Yorkshire Tales

Returned on Thursday from a birding holiday in East Yorkshire, although it’s taken some time to bang out a trip report thanks to some Blogspot glitches over the weekend.

Back up your work bloggers!


FRIDAY 12th SEPTEMBER

Arrived in a rather damp Beverly, East Yorks last Friday afternoon and wondering if we did the right thing in having a Great British Holiday. We could have been sunning ourselves in Ibiza supping on cocktails surrounded by Audouin's Gulls by now. Nah, a week off for birding is my idea of heaven these days. We started birding proceedings at a leisurely pace looking in at Hornsea Mere and watching the resident Little Gulls from the comfort of the car. Apparently the evening roost approaches 1000 of them.

Following this, a brief seawatch produced a Guillemot, a couple of Red Throated Diver and Cormorants, but the weather didn't let up, so off to Tesco to stock up on provisions and rest up ahead of the big boat trip tomorrow.

SATURDAY 13th SEPTEMBER

It didn't seem cut out to be our day from arrival at Bridlington Harbour for the RSPB Skua and Shearwater Cruise when we were greeted with these two unwelcome snippets of news;

a) The boat's departure was delayed for two hours due to a low tide and bad weather (pants!)

b) We'd just missed two Honey Buzzards flying south over the pier (double pants!!!)

We idled the time away birding around the harbour/beach noting 1 Black Tailed Godwit, several Knot, Turnstone and a few Redshank (sadly no Purple Sandpipers), GBBG, Herring Gull, Cormorants and Kittiwakes crammed onto a ledge under the harbour wall and 2 Yellow Wagtails over and out to sea.

Eventually on board the Yorkshire Belle the skipper eventually managed to get us out of port without too much roll and we were off to a pleasant start with Gannet, Shag, Cormorant, Fulmar, Kittiwake, 2 Little Gulls, Common Terns and a House Martin. A few common waders such as Dunlin and Turnstone noted, although it was looking worryingly quiet for our target species. Harbour Porpoise (lifer) was noted and a bat reported on starboard side.

We connected with 2 Arctic Skua and I got a brief but year tickable view of one of these. Conditions deteriorated swiftly as we were swallowed into the abyss of fog soon after chumming got underway. We could see virtually nothing; birds in and out of the fog in seconds. Add to this we hit some big rollers and quite a few shipmates got sick, including the chap sat next to me who held onto his carrier bag of sick for the duration of the cruise. Pleasant.

I felt quite queasy myself with only the swell and the carrier bag of doom to look at for a while until out of the mist came and went a Great Skua (lifer 238). Then again nothingness for a while and although the crew tried to make a fist of it as best they could trudging back and forth along the chumline in the fog, we couldn’t find any Shears or anything else of interest and with the sick bay full of casualties the crew called it a day and headed back to port. Common Scoter and GC Grebe noted on way back in.

Back on terra firma we headed up to Flamborough Head. No fog up here and things most definitely on the up, with this Little Stint feeding in a large puddle next to the car park, allowing crippling views.

Then news of two Wrynecks in the Bay Brambles amongst a fall of migrants. They showed incredibly well, perching on brambles and feeding in muddy patches (lifer 239). I'd had a feeling we might see a Wryneck during this trip but to get two and to see them so well proper made my day. The brambles were also chocka with Whinchats, Stonechats and Whitethroats.

Next: confusion and controversy....a birder we knew from Worcs alerted us to a possible Booted Warbler found in a nearby hedgerow. There were about 70 birders watching the hedgerow and mist nets set up to catch this bird (unfortunately only managing to ensnare a Robin).

The bird was proposed as a Booted; Olivaceous was also suggested and Sykes(??) mentioned, some (late on the scene and not seeing the right bird methinks) were keen to dismiss it as a Garden Warbler. Although there were Garden Warblers present, thats not what I saw; not that I know what it was, mind. There is growing support for Booted see discussion here but the only photos to come to light are here.

So the one that got away or perhaps an armchair tick to look forward to? If nothing else it made me gen up on Hippos!

SUNDAY 14th SEPTEMBER

A legendary day for some lucky folk today on Spurn who got to see Yorkshire's first ever Palla’s Grasshopper Warbler (please don’t call it a PG Tips!) in the hand or by crawling under bushes.

Not having a pager and not being on Spurn's own radio network, we heard about this too late and rushed to the release site only to miss it by minutes! It doesn’t hurt too much yet, as in all honesty I’ve only ever seen one Gropper thus far and therefore not ready to fully appreciate PGW....if I never get the chance again I'll no doubt look back on this day with bitterness.

