November has disappeared in a fug of work and wet weekends and family time. Very little has been achieved on the birding front other than some hope that 2019 will see me applying more time to the pursuit. This morning is a reflection of a few weekend mornings … Its very wet and windy. There are a few birds around locally just not very visible in the wet.
There are still decent numbers of Redwings around the area, each of the last coupe of walks I've been on locally over 100 have been seen in small flocks, but the berries are virtually gone on all but a few garden cotoneastors. A single male Brambling has been seen on the garden feeders and 4 Lesser Redpoll seen briefly together. A large flock c100 Siskin has been seen in the Alders. Marsh Tit are regular and Goldfinch in small numbers and a Firecrest is knocking around in the gulley but otherwise very quiet. At least 10 Crossbills were seen by Furnace Pond on a muddy walk... looking forward to an African Christmas.
Wednesday, 12 December 2018
Tuesday, 30 October 2018
Sunday 28th October - Windy daylight saving
With frost on the car I went early to Blackdown. Sunrise was only due at 7.40am although with a clear sky , shreds of light were coming through by 7.15am There was a cold bite to a rather strong northerly wind which made my eyes water as soon as I started looking through the bins,
There were plenty of birds around and the theme was a reasonably large movement of thrushes, finches and Woodpigeons, in particular flocks of Fieldfare. I counted 170 in the couple of hours I was there although this was surely an underestimate. 15+ Meadow Pipits came off the heather and headed South. Lesser Redpoll, Chaffinch, Brambling and Linnet were all seen before a large flock of 100+ finches flying over Borden Door Bottom, with several breaking off and continuing West. I think the majority of these were Chaffinches but contained several Brambling.
Woodpigeons started to move through in small groups, those that I counted numbered 370, no doubt many more moved through. A raptor was up over the north end, I was expecting Buzzard but as soon as I saw it through the bins it was great to see a Goshawk, it spent a couple of minutes soaring over the West ridge, no doubt enjoying the pigeon spectacle, the bird looked like an adult male with a strong black mask visible. The Fieldfares were very restless and moving around the site, stripping the remaining berries from the Whitebeams. The usual Stonechat and Dartford Warbler were present and 2 Red Kite and 4 Raven flew over, but the number of other birds was impressive for here.
On Sunday morning the clocks went back and Gary and Jenny and their boys had stayed overnight, I was quite slow , but there seemed to be a repeat of yesterday with large numbers of thrushes moving NW.
The Fieldfare count was even higher approaching 300+ , again a smaller number of Redwing, oddly for here a few gulls, Black-headed and Herring Gulls, and unusual for here a small flock of 10 Lapwings. Once a rain belt had moved through there seemed to be an increased movement of Chaffinches and Starlings which I didn't really count but would have been in the 'oos, and what looked to be a flock of c 20 Skylark. A single Brambling was identifiable when it flew close to the house and a local flock of 50+ Goldfinch / Siskin were frequenting the tops of the Alder. The Holly by the house had a Firecrest and nearby a late Chiffchaff, with 1 Mistle Thrush, 3 Bullfinch and a Marsh Tit the remainder.
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| Some of the early Fieldfares. |
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| Brambling |
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| Goshawk |
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| Adult male Goshawk |
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| more Fieldfare |
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| Red Kite |
Sunday, 28 October 2018
Sunday 24th October - Spurn Weekend
Spurn Bird Observatory 17th - 22nd October
I had a few days to use up from my holiday allowance and decided to book these a to stay at the observatory at Spurn in Yorkshire, having done something similar last year at Portland Bill.
As always, migration season is largely weather dependent as to how productive the birding is an oddly for this time of year it was quite mild with largely a prevailing WSW wind with a couple of days where it swung round to NW, so potentially not ideal, however this is migration time and anything can turn up anywhere.
Notably, as I arrived at the obs and started to unload the car with a box of provisions, there was a mas exodus of people shouting 'Pallid Swift.. heading this way'.. the box of food was quickly thrown back into the boot of the car and a grabbed the bins and ran to the back of the obs. Within a couple of minutes a Swift appeared and headed towards us. It had the right features, pale throat /head with a dark eye mask, broader base to the wings with rounded primary tips etc, although the key would be in any photos and I wasn't going to be able to help as I hadn't yet unpacked the camera, others had taken good pics and the id was confirmed and a Pallid Swift. The Pallid Swift drifted towards the beach and from the new tower in the obs garden remained visible for a further 30 minutes before powering South , so a great and rather lucky start to my stay.
I then headed out on foot which was a pattern of the next few days. Only once did I make the 10km round walk to the Point on a relatively quiet day. As well as the few rarities that were around the best part was watching the visible migration, birds arriving across the north sea, those heading down the peninsula towards the point and Thrushes just dropping out of the sky.
Rather than list each days activities I saw 123 species in total with the bird highlights as follows.
Leach's Petrel - One flew North on the sea on Monday
Arctic Tern - One was fishing on the sea on 3 days
Arctic Skua - 2 flew North on Monday
Great Skua - 4 were seen
Little Gulls - highest count was 14 birds
Whooper Swan - several groups were seen flying South probably 30 birds in total
Bewick's Swan - 2 birds seen flying South
Scaup - One landed on the sea
Hen Harrier - At least 2 Ringtail birds seen on 2 days
Peregrine- One seen near Sammys point
Sparrowhawk & Kestrel - Several seen coming in off the sea
Short-eared Owl - As well as several in-off the sea 3 birds over Kilnsea wetlands
Long Eared Owl - One was seen around the Triangle area having arrived over the sea
Barn Owl - One seen North of the Obs
Jack Snipe - 3 birds in flight and one on the scrape
Pallid Swift - bird of the trip one seen for c 40 minutes from the Obs on the first day.
