Plural Yank

A right touch today! Had been meaning to pop down to Swine Moor fo the last week whilst the 3 Pectoral Sandpipers and today seemed the prime time to have a look see as I was enroling for my third year at Hull Uni. Unfortunatly it was absolutely pissing down all day. On my trip back i thought blow it - lets have bash. I pitched up and bang the first wader i get onto is one of the Pecs. There were loads of Lapwings about which were dead jumpy - undoubtedly due to the big female Sparrowhawk that floated past. As things settled out I got onto 2 Pecs and a couple of Ruff. The Teal were busy chasing the big group of snipe probing almost unseen until they flew. I may have seen all three Pecs BUT i didnt manage to be sure to nail them down simultaneously but a definite 2. The rain picked up and the scope started steaming up so i bugged out pretty quickly to return to a parcel. Burnout Paradise is magic...shame Im barely allowed near the HDTV.

Ringing & a Radde's

Ringing today at our site near Filey was rubbish, we caught a mere 3 birds - singles of Blackbird, Dunnock & Chaffinch. Lots of Vismigging while we were there though and how we didn't catch hundreds of birds i don't know - loads about. Overhead we had Siskin, Redpoll, Song Thrush, Redwing, Blackbird and Skylarks (at a great height). Went up to filey for a quick stomp on the tip and parish woods with a single Whinchat the highlight although we did have a very dark looking Tree Pipit that flew off high inland before we got a handle on it.

News of a Radde's and possible Serin at South Landing had me heading there. No sign of the Serin when i got there but the Radde's was there although very difficult to pin down often grubbing about for 10 minutes at a time. Brief views as it alighted on the fence or surrounding bushes before heading back up into the canopy for a while. Bit rubbish really but another Yorks tick - 1 more for 250.

Brown Shrike

As I was getting ready for work last night I got a text telling me of the first Brown Shrike for mainland Britain. At flam. It was too late to go there and then but I was bricking it hoping it would stick. The only thing to do was to stick the scope in the car and hope. Night shift dragged and I was away at 7.15 headed for old fall. The bird was playing hard to get, with only a Red-back Shrike juv showing on arrival. Somebody made a right good call with it sat in shade and bang -ther was a distant adult male Brown Shrike in my scope turning its head so the sun caught its super and mask. Woohoo! 2 Shrike field.

The twitch was very busy with the great and the good turning up en masse. Saw a couple of familiar faces down there but missed most of the Bf boys - only Schiffornis (Andy) in passing. The bizzies decided to close half the road as mental drivers nearly killed half the UK400 club. In all the commotion I decided to have a wander down to old fall for some YB action. Not to be dissapointed between 4-10 of these beauties kept leaping into my bins and then out. Again. Kertick (year). A brief view in the middle of the plantation of the juv RB Fly was a bit sexy as was the flyover of a few Lapland Buntings. Missed the Dick's Pipit but I was shattered.

Headed back up to the shrike for second helpings and it showed beautifully if at a mental distance, feeding vigourously on the hedge at the far end of the field next to the golf course. Very happy. Plus with all the other megas going off between 11 and 1 all I can hear in my head is RBA mega alerts.

The Tops!

First of all I'd like to thank my 3,000th viewer from Inverkeithing - the readers keep me blogging even if half of those hits are my own :). After no further ado - today.

I was going on my first Birdforum mett in a while after missing the last 2. During these i'd missed Black Kite, Shore Lark and Little Tern - 2 lifers and a Yorks tick. Today iscored none of those things but had a great time. It was good to meet Pete (NaturePete) and to reaquaint with Julie (Jay-jay) and see the rest of the usual crew (skink1978,bitterntwisted, marcus conway-ebirder, birdieboy123, keith dickinson, lawts & unclelawts) and a shame to miss Mark who slept in. Today we were off on the Yorkshire Belle scene of the Great Shear last year. I also nearly missed the boat when i slept through my alarm only to be woken by Julie outside my house.

