Hornsea

Male Goldeneye

After a false start sans optics at Barmston thanks to a reshuffle in the car to accommodate Christmas presents and children I didnt fancy braving the hordes of dog walkers again so I went to Hornsea Mere. With Kirkholme Point closed, there were only a handful of folks in the fields on the south side. What was present was a delightful adult male Long-tailed Duck. 

Male Long-tailed Duck

Two hundred Greylags flew in from the south and I could hear a Pink-footed Goose amongst them and after a couple of minutes of checking, two emerged from the flock next to Swan Island. I was starting to get chilly but the main prize continued to evade me. The drake Smew appeared amongst Goldeneye on the far bank, tucked in tight to the reeds. Views from Kirkholme Point would have been exceptional but from another km to the south it was a touch distant.

Yup, thats a Smew if you squint.

I moved on to the clifftop at the north end of Hornsea by the sailing club. A few Red-throated Divers were the sum total but it has some serious height compared to other nearby locations. Interesting! Upon heading home I found at least 4,000 Pink-footed Geese in fields between Skirlington and Skipsea. There were undulations on the fields so a full count wasnt possible but 5,800 were counted heading north over Hornsea Mere early doors. I failed to pick anything different from amongst them but the sun wasnt in my favour. 

A lot of geese pic.twitter.com/bKcYkVLYkR

— James Spencer (@Ornid) December 28, 2020

Barmston in late November

 Yesterday I decided to have a ramble round the patch to have a better look at the Twite that have been about and also try and pin down the Lapland Buntings which Trevor Charlton has had a few times. I am rather glad I did! A slightly rubbish seawatch was quickly abandoned after 25 Twite flew south. Obviously I headed north and there were more present in a patch of mugwort. This seems to be their favoured spot. 

I marched round the perimeter of the marsh, flushing the occasional Snipe when eight Lapland Buntings flew over calling. They moved off to the north-west but the impression was that they had come up out of the stubble. Somewhat surprisingly, these were my first Laps for the patch and patch tick number 184. I continued round the margins of the marsh to the snipe field where half a dozen regular flavoured birds preceded two Jack Snipe in their favoured strip of damp, long grass. Pink-footed Geese started to pour north and just shy of 500 were counted heading into the Wolds. A check of the beach was productive with a nice variety of waders including Grey Plover, Bar-tailed Godwit and Turnstone.

Further south I bumped into a Merlin that was convinced I couldn't see it in a tree. It let me get pretty close before moving into the next hedge and repeating the trick. The hedges had low numbers of birds but a nice selection of thrushes and buntings including five Corn Buntings and a few Fieldfares. At this point I bumped into Lee Johnson. Lee works Barmston fairly often in winter and with autumn pretty much done he had headed over to try and get a bead on the Lapland Buntings. We wandered up the marsh again and a few Lesser Redpoll went over followed by the emergence of 13 Lapland Buntings. They wouldn't show on the ground, flying at well over 100m from us but they flew close, calling repeatedly. An excellent count of a tricky species. These were also Lee's first for the site. A Woodcock flew into the marsh as we wandered back towards our cars and the Twite gave an improved showing back by the camp. All said a very productive morning.

Trektellen Counts

Unwell looking Common Gull

Wigeon on the move

Water Voles in Nafferton

This week I have been trying to overcome general lethargy and feeling a bit miserable by getting out and about a bit more before my working day and again at lunch time. I have been feeling a bit down and demotivated and I know that moving more and doing a bit of wildlife watching, even close to home is a fantastic tonic for the lockdown blues. Somewhere to the south of the village is a Great White Egret which I can't locate but appears to be still present so I will give it another go. On Wednesday however, I was checking for birds along the stream on Spittle Beck Lane when I noticed a medium-sized rodent along the bank. I assumed that it was going to be a Brown Rat Rattus norvegicus so I was a little taken aback when I raised my binoculars only to be met with the more benign features of a Water Vole Arvicola amphibius. 

