Barmston January Summary

It has been an incredible first month on the patch with some great birds and a few surprises. I managed 6 visits which is slightly modest but I was also taking part in the Foot It challenge and so focused on that a little more initially. Despite this I dredged up 63 species, not too bad on a slightly barren bit of coastline in the lee of Flamborough.

By far the headline bird and the one which has been attracting twitchers from across the county has been the first winter Kumlien's Gull which I relocated on my first visit (it had been seen a fortnight previously at the same location and in Bridlington). It is a subtle example with little barring but the dark markings spreading to both webs of the primaries appears to have some heavy backing by respected gullers on both sides of the pond. It is apparently the first twitchable example of this variable taxon for Yorkshire after a 1 day bird seen by a handful of observers plenty of years ago.

The supporting act has been none too shabby with heavy snowfalls helping eminently. A Water Rail on the beach on my second visit of the month proceeded to spend the next week living at the entrance to a farm drain. Snipe numbers grew in the reedbed as the snow deepened and eventually I was rewarded for my tramping with a Jack Snipe. At the northern most extremity of the patch a family group of 8 Pale-bellied Brents are a local scarcity and had apparently been in the area for a few days. More expected was the Dark-bellied Brent on the flashes but its companion, a juvenile European White-fronted Goose couldn't have been more of a surprise.

A wintering flock of Snow Buntings vary in number and location in the northern half of the patch but they were often very approachable with a max count for me of 7 birds despite 30 being recorded before Christmas. After the snow a quick check of the woodland revealed weather driven Woodcock with half a dozen birds fleeing as I attempted to avoid the dog turds.

The sea has been generally disappointing thus far with a handful of Red-throated Divers and a single adult Little Gull the sum total seen although a pair of Red-breasted Mergansers wizzing past inland were a bonus. The waders have all been pretty standard and I am still missing Purple Sandpiper despite occasional birds being present on the rocks during the month.

Looking forward to February I hope that some wildfowl movement brings a few ticks and the first few seabirds that are seeping back to Bempton give me a chance to connect with them. Who knows - maybe another rare gull awaits?

Blimmin' Windy

Today I was at my wife's school (she is the head, not a pupil!). I was helping with the Big Schools Birdwatch but it was far too windy and then we got pelted with hail so not a great success. Despite this the students were all eager and interested and it was great to meet them all.

After this I bogged off to Barmston for a couple of hours. Nothing ground breaking although the Kumlien's Gull was still present and showed remarkably well when I left the camera in the car. 4 new patch year ticks in Teal, Wigeon, Mallard and Dunlin but not a great deal else. I got bored and took some photos of maritime plants on the undercliff so here are a few.

Buck's-horn Plantain

Incidentally there has been loads of landslips at Barmston since the snow so if you go looking for the Kumlien's Gull be careful.

Cerastium sp. & Sea Mayweed

Local Matters

Another 7.5km under the belt taking me to 122km for the month. I finally managed a Little Grebe on the canal with a distant bird that seemed closer to Driffield but it counts nonetheless for the Foot It frivolities. This leaves me a single species short of my target with 2 days to go. We shall see. A Short-eared Owl was between Nafferton & Wansford but failed on my 100 acre pan-species challenge.

Physcia tenella. Yup Im doing Lichen

I did have a little stab at my 100 acre pan challenge as well with a few plants and lichens including the beauty above. I saw my first flower of the year, a sad looking Lesser Celandine and a flock of 19 Siskin which flew over the house (all my other Siskins thus far have been in Wansford).

Boosted More Owl

Geddit? An 8km walk today was full of promise as birds scudded over the carrs. Skylarks, pigeons, Starlings, geese, crows by the hundred. Winter thrushes were pouring over and a couple of Buzzards  were no surprise heading towards Wansford. A couple of Siskin were amongst the Goldfinches in the shooting crop.