Highlights of the day; locating the summering Shore Lark (lifer 240) on the shingle from Chalk Bank, our first Brent Goose of the autumn over the estuary, watching the wader roost on the incoming tide, swirling flocks of Knot, Dunlin and the same crammed onto shingle edges with Sanderling, Ringed, Golden and Grey Plovers, Black Tailed Godwit etc, several Sandwich Terns. Best of all towards the end of the day a fall of migrants including a juvenille Red Backed Shrike. Redstarts, Wheatears and Whinchats seemingly everywhere and every bush or teeming with the likes of Spotted Flycatchers, Chiffchaffs, Willow Warblers and Meadow Pipits. Just to be there and be a part of it all was such an experience.

MONDAY 15th SEPTEMBER

With continued easterlies and good numbers of migrants along the coast we decided Flamborough Head was a good place to be. A seawatch produced many Gannets, a few Red Throated Diver, Fulmar, Kittiwake, Shag, Cormorant, Redshank, Curlew, Oystercatcher and the real rewards came when I spotted 5 flying sea ducks, which I was able to identify as Velvet Scoters (lifer 241), 1 drake and 4 females/immatures. Also Harbour Porpoise.

Bay Brambles crawling with Whinchat again, plus a female Pied Flycatcher and 3 Stonechat. On a pleasant amble down to Old Fall Plantation we had about 30 Redstarts, 20 Whinchat, 4 Spotted Flycatcher, 12 Wheatear, several Mipit, Skylark, Yellowhammer, Tree Sparrow, Whitethroat and a Weasel. Tons of Red Admirals.

In Old Fall we had a few Chiffys, Willow Warbler and another female Pied Flycatcher. There was also a Wood Warbler about, but we didn't hang around for it in light of brekin' news of a Red Breasted Flycatcher on the cliff face by the lighthouse. We dashed back up there and I’m pleased to say we connected with the suburb adult male RB Flycatcher (lifer 242). Cracking!

Next, further North to Filey where we had the most delicious plaice (with proper batter!) and chips ever from this man....even if he does look like a Guantanamo Bay terrorist....

Inghams of Filey

This not so light lunch led to a downturn in mobility and upon strolling up Filey Brigg we nearly got cut off by the tide on the rocks below and had a panicky scramble back up! Noted 10 Wheatear, 20 Goldfinch, Shag, 2 juv (very poorly looking) Gannets on the rocks, Eider, Oystercatcher, Redshank, Turnstone, Knot, Dunlin. At Filey Dam; 1 Little Stint, 1 Ruff, 3 Snipe and 8 Dunlin.

TUESDAY 16th SEPTEMBER

A bit of a rest this morning and a late start followed by a leisurely visit to Blacktoft Sands RSPB. Bearded Tit (year tick), 7 Spotted Redshank, 1 Knot, Ruff, Avocet, Black Tailed Godwit, over 100 Snipe, Wigeon, Gadwall, Tree Sparrows, Little Grebe, Marsh Harrier, Barn Owl (year tick) and a Water Rail. A large blue dragonfly with a green abdomen I believe was an Emperor Dragonfly and also 3 Weasels.

A visit to North Cave Wetlands was a bit quiet but gave us a Common Sandpiper to add to the trip list.

WEDNESDAY 17th SEPTEMBER

Spurn again today. Much quieter (birder wise) and more relaxing as you could look for birds yourself without panicking about missing out on 'rare'.

Seawatching was rewarding. One Bonxie doing what they do best – haranguing Gannets. Plus a mystery Skua based on the jizz of this bird and my observations I think I had a good candidate for Long Tailed Skua here. Due to a lack of experience of Skuas/sea watching I realise I may have to let this one go.

Also 10 Sandwich Terns, 7 Red Throated Diver, Razorbill, 15 Common Scoter and a straggler Swift over the small pool.

Walked the Canal Triangle, still plenty of migrants about; 20 Redstart, 10 Whinchat, 10 Wheatear, 30 Mipits, 2 Willow Warblers, 1 Reed Warbler, 3 Whitethroat, 4 Spotted Flycatcher and Tree Sparrows. On the estuary, highlights were a Curlew Sandpiper and 3 Little Egrets.

A walk along Sammy’s Point produced more of the same, plus 4 more Little Egrets, 5 confiding Spotted Flycatchers and Small Copper butterfly.

THURSDAY 18th SEPTEMBER

Detoured back home via Green Withens Reservoir (good blog!) just north of the M62 on Saddleworth Moor, on the advice of a BF member that we may find Twite there.

We concentrated mainly on a valley with lots of shrubbery as this was where all the bird activity was concentrated. We had c30 Goldfinch, 5 Reed Bunting, lots of Mipits, 1 Tree Pipit, a couple of Skylark and a Kestrel over. Eventually a feeding flock of around 15-20 Twite turned up (lifer 243) although the views weren’t too great we had one on the path on the walk back down for a better look. A Peregrine over just before we left was a nice end to our trip.