It sat motionless for minutes on end which was great but it was a misty morning and I had neglected to carry my camera with me. I managed a quick record shot with my phone down the right barrel of my phone. The photo, just about recognisable as a Water Vole didn't satiate me and I was back during my lunch break, armed with my camera. I found a different vole, outside another set of burrows, some 30 metres away, turned my camera on and nothing happened. Flat, caput, dead. I raced back home, replaced the battery and returned. No voles were visible although a couple of ripples on the near bank suggested that there were plenty around. I planned on having another go yesterday but alas it was not to be due to a combination of wet weather and overrunning work, so I returned today.

This guy sat out in the sun initially and was nearly impossible to photograph as he was massively overexposed being half in shadow. He slid down his run and groomed by the waters edge for ten minutes or so, barely moving. He (I say he, I have no idea) was aware of my presence but the distance across the small stream seemed to keep him calm. I watched until he decided to drop into the water and head along. Soon after two further plops indicated two voles I had walked past, one under thick vegetation and a second under the near bank. I walked further along the lane but found no more. Walking back my lad was back out, under the vegetation, sat on his liverwort lawn. I kept going, aware that I had 15 minutes left before I should be back on the computer and wanting a brew. I kept an eye on the stream and the usual suspects were making waves in the same places as on the way up when I spied a fourth individual, mid-stream, wrestling with a wind thrown apple. Oblivious to me, he tried in vain to get his prize, failing and shooting before resting in the shallows, having seen me. I rattled off a few shots before he dived and I watched as he zooted five or six feet underwater and up into the bank via a submerged hole.

And then I was happy for the rest of the day, safe in the knowledge there will always be a bit of my heart devoted to it. 

Stormy Seawatching: 25-27th September

 In a move that is completely in character I have failed to update on moths, nocmig, birding and our trip to Turkey. Rest assured some of this may, or may not make the blog in the future. What does make the blog right now is this weekends seawatching. I love seawatching, it is my absolute favourite passtime. The zen-like vigils looking, counting and generally being outside, witnessing migration feels about as real and immersing as it gets. My patch is excellent for vizmig and pretty good for seawatching. The forecast of northerly gales all weekend had me salivating. I didn't get the numbers of skuas and shearwaters that others managed including record breaking totals at Flamborough, just a few miles up the road but plenty of patch high counts and good birds made it rewarding nonetheless.

Juvenile Arctic Skua

I arrived at Barmston chock full of enthusiasm at 06:40 in the teeth of an F9 northerly and intermittant heavy rain. Four hours produced the only Sooty Shearwater of the weekend, a somewhat unbelievable statistic given that 2,000 or so passed Flamborough in the same period. 56 Fulmar represented the 6th highest count for the patch rather surprisingly. A small skein of six Pink-footed Geese pushed south over the waves. A single Grey Plover called as it headed south. After four hours, a tactical reassessment took me to Ulrome, 2km to the south, in an effort to connect with the hundreds of skuas that were being displaced by the high winds. A brace of dark morph Arctic Skuas were the sum total but they prevented a complete blank. 147 Cormorants and 3 Pintail north were the only other significant sightings.

Barnacle Geese

The relatively poor returns from Friday didn't dishearten me as others scored heavily and a slight easing of the winds provided sufficient encouragement that birds would try to escape the southern North Sea. The wind was slightly offshore which didn't look promising for shearwaters and skuas but locating again at Ulrome I remained hopeful. A delightful pale-morph juvenile Long-tailed Skua danced over the surf in the gloaming and wildfowl were evident with small parties of Teal, Wigeon and Common Scoter moving north. Final totals of 208 Teal and 61 each of both Wigeon and Common Scoter moved north with handfuls in the other direction. News of 28 Pale-bellied Brent Geese barreling north at Grimston and Hornsea had me on tenterhooks and they nearly slipped by in the breakers but I picked them up emerging from a trough, too late for a photo. Will Scott at Bempton alerted me to small parties of Barnacle Geese heading south-east there and a few minutes after 12 went north, just beyond the surf. Ten, in all likelihood, one of Will's skeins went south half an hour later. A couple of Shoveler and a Pintail sneaked north amongst their commoner cousins to round off the wildfowl interest.

