Spurn Week 9

Monday 08th August

I arrived in the obs early afternoon to the news that a juvenile Spotted Redshank could be seen from the upstairs window of the obs. So I headed up to have a look at it before it flew off into the Humber. I headed out round the triangle for a walk but failed to see much, and the evening tern roost was quite limited.

Species List:

Triangle: Spotted Redshank, Redshank, Dunlin, Swallow, Common Gull, Herring Gull, Gannet, Common Tern, Sandwich Tern, Magpie, Starling, House Sparrow, Little Egret, 

Tuesday 09th August

A fairly unproductive day as the weeks of nightshifts begin to catch up with me. In the end the only birding I actually did was the evening seawatch, although that was nothing to be sniffed at with my first Sooty Shearwaters of the year going north, fairly close in too. A couple of Arctic Skuas were also thrown into the mix to make light of what was a poor evening tern movement.

Species List:

Seawatching: Common Scoter, Gannet, Sooty Shearwater, Fulmar, Arctic Skua, Common Gull, Oystercatcher, Common Tern, Black-headed Gull, Sandwich Tern, Swallow, Woodpigeon, 

Wednesday 10th August

Finally the last two birds had fledged thus ending my weeks of night shifts and restoring me to something like normality. So today when I eventually got out of bed from my final night-shift I decided to head off down the canal to seawatching in the hope of maybe picking up some seabirds.

There was nothing down the canal and the sea was fairly quiet too, although there was a healthy number of Oystercatchers moving, with 200+ in the two hours that I was there for. The only other birds of note were two Arctic Skuas, but they were somewhat distant, which was a real shame.

-Oystercatchers

Species List:

Seawatching: Knot, Oystercatcher, Gannet, Kittiwake, Arctic Skua, Common Scoter, Sanderling, Sandwich Tern, Whimbrel, Common Tern, Swallow, Woodpigeon, Herring Gull, Common Gull, 

Thursday 11th August

In trying to restore my sleeping pattern to something like normality I decided not to push myself but to get out of bed at a more reasonable 08.00. By that time news of the morning had been filtering through, and it appeared that the Wood Sandpiper was now back on the canal scrape. So thats where I headed first. The bird was indeed back and showing very well. Sadly the poorer weather conditions meant the light was rubbish but I still managed a few more photos of what has been a very obliging bird throughout its stay. Also of note on the scrape is a young Coot, which is a pretty unusual bird for Spurn.

-Wood Sandpiper

-Coot

Once I had finished with the Sandpiper I headed down to seawatching for a bit. The birds were not really moving at all, only a handful of waders and a few duck. The only seabirds not Gannets were two Arctic Skuas, which were both closer than the previous days birds.
Up at the ponds in the afternoon for a couple of hours rewarded me with my first sight of the last two Little Tern chicks, a bit bigger than I expected but still looking a little young to be flying. Still, they look healthy, and no matter, they can fly so should soon be well on their way out of ponds. Other birds at the ponds were few and far between, but Kilnsea Wetlands was absolutely heaving with birds; mainly Common and Sandwich Terns, plus Black-headed and Mediterranean Gulls. Really quite impressive.

-Little Egret

-Terns and Gulls

Species List:

Triangle: Coot, Moorhen, Tufted Duck, Wood Sandpiper, Golden Plover, Dunlin, Dunnock, Mallard, Swallow, House Martin, House Sparrow, Curlew, Magpie, Linnet, Starling, Little Grebe, Reed Warbler,

Seawatching: Arctic Skua, Eider, Common Scoter, Knot, Sanderling, Gannet, Sandwich Tern, Teal, Cormorant,
Kilnsea Wetlands and Beacon Ponds: Kestrel, Sparrowhawk, Swallow, House Martin, Dunlin, Sanderling, Cormorant, Ringed Plover, Little-ringed Plover, Oystercatcher, Greenshank, Little Tern, Common Tern, Sandwich Tern, Mediterranean Gull, Little Egret, Black-headed Gull, Mallard, Teal, Arctic Skua, Skylark, Common Gull, Mute Swan, Herring Gull, Gannet, Kittiwake, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Little Gull, Turnstone, Swift,

