The Beast from the East

I have managed a couple of visits to Barmston over the last couple of days despite gale force easterlies (which in truth are just a touch early). It has been horrific to bird in. Covered in sand, spray, water, salt. Yuck! The wind chill has been pretty phenomenal as well. Despite the hardships there have been some cracking birds about.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aws3RO1y_s8

The video shows the Common Gulls feeding in the surf yesterday. I was hoping to get one of the 2 Little Gulls I spied in the frame but failed miserably. What it does illustrate is the size of the surf coming in - this is on the beach as yesterday the beach disappeared. Its mostly mud today plus crustaceans and dead fish, the sand appears to be mostly in the fields. Back to yesterday, I walked the fields and reedbed trying to avoid the wind mostly and succeeded in finding 3 Stock Doves which were patch ticks (all very new at this patching lark!). More interesting were the 3-4 Jack Snipe which I found in the pipit field alongside half a dozen of their common cousins. Also in the reedbed were a dozen Teal which were hiding from the wind. A few waders were on the various flashes and a couple of small plovers got me briefly excited as they scuttled but they resolved into bog standard Ringed Plover. Slightly larger and certainly more out of place were a couple of Grey Plovers feeding on the fields.

I worked back amongst the foam and the noise and was rewarded with the aforementioned Little Gulls and the Kumlien's Gull which is now very white.

Today I got down to the beach quick smart  but not before a Black Redstart flew across the field north of the caravan site and under the first caravan, not to be seen again. The sight that greeted me was thousands of gulls present including Lesser Black-backs and Kittiwakes. The Kumlien's was in the middle of the throng and a possible Viking Gull looked very Glaucous like facially but the mantle and wing looked like a very washed out Herring. Sadly I forgot my camera but I did remember my phone and so was able to get a few pictures of the various things washed up on the beach or in the case of the Lobster in the following video still living in a pool.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuIMInXBWhY

Dead Sea Scorpion

I believe this was an ex-Lobster

Back on land and there was less to note than the previous day but a single Jack Snipe and a couple of standard gauge Common Snipe. I was getting pretty cold so I shuffled on toward my car and saw little else.