Bonxies

An interesting juvenile skua headed north at 09:41. It flew like an Arctic but its coloration was cold. It was too light in build for a Pom and had too much white in the underwing for a long-tail. Advice from friends was that it was a particularly cold Arctic Skua and on reviewing the photos including the header it was evident that the dark, unbarred axillaries, rather bland undertail, faint double flash and structure (bill, head shape, wing shape, tail) all fit with Arctic and not the other species, but it was a challenge in the field and I would have let it go as skua sp. had I not got pictures. A further three Arctics went north late on and a trio of Bonxies also passed by.

Wigeon

I experimented with the Trektellen app for entering my data which was excellent. I entered gulls half-hourly, using clickers to tally them and everything else went straight in. It was easy and captured the times automatically, mapping the most regular species as buttons to speed entry. This ease of capture meant the second highest count of Great Black-backed Gulls was recorded. This species must occur regular in the autumn in decent numbers but now, hopefully I will be able to record common species more accurately. Eighteen Purple Sandpiper headed north in two flocks of 5 and 13. This is an uncommon passage species and this was easily the highest site count for passage although 54 were recorded at Fraisthorpe during a low tide, making a probably unassailable peak count.

Despite my daughter having her (covid compliant) 11th birthday sleepover last night, I was allowed to tread the hallowed turf again this morning for a few hours. I had another productive and wildfowl centric watch, kicking off with my final skua of the weekend, a Bonxie, playing truck and trailer with a juvenile Gannet. An early flurry of Red-throated Divers featured a single Black-throated Diver. Better was instore when 4 Velvet Scoters flew north. Unbeknown to me they had been tracked from Grimston to Hornsea and onward to Flamborough before getting picked up even further north off Durham and beyond. Virtually no auks were seen on the previous two days but I had plenty battling through the foam. Two early Dunlin skipped over the waves and looked worryingly like Leach's Petrels but sadly they proved not to be. Passage died very suddenly at 09:30 and I took the prescient option of heading home not long after to earn brownie points. Fingers crossed the patch does better next time but it was a fun three mornings.

The full counts are on Trektellen: 

https://trektellen.nl/count/view/956/20200925

https://trektellen.nl/count/view/956/20200926

https://trektellen.nl/count/view/956/20200927

Lammergeier in the Peak District

A few weeks ago a Lammergeier was seen two miles away from where I was, just outside Birmingham but I found out when I was 20 miles away and it continued onward. This was incredibly the bird which flirted with the channel crossing before heading to the Low Countries and losing its tail. After being seen on and off for a little while, its roost was discovered in the Peak District and not only that but in South Yorkshire. Trying to get my ducks in a row was tricky with work being busy and various other demands on my time but I saw an opening yesterday evening which necessitated an overnight stay in the car.

Luckily I got to site slightly earlier than planned and managed an evening assault on the hills, setting off on the long walk just after 6pm and arriving 5.5km later at 7:30. The bird was in place, on its plinth, waiting to drop into roost. The light was exceptional and the conditions a delight. It gave an excellent performance captured in the video below until unfortunately it was flushed by walkers and disappeared to the west. Thankfully it is still in the general area so hopefully those that head up will still see it. An absolute enormous bird and whilst its categorization by BOURC is still up in the air due to the shelving of the previous one and the fact it is a bird known to have come from the alpine reintroduced population, none of that diluted my enjoyment.

Back to Barmston

We find ourselves in this new Covid World, nearly two weeks after some easing of lockdown. This has had the effect that I am now able to travel to the coast to go birding. I wanted to make a more concerted effort at Barmston and Ulrome this year and so I have been putting in short evening watches along with more extended early morning visits. Encouragement from Andrew Hanby has led to us merging our Trektellen sites. The Barmston/Fraisthorpe site now incorporates the stretch from Fraisthorpe to Ulrome and the various watchpoints utilised therein (Auburn Farm, the Pill Boxes, Barmston Cliffs, Barmston Car Park and Ulrome). In-line with this I am trying to collate the historical records from the area to add to Trek in due course. The aim for me (I won't speak for Andy) is to try and produce more organised records in an observatory style, using a more structured approach to my birding to make it count and hopefully see better birds and in-turn attract more birders to the site getting it greater coverage. I have clickers and will count!

