Autumn Migrants

The Autumn migration came in with a bang on the east Yorkshire Coast this weekend.After some promising easterly winds there was reports of common and scarce migrants from all along the coast.

I went out to Spurn on saturday and saw plenty of wheatears,whinchats and hundreds of meadow pipits heading south.

Unfortunately the barred warbler and shore lark didn't show but we did see arctic skua,little egret,green sandpiper and plenty of common stuff.

A trip out with the dog to Patrington Haven in the afternoon yielded yellow legged gull,curlew sandpiper,3 kingfishers and a short eared owl amongst others.

The reports kept coming from birdguides on Saturday night, with one of the most significant movements of honey buzzards in recent times and also plenty of scarce stuff mainly from Flamborough.

I decided to head there on Sunday morning but clear skies were not a good omen.A little stint on the puddles was a pleasant suprise, but this turned out to be the highlight of the day.A few redstarts and pied flycatchers around Old Fall and a few common migrants along the walk back to the lighthouse but quite disappointing.

Called in at Hornsea mere on the way back, a few distant little gulls was about the best of it.

It appears that today it was the turn of Spurn to produce the goods with a pallas's grasshopper warbler the highlight.

Wish I had have swapped my venues.

Short Eared Owl

I had yet another trip out to pat Haven today.

Took my trusty mate george (the dog) just for an hour to see if the short eared owls I had seen the previous day were still there.

I went right down the side of the drain past the sluice and up onto a raised bank near the estuary.

Straight away I saw both birds hunting over the saltmarsh, every now and then dropping on to something.

I guess they were feeding on something pretty small because I never saw them come up with any voles or small mammals.

I thought I would try my luck digiscoping, and whilst they are not the fastest birds, they do present a challenge.

I was quite happy with these shots.

More From Pat Haven

I had another trip down to patrington Haven yesterday, I was hoping to get some shots of the greenshanks that are currently residing there.

It was my intention to get there a couple of hours before the tide came in and set up my small hide to wait for the birds.

After initially flushing a few redshank on the pool as I set up, it wasn't long before the birds started to come back.

First was a knot, then a redshank and a juvenile ruff.The bird activity increased dramatically as the tide flooded and the sky was filed with the sound of thousands of knot.

Soon the greenshank came they settled at opposite me about 30m away and roosted with just the odd flurry of activity.

More redshank came in along with a couple of Dunlin, and also a littel egret came in for a short while.

One of the problems with Pat Haven is that it is quite a popular walking area and anyone up on the bank invariably flushes all the birds.

I figured that If I got there early I might have a couple of hours undisturbed.Fortunately it wasn't while half eleven that the first walker came along so at this point I decide to pack up and go.

I noticed a couple of short eared owls hunting in the field opposite as I walked back.

Another nice morning, still didn't get any shots of the grey or golden plovers, I might have to change my spot...........