Post Beeeater Birding

With the sudden and somewhat unexpected ending to the beeeater project, Kieran and I were able to go off birding. We spent the weekend at Spurn but we did not spend too much time birding, although when we did we did see Red Kite, Wood Sandpiper and 1000 Common Tern. Not a bad weekend

We left Spurn on the Monday and the headed first to Bempton Cliffs due to there being an alpine swift there. We missed the swift but saw Puffin, Peregrine, Yellow Wagtail and a lot of Gannets. We probably spent about an hour at Bempton before we carried on going north. 

Next on our trip north we called in at Wykeham raptor viewpoint. We spent a couple of hours with not much more than Common Buzzards. Just before we were about to leave though I picked out a Goshawk at some distance, which we got to watch for around 20 seconds before it dropped back into the trees. That was pretty exciting, and finally means my biggest tart has fallen.

In the evening we went up to Whitburn where we tried Storm Petrel ringing. We only caught one but had several come in and flutter round the net. It was pretty exciting, and obviously awesome to see my first Stormie.

-European Storm Petrel

Species List:

Spurn Bird Observatory: Common Tern, Arctic Tern, Fulmar, Guillemot, Common Scoter, Oystercatcher, Turnstone, Sanderling, Dunlin, Whimbrel, Golden Plover, Grey Plover, Ringed Plover, Wood Sandpiper, Red Kite, Sparrowhawk, Kestrel, Woodpigeon, Stock Dove, Lesser Black-backed Gull, House Sparrow, Tree Sparrow, 

Bempton Cliffs RPSB: Gannet, Puffin, Shag, Peregrine, Herring Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, Kittiwake, Guillemot, Yellow Wagtail, Linnet, Tree Sparrow, Swift, Swallow, House Martin, Starling,

Wykeham Raptor Viewpoint: Marsh Harrier, Common Buzzard, Kestrel, Sparrowhawk, Goshawk, Woodpigeon, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Stock Dove, Crossbill, Linnet, Raven, Carrion Crow, 

Whitburn Coastal Park NT: Oystercatcher, Redshank, Cormorant, European Storm Petrel, Carrion Crow,