Seen coming off the sea and heading inland at 06:56 on 21st May this was reward for getting up early.

The question then comes, what will I count? Well most recently it seems it is Marsh Harriers. They have bred on site, or attempted to do so previously but not this year. I have had three different birds since I returned including this smart male, above coming off the sea on 21st May. A cream-crown headed north over the bay at 06:28 on 17th May and another was quartering the marsh on the evening of 15th May. I did wonder if this represented a breeding attempt at the time but a foraging female isn't a promising sign in that regard as it indicates the male is failing to provision the nest effectively.

Barmston rarely has huge numbers of waders but it does get some good ones. By May most of the local birds are already down to it and it is the Arctic breeding species and populations you see. A brief trill alerted me to this gem of a Whimbrel dropping onto the beach. Other species seen include the snazzy breeding Sanderling, pasty Dunlin headed way up and psammodromus/tundrae Ringed Plover. Small flocks rove north along the shore or skip over the waves in the bay. I live in hope of a Curlew Sandpiper or stint amongst them but none have been detected as yet.

A sprinkling of wildfowl has been on the move with diversity outstripping numbers which is to be expected at this time of year. A flock of 23 Barnacle Geese flew south at 06:35 yesterday, as I arrived on the cliff top. What I didn't know was that Keith Clarkson had 20 of these roosting on the sand at Hunmanby at 05:55 before they departed south and picked up some kin. This party later landed on the Humber for a rest as the passed the Spurn peninsula. I also had a duo headed in the opposite direction later in the morning which were picked up by Will Scott at Speeton. Barnacle Geese in late May get a bad rap and are often dismissed as escapes but the situation with this species is much murkier. Birds breed all along the flyway to Russia and have increased massively in recent times in the Low Countries and Sweden. Is it these birds that have contributed to the explosion in breeding birds in the UK or is the feral population the main cause or perhaps it is a combination of the two. Birds ringed in Russia have bred in the UK but there has been little tracking within this population. What is known is that late May is the peak time for departures to breeding grounds both near and far along the English east coast as well as in the Low Countries.

Other wildfowl highlights include a duo of Tufted Duck south on 17th May and single Shelduck south on two occasions. Tufted Duck are a scarce enough bird whilst seawatching to be a highlight and May is the peak for passage at Hunmanby Gap. Here at Barmston, the third week of May is the peak week but birds pass at similar levels from mid-July to late-August whilst the spring passage is more concentrated. Five drake Eider headed north yesterday which were my first of the year and a Great Northern Diver in non-breeding plumage lumbered south at distance this evening, shimmering in the haze.

On land most of the migrants are back in with singing Reed and Sedge Warblers, a pair of Stonechat and plenty of Corn Buntings. In fact there are so many Corn Buntings I have got quite excited. There were two singing males south of the marsh, another south of Barmston camp and nine males in the usual area, up from a previous high count of seven males for the site. This species seems to have had a renaissance somewhat locally. Fingers crossed it continues. Twelve singing male Corn Buntings is quite something and that song is a delight. You can shove your jangly keys, its much better than that! More prosaically were my first Red-legged Partridge on patch, seemingly a breeding pair. This isn't great news and I hope it doesn't put pressure on the Grey Partridges which call the area home.

Finally it is great to have Andrew back birding in the area. He has put a lot of time into the site in previous years but he took a few years out, much as I have done and now drifted back. I look forward to his efforts and hopefully some good birds shared with him over the coming months. 

I aim to be back on patch tomorrow morning. It is blowing south-westerly F5-8. We shall see what it's like! I will be putting together a blog post on my lockdown birding locally to home with an emphasis on Skerne Wetlands and West Beck over the next few days.

Happy Early Birthday to Me

I have another (!?!) hobby. This one is the final fulfillment of a latent desire to get involved. I am currently rocking a new Heath Trap with a 12w actinic. A small moth trap. This is a neighbour friendly job and one that will hopefully get me involved properly in a hobby that I have been looking at for years.