Friday 12th August
This morning did not start well. I thought I had left my radio on overnight so anything stupidly early would wake me up. Turns out that was not the case, and as a result I did not see the bittern that landed on Canal Scrape at 5.00 in the morning. Most of the morning was spent waiting for its reappearance but no such thing happened. The Wood Sandpiper was still present though, as were a couple of Snipe.

-Wood Sandpiper

The day passed with still no sign of the bittern reappearing. In the evenings seawatch though there was something much better with the first major Tern movement of the year. 7370 Terns were clicked going to roost, the most by some distance this year and obviously really impressive to see. I always maintain that evening tern roost is the best thing I have seen at Spurn and to have gone a couple of years without a decent count has been extremely disappointing.

Species List:
Canal Scrape: Common Snipe, Mallard, Teal, Wood Sandpiper, Dunlin, Woodpigeon, Teal, Little Grebe, Meadow Pipit,
Seawatching: Common Tern, Arctic Tern, Sandwich Tern, Gannet, Common Scoter, Common Gull, Black-headed Gull, Arctic Skua, Herring Gull, Great Black-backed Gull,

Saturday 13th August
The event of the day was a Wader ID course being run by the Obs. I decided to combine wader spotting with a couple of hours up at the ponds ensuring that the last couple of chicks were still Ok. There were not masses of Waders but there was a good variety around Ponds, Wetlands and Holderness field. As a result I understand the event was a success.
The best of the waders were the two juvenile Little Stints still on Holderness Field, but the Ruff were still on Wetlands (Looking amazing) and there were still a handful of Little Ringed Plover knocking about.
In the evening the tern roost nowhere near lived up to the excitement of last night, but a very distant Osprey was a much appreciated yeartick. That being said, it was so distant it could have been a Greater Black-back so far as I'm concerned...

Species List:
Kilnsea Wetlands, Beacon Ponds and Holderness Field: Black-tailed Godwit, Ruff, Mediterranean Gull, Little Ringed Plover, Ringed Plover, Little Tern, Little Stint, Dunlin, Common Snipe, Turnstone, Knot, Wigeon, Sanderling, Mute Swan, Little Grebe, Greenshank, Redshank, Black-headed Gull, Sandwich Tern, Common Tern, Mallard, Teal, Herring Gull, Common Gull, Great Black-backed Gull,
Seawatching: Osprey, Manx Shearwater, Common Tern, Arctic Tern, Sandwich Tern, Fulmar, Common Scoter, Black-headed Gull, Common Gull, Oystercatcher, Knot, Dunlin, Arctic Skua

Sunday 14th August
Once again duty called upon me. Today was the day of the official launch of Andy Roadhouses book 'The Birds of Spurn'. A fantastic volume covering all the species ever seen at Spurn. But to make sure all the people coming the launch got the book they had ordered there was some setting up to do.
But before all that I got to settle a score with possibly my most missed species at Spurn. I was just getting dressed in the morning when a message came over the radio of a Treecreeper in the Obs garden. Having missed 4 at Spurn, it was well known my desire to see one, so Pete, who found it, specifically radioed me up. Withing a minuet I was alongside the birders watching it climb along the hawthorn hedge. About a hour later it was trapped and ringed at Kew, so I got to appreciate it out of the morning gloom as well.

-Treecreeper

It was a good day at Spurn overall too. As we were packing books news came over the radio of a Sabines Gull flying north. It had been picked up at Easington Caravan Site, so our chances were slim. As soon as news broke, all the birders raced to their vehicles. I jumped in with Tim and Jonnie. With an absurd amount of speed we made it up to the Gas Terminal. We jumped out and began scanning. We had overtaken the bird and Jonnie picked it up as it flew slowly past us. Slower birders kept arriving all the time but the bird continued north and soon it was not much more than a dot. A cracking bird.