Ring Ouzel - Several birds scattered over the area on most days
Fieldfares, Redwings and Blackbirds - Greatest spectacle of thrushes arriving over the sea and just dropping out of the sky, fantastic.
Rosy Starling - One at Easington
Barred Warbler - At least 2 individuals seen on 3 days.
Yellow-browed Warbler - At least 2 individuals around the Churchyard
Marsh Warbler - One particularly skulky accro' eventually identification concluded as a Marsh Warbler.
Spotted Flycatcher - One at Easington
Redstart - One at Sammys Point
Shorelark - One flew South over the numpties
Lapland Bunting - One flew South over the numpties
Brambling - Counts of up to 35 in first couple of days.
Hawfinch - One flew South
Tree Sparrow - coming from a Tree Sparrowless county it was great to see them in their hundreds.
I had a few days to use up from my holiday allowance and decided to book these a to stay at the observatory at Spurn in Yorkshire, having done something similar last year at Portland Bill.
As always, migration season is largely weather dependent as to how productive the birding is an oddly for this time of year it was quite mild with largely a prevailing WSW wind with a couple of days where it swung round to NW, so potentially not ideal, however this is migration time and anything can turn up anywhere.
Notably, as I arrived at the obs and started to unload the car with a box of provisions, there was a mas exodus of people shouting 'Pallid Swift.. heading this way'.. the box of food was quickly thrown back into the boot of the car and a grabbed the bins and ran to the back of the obs. Within a couple of minutes a Swift appeared and headed towards us. It had the right features, pale throat /head with a dark eye mask, broader base to the wings with rounded primary tips etc, although the key would be in any photos and I wasn't going to be able to help as I hadn't yet unpacked the camera, others had taken good pics and the id was confirmed and a Pallid Swift. The Pallid Swift drifted towards the beach and from the new tower in the obs garden remained visible for a further 30 minutes before powering South , so a great and rather lucky start to my stay.
I then headed out on foot which was a pattern of the next few days. Only once did I make the 10km round walk to the Point on a relatively quiet day. As well as the few rarities that were around the best part was watching the visible migration, birds arriving across the north sea, those heading down the peninsula towards the point and Thrushes just dropping out of the sky.
Rather than list each days activities I saw 123 species in total with the bird highlights as follows.
Leach's Petrel - One flew North on the sea on Monday
Arctic Tern - One was fishing on the sea on 3 days
Arctic Skua - 2 flew North on Monday
Great Skua - 4 were seen
Little Gulls - highest count was 14 birds
Whooper Swan - several groups were seen flying South probably 30 birds in total
Bewick's Swan - 2 birds seen flying South
Scaup - One landed on the sea
Hen Harrier - At least 2 Ringtail birds seen on 2 days
Peregrine- One seen near Sammys point
Sparrowhawk & Kestrel - Several seen coming in off the sea
Short-eared Owl - As well as several in-off the sea 3 birds over Kilnsea wetlands
Long Eared Owl - One was seen around the Triangle area having arrived over the sea
Barn Owl - One seen North of the Obs
Jack Snipe - 3 birds in flight and one on the scrape
Pallid Swift - bird of the trip one seen for c 40 minutes from the Obs on the first day.
Ring Ouzel - Several birds scattered over the area on most days
Fieldfares, Redwings and Blackbirds - Greatest spectacle of thrushes arriving over the sea and just dropping out of the sky, fantastic.
Rosy Starling - One at Easington
Barred Warbler - At least 2 individuals seen on 3 days.
Yellow-browed Warbler - At least 2 individuals around the Churchyard
Marsh Warbler - One particularly skulky accro' eventually identification concluded as a Marsh Warbler.
Spotted Flycatcher - One at Easington
Redstart - One at Sammys Point
Shorelark - One flew South over the numpties
Lapland Bunting - One flew South over the numpties
Brambling - Counts of up to 35 in first couple of days.
Hawfinch - One flew South
Tree Sparrow - coming from a Tree Sparrowless county it was great to see them in their hundreds.
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| A late Spotted Flycatcher |
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| Yellow-browed Warbler |
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| Barred Warbler |
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| Redwing |
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| Ring Ouzel |
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| Whooper Swan |
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| Yellow-browed Warbler |
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| View across the Humber to the Lighthouse and the Point |
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| Whimbrel |
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| Roe Deer |
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| Reed Bunting |
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| Sunset on the Humber |
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| Fieldfare |
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| Tree Sparrow |
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| One of the Starling flocks, which continuously arrived over the sea |
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| A migrating Fieldfare |
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| A flock of Fieldfare and Blackbirds migrating |
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| Moon at dusk |
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| Whooper Swans over the Humber |
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| Group of 10 Whooper Swans heading to the point |
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| Another Whooper... |
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| ….and another 4 |
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| Rosy Starling |
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| part of a 3,000+ Golden Plover flock |
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| More of the same flock |
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| Short-Eared Owl |
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| Short-eared Owl |
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| Looking towards the 'breach' |
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| Hen Harrier |
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| Curlew |
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| more migrating Fieldfare |
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| Sparrowhawk |
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| Wheatear |
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| Waders over the Humber |
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| Another 4 Whooper Swans |
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| Hen Harrier |
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| Little Grebe |
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| Blackcap |
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| Sparrowhawk |
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| Tree Sparrow |
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| Long-Eared Owl |
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| Long-Eared Owl |
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| Kestrel |
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