My lovely wife decided that rather than wrap it and give it to me on my birthday, I could have a run straight away. It was cool and still but come the morning I was excited to see what I had caught. I managed 7 moths of two species, hardly earth shattering but as I have only trapped in the late summer both were new. Six Hebrew Characters and one Common Quaker, both names that I recognise and now in the trap. Hebrew Character is easy enough to identify but Common Quaker is similar to a number of other species which fly at the same time so that took a bit of bookwork. There were a couple of midges but no other bycatch. I didn't trap the following night as it was cooler and windy. I redeployed the trap on the 18th and blanked so it went back out the following night. There were four moths on 19th with three Hebrew Characters and my first Early Grey. Last night I trapped again and managed two moths, both Hebrew Characters. I am looking forward to a bit more diversity as we move on.

Common Quaker

Hebrew Character

Early Grey

The Baffling World of Nocturnal Migration

I am now eight days into my NocMigging adventure. Well nine days but the recorder didn't work properly on the first night. Or the third. So I am seven nights of recording in and it has been a revelation. So far I have recorded nocturnal flight calls of 20 species of which Mallard is the most regularly recorded with 1-2 flights per hour. These come with the caveat that many birds are breeding in the drains surrounding the house. I 'think' I had some migrant birds on a couple of occasions but from 68 records it is hard to be sure. In addition I have recorded duck sp. on 26 occasions which all bar one record I think refer to uncalling Mallard where all you can hear is the wing beat. I am a touch unsure whether my Oystercatcher and Curlew records contain migrants. As with Mallard there are records which sound like they are birds heading over at height but Curlew is a nightly occurance as a pair breed in the field adjacent to the house and there is at least one additional pair on Nafferton Carrs. I'm also pretty sure that of the five records of Oystercatcher, most refer to a pair in the village somewhere.

Little Ringed Plover Sonogram

Birds I am more sure are migrants are the rest of the wildfowl with a single records of Gadwall https://www.xeno-canto.org/544393, two records of Wigeon https://www.xeno-canto.org/542038 and Teal and five (!) records of Common Scoter despite missing the big movement (well I sat in the garden and listened live). My first Grey Heron went over in the small hours last night which may be a migrant but may also be associated with the heronry on Nafferton Carrs. Perhaps the most surprising thing has been the occurrence of rallids. Moorhen https://www.xeno-canto.org/542048 is the third most commonly recorded species with 13 records in 7 nights whilst both Coot and Water Rail https://www.xeno-canto.org/544396 have been recorded on three occasions each. Moorhen breeds widely nearby and the calls are sometimes extended so I suspect birds are displaying and there is some territorial stuff going on but doubtless some birds are migrants too.

I discussed two species of wader in the first paragraph but three species are unequivocal migrants, Little Ringed Plover https://www.xeno-canto.org/542564 , Golden Plover, and Snipe https://www.xeno-canto.org/543392 . A single record of the first was recorded in flight calling nine times giving a perfect doppler as it passed over on 6th April. I have managed six records of Golden Plover and a couple of Snipe. When it comes to passerines there hasn't been a perfusion with winter thrushes dominating. Redwing https://www.xeno-canto.org/542035 has been recorded on 14 occasions to make it the second most regularly recorded species with each record consisting typically of a single descending seep call. There have been single records of Fieldfare and Song Thrush chuckling and tsiking respectively as they head home to Scandinavia and beyond. The only other passerine I have recorded seemingly on migration was Blackcap but this one had finished its jaunt, seemingly pitching in at 01:55 on 11th April and singing a single phrase. I saw it holding territory in the morning and subsequently it sings odd single phrases overnight.

I am also getting a handle on the breeding and resident birds and there is a certain pattern to the way they occur. I set the recorder for civil dusk as per the NocMig protocol and in theory record until civil dawn. I say in theory because most of the time the rechargeable batteries fade at about that time due to the drop in temperature and 20 minutes prior to civil dawn, the garden Blackbird joins in the dawn chorus and obliterates the sonogram. He also tends to sing up to and occasionally just beyond dusk. The local Robin starts earlier in the morning and later in the evening and whilst the song obscures some things it isn't as loud and is more constrained with fewer harmonics with long pauses between phrases. Song Thrush would be quite bad except the closest seems to be about 100 yards away - slightly different to a decade ago when a pair bred in the garden. Other resident species recorded after dark include Rooks, Crows, Jackdaws and Magpies both as they enter/exit roost and occasionally when they are disturbed. The local Pheasants cluck away enthusiastically from the small hours but irregularly enough to not be a nuisance. I haven't heard Grey Partridge yet.