-Sabines Gull

The book launch was extremely successful. Once it was over I headed up to the ponds to do a little shift with the Terns. Both chicks were still present and looking ready to leave at any point really. A Garganey on Kilnsea Wetlands was new, and somewhat unexpected for the day list.

-Garganey

In the evenings seawatch there continued to be hardly any terns, another disappointing evening on the whole. That being said, when you have a fully spooned Pomarine Skua going past, no matter what else flies past its got to be a success!

Species List:
Kilnsea Wetlands & Beacon Ponds: Garganey, Black-tailed Godwit, Wheatear, Sanderling, Little Tern, Common Tern, Dunlin, Redshank, Sandwich Tern, Ringed Plover, Oystercatcher, Greenshank, Mallard, Mute Swan, Little Egret, Grey Heron, Teal, Wigeon, Black-headed Gull, Herring Gull, Woodpigeon, Great Black-backed Gull,
Seawatching: Common Tern, Pomarine Skua, Arctic Skua, Common Scoter, Herring Gull ,Fulmar, Gannet, Sandwich Tern,

Old Moor

So its the last day of March, and as a result I decided to go to Old Moor after my lecture, to try and find the 3 species I would need to take me up to 100 in 1 quarter of a year.

I arrived in good time, all the connections went well, I'm getting good at this, but the weather was not as good as it has been on previous visits, it was quite foggy. As soon as I arrived I knew I had a chance at getting 3, as the first bit of news I heard was that of a Sandwich Tern on the wader scrape, unusual. So that's where I headed first. I arrived to the bitter news that it had left about 20 mins before, but I stuck around in that hide to see what would be around. There had been avocets on the scrape in recent weeks, but there were none today unfortunately. There were hundreds of Black-Headed Gulls, as well as multiple wildfowl species, such as Gadwall, Mallard, Pochard and Wigeon. There was also a lone Oystercatcher. It was while I was taking all this in that one of the other guys in the hide (Local, Hardcore birders) spotted an unbelievable bird fly in, a Kittywake, this far inland.

I was well impressed and got to watch the smashing bird fly over the scrape, stopping for a wash and moving on. Overall it stayed for about 10 mins, but I got some great views of it, sadly though not really close enough for the camera. I would have to say, were it not for the other birders in the hide I would probably have missed that, writing it off as a Black-Head.

-Kittywake

I was left buzzing after that, a very unexpected surprise to say the least. I then received news of a Ruff up on Wath Ings Hide, so I headed up that way, not long after the Kittywake had left. This part of the reserve had much lower numbers of Black-Headed Gulls, but they were still in abundance. There were also good numbers of Tufted Duck and Pochard on this section of the reserve, as well as Lapwing on the island.

The Ruff was not hard to find, as it was feeding on the right hand island. I was able to watch it for some time, but once again it was a little too far for my camera. I managed a few record shots, but not like I had hoped. 

A little closer however were the Little Grebes that started to appear everywhere while I was watching the Ruff. They were fishing along the near edge of the lake and allowed me to get some great views of them, even hunting and eating the fish that they caught.

-Little Grebe

-Ruff

After finding the Ruff, I only needed one more species to reach my target. However, as the day drew on it began to feel less and less likely until at around half 1 I was convinced it would not happen. I kept trying though. I went to the main hide to try and find the Med Gulls but I could not track any down. There was plenty of other stuff around, but nothing new for the day or for the year. I decided to head up to the reedbed hide to see if anything was there. The weather had picked up and as a result there were good numbers of Gulls riding on the Thermals. Among the gulls I found a Common Buzzard Loitering in the thermal. There was also a Kestrel hunting on the roadside verge.