Down on Wansford Carrs 160 Greylags contained the single patch tick of the day. A very handsome and hungry Pink-footed Goose. This was a predicted species but I expected a skein overhead not a single bird amongst the ferals but I am quite happy with this. Alas the Lapwings were closer to Skerne than Wansford and thus they werent seen well but they did harbour a handful of Redshank. The rest of the carrs had an assortment of Common & Black-headed Gulls. 

I wandered along the main road towards North Frodingham to try and connect with a Little Grebe on the canal. Failed again. A Barn Owl  was hunting over the field opposite and it came in pretty close in cack light.

Watching the owl hunt I noticed a couple of Grey Herons also stalking small furry prey. A Kestrel tried to klepto the owl as well. Then I noticed a couple of lumps on posts. Short-eared Owls both and they slowly moved closer in the gloom. Sadly not good enough for photography really but great to watch. A Buzzard was also sat on a post further up. Not much hope for the small rodents in this field!

Short-eared Owls Baby!

I was traversing Nafferton Carrs this afternoon thinking what a waste of time it was - I could have just booted it down the road to Wansford Carrs which are the place to be at the moment, when I noticed 2 owls hunting over a shooting crop half a mile south of me. 2 Short-eared Owls. Booooom!!! The locale looks good for them but I hadn't thought that they were likely as I have never seen or heard of any here. The threat of extra raptors encourages me to keep crossing the carrs and boy am I glad I did. Here are pics of both owls, the first towering off south mobbed by crows after the other had chased it off and the second bird just about to land back in the crop.

Bird 1

Bird 2

Down on Wansford Carrs there wasnt a great deal to shout about, 130ish Lapwing, 14 Redshank but not much else. I wandered along the Wansford Canal for a bit picking up a female Siskin and a tight flock of 12 Tufted Duck flying along the river to the south. These were followed about a minute later by a single drake Shoveler which was flying east and provided me with my second unexpected Foot It tick of the afternoon. I am now up to 75/78 or 96%. 3 to go.

Just to prove I can work my camera

More Patch Gold

I bumped into Yorkslister at Barmston today whilst he was after the Kumlien's Gull. We both got frustrating views of this enigmatic individual. Opinion seems to have swayed more firmly into the Kumlien's camp but this isn't an exclusive school of thought. As we were trying to relocate the gull a Little Gull was noted in the surf. Sweet.

This was followed by a couple of geese. I noticed two 'things' feeding by a pool in a field and Garry scoped them, a Dark-bellied Brent and a juvenile European White-fronted Goose. More wildfowl was on the cards as 2 Red-breasted Mergansers flew south overhead.

We wandered back to the cars and picked the Iceland up near Ulrome. Garry headed off to try his luck there whilst I decided to check the hedgerows for patch year ticks. This proved a decent decision with Greenfinch, Coal Tit, Sparrowhawk and Fieldfare added to the patch year list. I saved the best for last with at least 5 Woodcock flushed in and around the pine plantation. Sweet!

Melting away

The great glacial period appears to be receding as the countryside around here returns to its usual brown and green hues. I still had hope for some weather driven birds and I trudged round the local area, focusing on Wansford Carrs after yesterdays grippers. No Shelduck, no Little Grebe and possible Pintail in with a small group of Wigeon flying away from the area as fast as it could. Any thoughts on my blurry photos?

Wigeon with ?male Pintail, upper left bird.

Down by the river whilst looking for grebes I noticed that the lone alder tree was alive with finches and amongst the Goldfinches were at least 10 Siskins. A foot it tick in a Goldcrest tagging along with some Long-tailed Tits. And I thought that turning into sub-arctic tundra had killed all the local ones. To add insult to injury another tit flock had 1-2 more of the spritely regulus.

Awful into the sun shot heavily photoshopped

Onto the carrs and over 100 Lapwing were about plus 10 Redshank but nothing new to the list. I spent ages trying to eke something else out but failed miserably so I headed up Nafferton Beck. All I really managed here was a Grey Heron and finally a Barn Owl. Halle-bloody-lujah! So onto 73 For Foot it (maybe 74 if anybody fancies backing up my Pintail flight of fancy).