Finally we come to owls. Tawny Owl seems straight forward enough as there is a pair nearby but not within the street. They occasionally duet but mostly it is the male. He calls most often after midnight for a couple of hours but can call at anytime when he duels with other birds in adjacent territories. Barn Owl https://www.xeno-canto.org/544661 is a bit more complicated. Until last night I had heard it on a couple of occasions, always sounding distant. Yesterday I found a single feather in the garden and whitewash on the wall. Last night a distant call was followed up very quickly by a call from within the garden. There was further whitewash on the fence and on the bird table. I have no idea where this bird might be nesting - there are no barns immediately adjacent and few mature trees. This is something I will be following up for sure.

So how have I found it? NocMig is quite overwhelming initially - everything sounds different. I am pretty confident on my ID from sounds during the day, doing surveys almost daily for 10 years and lots of CBC which is primarily by ear and yet the nocturnal flight calls can be bewildering. There are a number of species which give calls which seem alien to me, especially Water Rail which can sound like a wader, a passerine and like a little pig. Having said that, like anything new, it gets easier with practise. I am processing the recordings faster each day although it still takes 3 hours or so. I am familiar with all the creaks and groans and now recognise the sonograms for the regular species. Most importantly I am absolutely loving it. There is a voyage of discovery each morning and the joy of solving a puzzle or adding something unexpected and new is amazing. Given the current situation with Covid-19 it is gratifying to find something where I am learning a new skill, building upon this and it has potential professional ramifications. My Zoom H1n is dead easy and all the information you need to get started is out there including survey protocols, how to use audacity, how to analyse the data and support groups on ID on WhatsApp, Facebook, Xeno-canto and Twitter. If this all sounds fun then definitely get involved. It cost a total of about £100 including rechargeable batteries and a dead kitten style wind shield for the mics.

Lockdown Listing and the Wonder of Nocmig

Last night I stood in my garden, no bins (it was dark), glass of gin in hand, and listened. There is was boop- boop-boop. Closer and closer, a little to the south, approaching from the west before heading away to the east with the doppler effect in full force. Common Scoter added to my garden list. This was the first of six flocks as a mass exodus from the Irish Sea had confined birders across the country out listening in the dark. There was a time lag as well so what was happening at 9 in Blackburn happened at 10 in York and then started at half 10 here near Driffield and was 15 minutes later for those at Flamborough. An absolutely incredible movement and proabbly so well witnessed due to the ongoing situation with coronavirus - would so many birders have stood in their gardens if we were free to head out the following day? My fifth flock of the night was a direct hit and I could hear the whistling of the wings. It was genuinely exciting to listen to.

Dunnock

Common Scoter wasn't the only garden tick as I picked up two flocks of Wigeon and a single flock of Teal. These were all new for the garden and took the garden list onto 79 (when I added Lesser Black-backed Gull which I have seen umpteen times but forgotten to add). I am taking part in the Lockdown Listing competition, counting birds seen from the garden whilst we are restricted with movement. So far I am on 45 species with a surprise Goldcrest this morning. There is a pair breeding about 80m from teh house but across a railway line so I didnt expect them to pitch up. I havent had anything else exceptional or unusual although a flock of Redwing early last week were good to add this late on. Im still waiting the returning Blackcap and Willow Warbler on my Blackthorn blossom.

