a massive fan of my SLR as it never seems to get pin sharp focus, but having said that my efforts for these were not too shabby. 

-Red-Necked Phalarope

The bird then flew off to the far end of the pond again but I decided I had taken enough. Being so close to a bird like that was phenomenal and I have to say that this was possibly the second best birding experience I have had this year after the harlequin duck. What a beautiful bird.

It was getting towards late evening now so I headed back to the warren via Beacon Lane. On my way down I found a couple of Lesser Whitethroats in the bushes. They were impossible to photograph as they only came out into the open for a couple of seconds at a time. It was another yeartick for me, keeping the ball rolling.

What a way to start the weekend, with a lifer, and an incredibly showy and photogenic one at that. What a super bird.

Species List:

Numpties Watchpoint: Sandwich Tern, Little Tern, Swift, Swallow, Gannet, Magpie, Carrion Crow, House Martin, Great Black-Backed Gull, House Sparrow, Meadow Pipit, Skylark,

Beacon Lane: Great Tit, Blue Tit, Whitethroat, Lesser Whitethroat, Magpie, Dunnock, Robin, Wren, Starling, Woodpigeon, Swallow, 

Holderness Field and Kilnsea Wetlands: Linnet, Yellow Wagtail, Pied Wagtail, Gadwall, Avocet, Little Tern, Shelduck, Red-Necked Phalarope, Mute Swan, Sandwich Tern, Oystercatcher, Little Egret, Swift, Swallow, House Martin, 

Titchfield Haven NNR

With the weather being a little blustery of late I postponed my trip to Hampshire to see the Greater Yellowlegs multiple times during the week. On Wednesday night I finally decided to make my move. I set off on the coach at 1.00 on Thursday morning. I then arrived in London at 6.00 in the morning for my coach to Southampton. I kept my eyes open for Ring-Necked Parakeets but only saw 5 in a single flock on the south side of London. I spent the rest of the journey asleep but arrived in Southampton for 9.00. Next stage was to grab a train to Fakenham which arrived swiftly. Once in Fakenham I went to the bus station to grab a bus to Hill Head, which was about a 5 min walk from Tichfield. And with that I arrived on site at half 11 in the morning.

There had been no news on the bird all morning and by the time I arrived at the reserve I was pretty convinced that I had made a mistake and that the bird would not be seen today. However, just as I arrived at the reserve it came in from the Suffren Hide, so I quickly made my way there.

It was on the mud at the far side of the lake in front of the hide, feeding on its own. I got to watch it for around an hour before it took off and we lost it. In that time it showed really well, just not especially close. The legs were far more distinctively yellow than I had expected. I had expected a bird that looked very similar to greenshank, but it was distincively different. The legs were much brighter yellow than I had expected, and the bill far strighter. As it was on its own there was nothing much to compare it to size wise, but you could still see that it was a about the same size of a Greenshank.

-Greater Yellowlegs

I grabbed some shots, but they were all digiscoped due to the distance. I got a few reasonable ones though, enough for me at any rate. I also tried to get some video, but as per its quite shaky, and my best effort (the one below) the bird is largely obscured by a Little Egret. But when the egret moves you can get a reasonable view of the bird, so its not too bad.

-Greater Yellowlegs

Whilst enjoying the Yellowlegs we were also treated to a couple of other bits. The guys I was chatting to in the hide picked out a Cuckoo at the back of the hide, Though distant I still managed to grab a record shot, though its far from any good.

-Cuckoo

As I said, the bird then took off but did not appear to go far, down the river towards the road. As a result the small number of birders rushed down that way to see if we could pick it up. At the road there were a few Black-Tailed Godwits, the birds that the Yellowlegs often associates with, but sadly he was not there. A pity as the godwits were really close to the road. There were about 20 godwits already, but these were then joined by another 50 maybe, but the additional birds did not stay long before flying back upriver to where they had come from.

-Black Tailed Godwits and Little Egret

After about an hour searching the river I decided my time on the reserve was too limited to be spent waiting for it to reappear so decided to go for a wander round the reserve in the hope of encountering it or at least seeing some other good stuff.

