Lovely Legs

I knew when one of the first birds I saw was a Mistle Thrush at Wheldrake today was going to be good. Didn't see the GW Teal or any Garganey but did add Sedge Warbler, Willow Warbler and Blackcap. Scoping the pool in the gloom I notice a brilliantly coloured Duck in the distance. 20 minutes later and the mist had risen enough to be sure of a male Mandarin, lifer, yorks tick, patch tick, any old tick you like!I zoomed off to Bishop Burton to do some research before heading onto the Yellowlegs. Met Birdieboy123 at Swine Moor and he quickly located the bird. It gave decent views in the rain running around a Redshank for comparison. Also at this site a Greenshank, LRP and Ruff collected year ticks with Yellow Wagtail and summer dress Golden Plover providing entertainment.At this point I decided to go for broke and head to Spurn. went straight to the point where a break in the weather led to a chat spectacular with Common Redstart (a beautiful male), Black Redstart (dowdy female) and numerous Wheatear provided the entertinment. Lots of Willowchiffs about but not the hoped for Rouzels. As I was walking near the middle Heligoland trap a heron with a bobbing flight approached heading south. The weather had again closed in and visibility was poor so my initial thought was Bittern. As it came into view it showed an obvious keel and started to quack. My mind shot straight back to Spain and Purple Heron. It kept coming and passed over me giving good views at about 25m height - almost definitely a Purple Heron. A look for the Garganey at Canal Scrape and the GW Teal at Long bank were forlorn but hey who cares. It was a stormer!