Peacock

Aside from the birds it has been a delight to see the first insects returning to the garden. Temperatures got up to 16c last week and as a result I recorded four species of butterfly, Small White, Peacock, Small Tortoiseshell and Brimstone. Bees were also conspicuous with Honeybee the first followed rapidly by the now ever present Buff-tailed Bumblebee queens. These were followed later in the week by the Buffish Mining Bee Andrena nigroaenea and then Tree Bumblebee with a single queen seen. A colder turn over the weekend with northerly winds meant only the Buff-tails were still about but yesterday it warmed up and I had the first Early Bumblebee queens. I have also had my first Tapered Droneflies Eristalis pertinax which are ever present, a queen social wasp although I didn't manage a photograph so don't know which species. On the spider front there were plenty of Missing Sector Orb-weavers Zygiella x-notata out and about last night. The garden also has an abundance of wildflowers starting to appear with a violet coming into bloom. When it is fully established I will key it to species but I expect, given the date it will be Early Dog-Violet.

Buffish Mining Bee Andrena nigroaenea

The limited horizons and fact that I have been furloughed mean that I will be looking closely at the garden, what flies over, lands in and generally calls it home I am planning some habitat enhancement for amphibians and grass snakes (the latter is very much on the wish list). I am looking at getting a nocmig setup after the scoter fun and also considering a moth trap. A PSL list of the garden is very much on the cards. To anyone that is reading I hope you stay healthy and safe and are able to enjoy what is on your doorstep.

Pelagic Mayhem - Sydney March 2018

This is a much belated video, compiled from a number of short clips I managed on the Sydney pelagic I took part in during March 2018. Here, two years later, I am counting down to my next trip which is due in October 2021 and my new found inability to edit videos together yielded this. I hope you enjoy the video as much as I enjoyed reliving some of the birds!

Early February

The couple of weeks have been a windy blur. I am back home after my second trip to Somerset in that time with birding up in the North Yorkshire forests, Skerne Wetlands, the east bank of the River Hull, Far Ings and a few other places. I will start at the beginning.

Skerne Fieldfare

In Somerset for work and it was the usual breezy and occasionally damp weather. I didn't see a great deal of new stuff on the first visit but what was remarkable was the sheer size of the Starling roost on Shapwick Heath. There must have been getting on for a million birds present and they threw some shapes as they were hassled by Marsh Harriers, Sparrowhawks and Peregrines. I managed some decent footage which is in the last couple of minutes of the video above. Other than that it was the usual Avalon Marshes suspects with plenty of smart Lapwing, Gadwall and Great White Egrets. We failed to find the Firecrests this time but I did get to hear Paul and Euan's theories on cryptozoology and specifically bigfoot and yetis. Bonkers.

Crossbill at Wykeham. It was windy and that is my excuse for the framing.

The Friday had me in North Lincolnshire and I tried to call in at Far Ings to see my mate Simon Wellock who is the warden. Unfortunately Simon was away but some delicious light meant I got to see a Bittern briefly stalk across a clearing in the reeds and the attendant wildfowl all looked fabulous in their breeding finery.

Marsh Tit at Forge Valley

As we were now at the first weekend of February I thought I would try for Goshawk up at Wykeham. I was a touch early seemingly as plenty were seen last weekend but a solitary female cruising about over Broxa was very decent. I also managed to see my first Siskin and Crossbills of the year at the Raptor Viewpoint. Dropping down into Forge Valley and the feeders were well stocked unlike my previous visit and I wasnt disappointed with plenty of Nuthatch and Marsh Tit action along with a friendly Treecreeper nearby. At this point I hadn't heard whether the Flamborough Grey Phalarope was still present but as I had to head that way I thought I would take a punt. Gladly this paid off handsomely as it fed at close range as covered by the previous post. Despite an iffy forecast I had a very productive day and was home by early afternoon, saving brownie points!

Whooper Swans by the River Hull

A couple of hours free time last weekend saw a flying visit to Skerne Wetlands where the Marsh Harriers were up to their usual tricks at the southern end of the site and other than that it was pretty quiet as the wind cranked prior to Storm Ciara. I decided on a safari of the east bank of the River Hull from North Frodingham down to Brandesburton Ponds and Hempholme. It wasn't massively productive but I did manage to find a quintet of Whooper Swans lazing in fields with Mutes and Greylags which was pleasing. A brief encounter with a hunt meant I quickly retreated to the sanctity of home.