I went into the first hide I came to, which was very busy with birds around, though these mainly consisted of Black-Headed Gulls and their chicks. There were reasonable numbers of waders too, such as families of Avocets and Lapwings, as well as Wildfowl including Canada Geese, Shoveler and Shelduck. Sadly I could see no shoveler chicks, but they would have been something to see.

On the far raft one of the birders in the hide picked out a summer plumage Mediterranean Gull, but it was distant and add to that the fact that it kept its head down for the large part and was not overly active I could manage no more than a couple of record shots.

-Mediterranean Gull

-Black Headed Gull

By now I only had an hour left before I would have to go so I decided to head back to the main entrance to see what had been seen, see if I could see it in the time I had, and also take a look at the ducks in the harbor.

On my way in I had seen a Black Swan with the ducks. Despite not being tickable I wanted to get a good look at it as its been a while since I last saw one. Sadly when I arrived it was asleep which was something of a bummer, but never mind. Can't beat an escaped bird.

-Black Swan

I went back to the visitor center to have a look at the sightings, only to find out that the Yellowlegs had been found again in Pumfret hide. This was a trek but I had a little time so decided to go for it just in case it was showing better than previously.

Sadly it was not! If anything it was showing much worse. It took a while for it to come out of the reeds before it then moved through the assembled sleeping godwits before it too settled down to sleep, but behind a godwit. I took a photo just for the sake of it to be honest, all you can see is the birds spangly back and nothing else. I could not stay long but I now knew that it was not showing any closer from the new location than it had been from the original, giving me peace of mind.

One of the other birders in the hide pick out a Grass Snake on the far bank. When I first managed to get on it, the snake had stopped moving and I was unsure if I had even got the right thing, but then it slithered off into the reeds. All this was through the scope so no photos, but it's my first reptile this year and with a family holiday to Dorset coming up, who knows? Maybe I will get them all this year!

-Greater Yellowlegs currently Obscured by Black-Tailed Godwits

Sadly I had no time spare and had to get back pretty sharpish to the bus stop or have to endure a uncomforatbly close journey home with marginal connection times. On the way back I even got a mammal tick for the day when I spotted this rat feeding in the duck area in the harbour. I could not be bothere getting the DSLR out of my bag so I only grabbed a couple of compact shots. It is a rat after all...

-Brown Rat

On the way back all the connections ran smoothly up to the coach, but out of Southampton the coach was running very late. Good thing I slept through it as I ended up having to absolutely pelt it to make my transfer in London, a transfer that I was supposed to have had 40 mins to wait with. Never mind, I made it and was back in Sheffield at 2.00 on Friday morning, job well done; Greater Yellowlegs seen.

Species List:
Coach Journey: Starling, Collard Dove, Lesser Black-Backed Gull, Woodpigeon, Ring-Necked Parakeet, Common Buzzard, Goldfinch, Feral Pigeon, Swift, Swallow, Magpie, Carrion Crow, Jackdaw,
Titchfield Haven NNR: Blue Tit, Greater Yellowlegs, Moorhen, Coot, Little Egret, Canada Goose, Black-Headed Gull, Woodpigeon, Lesser Black-Backed Gull, Mallard, Gadwall, Great Black-Backed Gull, Mute Swan, Jay, Cuckoo, Common Tern, Great Crested Grebe, Robin, Dunnock, Black-Tailed Godwit, Pheasant, Oystercatcher, Cormorant, Whitethroat, Avocet, Shelduck, Lapwing, Shoveler, Mediterranean Gull, Sedge Warbler, Linnet, Wren, Reed Bunting, Great Tit, Common Buzzard, Brown Rat, Grass Snake, Speckled Wood, Common Blue, Common Blue Damselfly,

Orgreave Lakes

With nothing major on the radar I decided to spend the morning down at Orgreave to see if the wind had brought anything in overnight. I was also keen to see if I could catch up with the Reed Warbler that I had been tipped off about yesterday, as that would be my third patch tick in 2 days. Its been fun spending more time down at the patch, but having said that I still could not get out of bed for half 5, eventually dragging myself out at 6, meaning that I got to the site at 7.00ish.