I race off and a McD's does the trick to wake me. The cruise itslef was anticlimactic with 7 Bonxies a couple of Arctic Skuas and singles of Sooty and Manx shearwater. Other bits included a couple of Little Gulls, lots of Porpoise and some Common Scoter, all fairly standard. Upon landing and fish and chips most decided to go to Tophill Low.

Landing at Tophill we immediately see a birder on something. A Hobby it turns out and we get good views of 2 birds. There had been no sign of the RF Falcon in the morning and we duly went elsewhere first seeing a Spotshank and a few Ruff and single Dunlin at Watton Borrow Pits. Sat on the pylon was a Common Buzzard. The azure streak of a Kingfisher zipped by and we made our way to South Marsh, where bar a few teal there was nothing. Until a Falcon appeared over the trees. Slate-grey all over and red vented with red boots. We all got flight views followed by it preening in a tree. In order to get better views we moved round to the side of O res but it failed to show. An adult Hobby zipped through but that was our lot. A check on D res revealed the BNG distantly plus a Sparrowhawk over and a Fox in the fields. Very excellent.

Unexpected Bonus. Poor Result

Was at work this morning when at half 6 my phone goes off - do i fancy an afternoon out birding for the Wilson's Phalarope at Alkborough, North Lincolnshire. Of course i said once i was rested i would be free and easy. Arriving at Alkborough i was very impressed with the place. Formed by a breach of the river bank, its a great wetland where we saw Knot, Curlew Sandpiper and Dunlin plus a number of Little Egrets but no Phalarope. It was low tide and it seems that determines whether the bird is present. After this dip we headed up to Tophill Low to see the male Red-footed Falcon plus i could clear up a bit of a bitch tick in the form of Red-crested Pochard. As it was the only falcon we saw was a male Merlin flushed on the approach road which then sat in the top of the tree. Very nice. Upon arrival we managed to not see the falcon or the hobby that was kicking about with it. Checking D reervoir we managed 5 Red-crested Pochards including 4 males in various stages of eclipse with one nearly in full summer. Also knocking about was a Black-necked Grebe in winter plumage. Off on the seabrd cruise tomorrow- could be quiet, fingers crossed we get something.

Flushers!!!!!

Much indignation is being shown on Birdforum about the flushers! Especially directed at one person who has been suitably reprimanded - Dan your a bad lad! However its the selfish gits that entered the field to locate the bird first thing yesterday that ruined it for everybody and i hope they dip everything they go for. Private Land is private land and there is no right to roam. I hope this doesnt lead to things being suppressed but rather think it will. As for me - my birdnews provider has gone haywire and im struggling to find out about stuff. Which aint best.

Great Big Massive Snipe!!!

Having been on nights I was fast asleep when Mike rang at 12 today. 'There is a Great Snipe at Speeton and they are gonna flush it at 2'. This took a while to sink in as I had been fast asleep but I quickly got my wits about me and got up to the site. I was one of the first to arrive and probably 80-100 people eventually did turn up including Mike(skink1978), John(birdieboy123) and Dave Tucker. We formed a (dis)orderly line as the scrub was walked by some local birders. Nothing. We walked the entire top half of the field where the bird had been seen previously. Nothing. Then Mark Thomas and a few other birders walked the adjacent scrub in the next field (he had permission but nobody else did). A snipe shot along the small band of set aside but I didnt see it as somebody jumped in the way. Some people got the white in the tail and the wing bar but it was decided to try and flush the bird back into the field that had access. It was walked from the other direction and gave a magic flyby showing all the features and generally being about as big as a Woodcock or so it felt. Mint. Fingers crossed Lawts gets it later as it turns out the one on Saturday was a common...

p.s. on drive to work last night finally caught up with Tawny Owl with a flyby at Little Driffield.

p.p.s Had a good research round the Warbler at Flamborough and am now happy it was a Booted.