Red-crested Pochard on Meare Heath

This week I have been down in Somerset again undertaking some training with a new colleague and taking advantage of a break in the storms to get back to Shapwick Heath. Prior to the RSPB closing down access to half the levels due to the risk of getting bonced by falling debris we managed to see a few Egrets and the usual waterfowl along with a very smart pair of Red-crested Pochard which were apparently picked up the day prior on Meare Heath Pool. All said it was a challenging but fun visit with a female Merlin attempting to predate Avocets and unlikely highlight. I may be heading to Scotland next week but looking at the weather forecast equally I may not. We shall see!

Great White Egret at Ham Wall RSPB

Grey Phalarope at Thornwick Pools

I called in at Thornwick Pools this afternoon to see the unseasonal Grey Phalarope which has spent the last couple of days in residence. This is an unusual time of year for Grey Phalaropes with six records thus far in 2020 and none in January 2019. This species should be wintering on cold water upwellings off the west coast of South Africa or in the Gulf of Mexico. It is my first winter Grey Phalarope and a new species for Flamborough Head for me (#216). After watching it thirty minutes it flew to the back of the pool and preened out of the wind. I met the finder, Dave Simmonite, who has recently relocated to the headland and congratulated him on a good start to the year. I also found out the two Mute Swans which were on Hood's Flash last week were now on North Marsh. Mute Swan is less than annual at Flamborough and a species I hadn't caught up with until now. A quick dash up to Lighthouse Road saw me scoping the snowy giants loafing on the scrape for Flamborough tick #217. I managed to get a few photos and some short video of the phalarope as it bobbed on the small pool.

Episode 5 - No Rough-legged Buzzards

This week I visited Skerne twice, had a walk down Nafferton Beck and dipped the Stainforth Rough-legged Buzzard.




This afternoon I went to watch the Starling roost at Shapwick Heath. I will have to have a look at how the footage turned out but hopefully there will be something up shortly.

Episode 4 - Somerset Starlings and Great White Egrets

After a drizzly morning at Ulrome I headed to Somerset via the Red Kites in the Yorkshire Wolds and the Whooper Swans in the Lower Derwent Valley. On the River Parrett I managed to film a Mediterranean Gull and found a Great White Egret with more on the Avalon Marshes plus a stunning Starling roost with attendant Peregrine.

Episode 3 of the 2020 Vlog - the lunchbreak one

I failed to get out and about this week but a couple of pleasant days meant I meandered through the village. A walk down the Nafferton beck produced the expected Little Egret and a bonus Green Sandpiper whilst Dunnock, Blue Tit and Great Tit were more expected fare. A Coal Tit on the Spittle Beck feeders was a pleasant surprise. They are about in this area in winter, breeding in leylandii nearby, but they aren't reliable due to small numbers.





This weekend gone I headed to Ulrome and despite grim weather added a few species to both the video year list and the Patch year list. Not really enough to produce a video but I am down in Somerset this week so hopefully I can see plenty down there.

Year List Vlogging

Hi all, Happy New Year! I hope you had a restful Christmas and are ready and raring for 2020. I got a couple of new toys for Christmas, a GoPro Hero 7 White and a Nikon P900. With these I am trying to do some vlogging and to get started I am looking at a video yearlist as well as doing some videos for Patchwork Challenge as I head back to Barmston for the first time in a few years. My Youtube Channel is here:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCESG3yEOJqku2XXfJaqYgdA

I got out on the 2nd January (yesterday) and started out with 47 species at Barmston including Merlin and Gadwall which were the highlights. I moved onto Hornsea Mere where 5 Russian White-fronted Geese and a Long-tailed Duck perked things up in a biting wind. Video below:



I also got a pass today and a visit to RSPB St Aidan's led to Barnacle Goose and Water Pipit (x5 at Lemonroyd Sewage Treatment Works across the river) getting seen. This was followed up with a trip to Blacktoft Sands where there were over a dozen Marsh Harriers into roost (probably well over a dozen) plus two Hen Harriers, an adult male and female. Three Black-tailed Godwits and plenty of Golden Plover were highlights as well as several large skeins of Pink-footed Geese. The yearlist moves onto 83 and I managed to record 55 species across the two videos.