The morning started a little rainy but then cleared up afterwards until it came quite sunny. The wind had dropped but had not completely gone and on the northern side of the lake where there are fewer trees it could definitely be felt. The shrubbery had plenty of passerines around, including Blackcap and Chiffchaff, both singing. The small lake had some good stuff including a Great Crested Grebe chick being closely attended by its parents, which was fantastic to see.

There were no waders round the small lake and as I wandered over to the large lake I struggled to pick any up initially. However, on the near shore I eventually got a Ringed Plover, and a little more scanning got me a Sanderling again, which was fantastic. It was not particularly close so I moved off round the way it was going hoping it would come out of the grass closer. It did but I had been distracted by a Little Ringed Plover and had not been paying attention, so when it did run through the shorter grass I had no time to prep myself. Never mind. It was the only Sanderling here today.

-Sanderling

I continued round after the Sanderling had moved on round until it was out of sight. There were no new waders round the side, only a couple of Ringed Plover. As I reached the area where I had been tipped off about the Reed Warbler. As I approached I could hear the zesty call of the Reed Warbler though it was drowned out by a very vocal Whitethroat in the neighboring trees.

I set myself up and it did not take long before I could see the Reed Warbler flitting around. It took me surprisingly long to work out that digiscoping was simply not going to work for this and so had to retrieve my camera from my bag. Even then the bird was incredibly difficult to track. At one point, after I had lost it for a while, two birds flew across the river. I could not confirm it but it looked like two Reed Warblers, though the second bird could have been a Whitethroat. Having said that, later revelations would suggest that they were both Reed Warblers.

Whilst I was waiting for a decent chance to photograph this patch tick I spotted another patch tick fluttering around the edge of the river. Not a bird this time but a Banded Demoiselle, which is a species I have not seen on the site before and the first this year for me.

-Banded Demoiselle

The warbler started to show much better afterwards, although it soon became clear that there must be 2 individuals, one on each side of the river. I could not see the birds transfer across the river, yet within seconds of each other the birds were showing on their respective sides. Its possible that there was a third bird, as about 10 seconds after watching the bird on the far side I spotted the bird on the near side sat out in the open, though it quickly dived to be replaced by another. I cannot confirm this was not the bird from the far side of the river but the short time span in which I saw the birds would lead me to think that it is not.

-Reed Warbler

The rest of the walk was very pleasant and I picked up a number of the regular species dotted around the lakes. There were quite a few garden birds around too in the riverside trees, including Long-Tailed Tit, Greenfinch, Chaffinch and another Blackcap. It ended up being a really nice day and a great way to spend a morning.

Species List:
Orgreave Lakes: Blackcap, Blackbird, Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Magpie, Black-Headed Gull, Chiffchaff, Skylark, Feral Pigeon, Woodpigeon, Goldfinch, Canada Goose, Swift, House Martin, Sand Martin, Graylag Goose, Gadwall, Mallard, Carrion Crow, Kestrel, Ringed Plover, Cormorant, Great Crested Grebe, Tufted Duck, Mute Swan, Lapwing, Lesser Black-Backed Gull, Oystercatcher, Sanderling, Coot, Little Ringed Plover, Stock Dove, Redshank, Reed Bunting, Reed Warbler, Moorhen, Whitethroat, Great Tit, Linnet, Pied Wagtail, Grey Wagtail, Meadow Pipit, Dunlin, Graylag Goose, Bullfinch, Blue Tit, Long-Tailed Tit, Dunnock, Swallow,

Orgreave Lakes

After yesterdays disappointment and the weather being still being pretty unfriendly I decided to postpone my trip to see the greaterlegs and stay local. I was keen to get back to the patch after a month away, that month being when there had been a dearth of wader species coming through. Having missed them all I was keen to get down and see how things had changed.

I delayed out of bed due to the weather being less that brilliant early on. Though the wind did not drop during my visit it was less cloudy and rainy. The cloud cover was ever changing but things looked good. All the leaves on the trees had fully come out since my last visit, and the grass had grown up around the paths, so it now felt very summery.