-Common Buzzard

The reedbed hide was quite quiet and as a result I did not stay long. There were good numbers of Shoveler and other wildfowl but overall it was quite sparse. There were however good numbers of coots quite close to the hide, so I improved my coot record shots with this photo of a coot displaying.

-Coot

I did some more mooching about but to little avail, the highlight being a Redshank on the field pools. At 3 I decided to call it quits, safe in the knowledge that I had done all I can and not managed to find a 3rd species. On the way out I checked the feeding station for a few mins and was delighted to find that a Lesser Redpoll was feeding there. Being pushed for time I grabbed a few record shots and then cleared off.

-Lesser Redpoll

And that was that. It was overall a really good day, with 2 surprise year-ticks and a host of other great species seen. Ultimately, I am disappointed for not getting to 100, but I figured I may as well save the cash than go off on a spontaneous trip to try and find something. In the end 99 species is a record reward for me birding-wise for this year, and I am well pleased

So the only thing left to do is break-down all of today's sightings, starting with Peacock Butterfly...

Sightings List: Starling, Dunnock, Chaffinch, Blue Tit, Magpie, Blackbird, Great Tit, Robin, Pheasant, Black-Headed Gull, Mallard, Mute Swan, Common Buzzard, Kestrel, Woodpigeon, Feral Pigeon, Jackdaw, Goldfinch, Cormorant, Tufted Duck, Little Grebe, Moorhen, Coot, Great Crested Grebe, Lesser Black-Backed Gull, Teal, Pochard, Shoveler, Redshank, Gadwall, Greenfinch, Tree Sparrow, Reed Bunting, Wigeon, Oystercatcher, Lesser Redpoll, Kittywake, Ruff

Angelsey Day 4

Day 4 of the Angelsey holiday begun with rain. It was a pity really because rain meant not much wildlife. As a result we decided to go and have a look at the Angelsey Sea Zoo, an aquarium that we often go to whenever we are in the area. As you would expect, there was very little in the way of wildlife, but as we pulled in to the site next to the sea, there was a whimbrel and oystercatcher on the beach.
  By lunchtime we had finished at the aquarium, so we moved onto Beaumaris for our lunch. We parked up on the seafront where we would be able to see anything that flew past. Before we had lunch we went for a walk along the seafront towards the pier. At the pier, due to the blustery conditions, there were many gulls flying about but struggling, allowing me to get some photos of them in flight. They were also nicking the bait from tourists crabbing equipment, which was pretty funny.

-Herring gull

When we arrived back at the car I heard the call of a tern, and looked up to see a couple of sandwhich terns flying right by us, as they headed back up the beach. I was therefore able to get some decent flight shots of them, though they are not as good as they could be due to the rotten weather.

-Sandwhich Tern

We had lunch in the car because it was way too windy to eat on the seafront. Even in the car we got the attention of a herring gull, who sat on the roof of the car next to us and just watched. We threw out some scraps for it. Because it was so close I was able to take some photos of its head and wonderful yellow eye.

-Herring Gull

After a look round Beaumaris we drove round all over looking for somewhere to go. Strangely we ended up back at the caravan site with quite a bit of the afternoon still to go. My dad decided that we would go for a walk round Cefni reservoir since it was local to the caravan site.
  As far as reservoirs go it had quite a few birds. At one point my heart was racing when a female tufted duck with excessive white round its beak appeared near to shore, but that is exactly what it proved to be. Either way it was an exciting moment in a pretty drab day.

-Tufted Duck

At the extent of our walk we reached a clearing in the shrubbery that allowed me to get down to the waters edge. There were a few coots and mallards around, and I got a great view of a reed bunting flying past me, but there were no insects.
  On the way back, because it was evening and the waterfowl were congregating at the shallower end of the reser so that they could roost. It allowed me to get a full list of all the different species that were on the reservoir that evening.
  At the back there was a lone great crested grebe, but besides that and a lone swan there were mainly tufted ducks and coots.