There were good birds around and I started with a patch tick of Song Thrush, though the view was very brief, though I did see it again on the way back too. The swifts were on point again, flying low all around so I could even hear their wing-beats, as well as skimming across the water.

I kept an eye open for waders, especially sanderling as there had been a few knocking about over the last few days. I picked up Redshank and Little Ringed Plover on the southern side of the small lake. On the northern side of the small lake I landed my second patch tick of the day. I scanning the bank I picked up 3 small waders. The first 2 were clearly Dunlin with their dark bellies but the third bird was a very nice Sanderling. It was not red, it was a much greyer bird than I imagined it would be. In flight the white on the wings stood out a great deal compared to the dunlin, but sadly that flight was when it moved from the small pool and onto the large lake. Sadly I only managed a couple of record shots, as the birds were distant and moving way.

I moved over the crest to check out the large lake to see if I could pick them up again. I was impressed by the numbers of wild flowers. The real stars were the large Southern Marsh Orchids which were dotted around the eastern side of the lake.

-Southern Marsh Orchid

I got chatting to a couple of birders around, before I re-caught my quarry. This time there were 2 and one was a much redder individual than the one I had seen earlier, the other bird was probably that very same bird. Because they are so small and the grass was so tall I struggled to get any photos as the digiscope could not work out the difference between grass and Sanderling. However, as I waited they eventually settled in a position where I could get some proper record shots, and my efforts and not bad if I don't say so myself. 

Having them settled where I wanted them I also tried a little video. Not going to lie it looks like an earthquake is taking place but maybe without the wind I might have been able to get a decent video but instead I ended up perfecting the shaky cam technique. Anyways, I have included cos why not...

-Sanderling

-Sanderling

There was plenty of other stuff too, including 41 coots and 31 mute swans. I only saw 1 swallow which felt a little odd. The Swifts performed spectacularly all morning, whizzing around at incredibly close quarters. So a very nice return to the patch after so much time away. Hopefully I will be able to get down a few more times before I have to do my field course.

Species List:

Orgreave Lakes: Linnet, Goldfinch, Mallard, Dunnock, Blackbird, Woodpigeon, Song Thrush, Lapwing, Kestrel, Swift, Black-Headed Gull, Redshank, Mute Swan, Cormorant, Tufted Duck, Coot, Skylark, Little Ringed Plover, Dunlin, Great Crested Grebe, Sanderling, Gadwall, Canada Goose, Carrion Crow, Magpie, Reed Bunting, Meadow Pipit, House Martin, Sand Martin, Great Black-Backed Gull, Grey Wagtail, Pied Wagtail, Whitethroat, Sparrowhawk, Swallow, Feral Pigeon, Oystercatcher, Common Blue, Speckled Wood

Northumberland dipping Black-Winged Prat

Not gonna spend too much time going through today. Train up for early morning, the bird was reported at half 4, but was sadly last seen at 7.00, 3 hours before I eventually arrived. The last observers to see it could not confirm that it left, though given that it has not been seen since it would seem likely that it has indeed left. 

The site itself, Bothal Pool was not difficult to get to but did lack anything else really to do. Birds on site were few and the wind was a real problem. As a result the three hours I spent waiting for the pratincole to return were not especially pleasant.

Bird highlights included Shelduck, Little Ringed Plover and the incredible Swifts whizzing round really close to us. Terry from Spurn was also there, so it was nice to catch up with another Spurn birder. I only took one bird photo through the whole day, which was of a very distant Yellow Wagtail in one the fields on the opposite side of the road. Through the scope I could see it was singing, but it was so distant I could not hear it at all.

-Yellow Wagtail

It did mean I got home for 7.00 in the evening, which is a more reasonable time than many of my trips. But in short it was a major disappointment, as any dip is, but this one was a species I really wanted to see...

Species List:

Bothal Pool: Black-Headed Gull, Little Ringed Plover, Mallard, Gadwall, Mute Swan, Shelduck, Ringed Plover, Lapwing, Oystercatcher, Swift, Reed Bunting, Blackbird, Blue Tit, Pied Wagtail, Yellow Wagtail, Common Buzzard, Red Kite, Woodpigeon, Collard Dove, Magpie