-Great crested grebe

-Mute swan

-Coots flying

On the way back to the car I spotted my first damselfly of the day, a common blue, but because of the bad light I was unable to get any decent photos.

-Common Blue Damselfly

So we left Cefni reservoir, and ended day four of the angelsey holiday, which was a very poor day in terms of wildlife, unfortunately.

Grange-Over sands Holiday day 5

The last day of the holiday. we were sad to leave, but at least it was nice for the last day. Even so, it was still cold, so my hands went numb taking down the orning, and moving the caravan.
We decided to go to Sizergh castle national trust, which seemed like a nice place when we pulled in. What we hadn't realised is that this place has a reasonable population of hawfinches that are, apparently, reliable, but that we were a bit too late for us to have a reasonable chance of seeing them. It did however have a bird feeding station where they had occurred before, so that's the first place I went. Mainly they were supposed to live in the hornbeams at the back of the car park, but only really in the morning, so when we arrived at 11, chances are that we were not going to see one.
At the bird feeding station there were plenty of nice birds. Besides the average garden birds there were a pair of bullfinches and a nuthatch that regularly came down from the trees.

-Female Bullfinch

-Male Bullfinch

-Bullfinch and Nuthatch

-Nuthatch

Other birds nearby included a chiffchaff, that was singing whilst catching insects in a holly tree and the tops of other trees.

-Chiffchaff

Besides the car park, the hawfinches apparently live behind the visitor center, and there were less people there, so that's where I went next. It was difficult looking up into the tall trees with the sun in my eyes, meaning everything was just a black silhouette. However there were other birds more interesting than some potential hawfinches

First on the agenda were a pair of goldfinches that landed around 5 meters from me and started killing each other. They diddnt even seem to notice me as I stood there taking photos, and one eventually won the fighjt by flipping the other oto its back and then pecking its breast until it surrended. They then began to play cat and mouse in the tree tops where I couldnt really see with the camera.

-Goldfinch
I made my way down to the main lake to see if there were any bird down there. There was a coot and a moorhen that i spotted, but on the stairs down I spotted this long-tailed tit carrying nest material. Once again, it was quite bold and diddnt seem to mind that I was just stood there, until it flew into a hedge and then off.

-Long-Tailed Tit

I couldnt find anything in trhe hedge that could possibly be a nest, however, the hedge was blooming so there were a few early insects around, inlcuding this rather handsome tawney coloured bee, of which I have no idea of its I.D

-Bee

I made my way back up to the feeding station to see if anything was there hawfinch wise. It wasnt, but there were some other garden birds that i decided to take photos of, just incase photos of that species were missing from my library should I ever need to use them.

-Greenfinch

-Chaffinch
After there I headed up a nearby lane lined with hornbeams to see if there were any hawfinches up there, but it was not to be.

After lunch I headed back down to the lake to see what was going on down there. It turns out that there were actually too coots, and that they had a nest, and the reason I hadn't seenm the other originally is because it was sat on the nest. The one "on patrol" at the time I was there the second time clearly disliked mallards. This mallard had a torrid time, sleeping peacefully before being chased and violently awoken. It then slept under a low tree, before swimming out again, before being attacked by the other coot and then making a runner.

-Coot Vs Mallard
However, there was a bird species that I missed completely on my original visit, a dabchick. And to rub salt in the wound, there were too. I clearly needed to leave hawfinch world and focus on the other lovely birds around. The dabchicks were really shy and stayed under some plants for most of the time, but at one point were out in the open, so I could het some photos. The coots diddnt seem to mind these as much as the mallard.

-Dab/Little Grebe
And to make sure they dont feel left out, I included a photo of the coot, in one of its calmer moments.

-Coot

And so ends the grnage holiday, which was been really nice, and I have seen lots of really nice things, and it was a perfect way to end it, even though i dipped on hawfinch.