At Last!

I have been looking for Woodlarks for the past two Springs,without success -until yesterday.
because of the sensitive issues regarding this scarce breeding bird I am not going to disclose the location, although it is fair to say that the vast arable landcape of the east Riding is not the most suitable habitat.
I managed to leave work early and went to the first of two sites where I have found out that they inhabit.
No luck there so off to the next site.
Having never seen or heard a woodlark before,I didn't really know what to listen for.
The first 'probable' was a tantalising glimpse of a rather plump lark calling rather unusually.
Further into the site and I could hear a wonderful liquid song from what sounded like a couple of birds.
Not easy to trace in the trees, but then a pair landed about 20m in front of me and started feeding, wow I was in awe.
They kept feeding and calling for about 15mins before the male rose and continued his song.
Fantastic! I know these are not the rarest birds in Britain but I was thrilled to find them myself and get such wonderful views.

A Trip to the Seaside

I had a drive up to Flamborough yesterday to have a look for the recently reported King Eider, after a couple of hours staring at the murky north sea without any success,I decided to have a look on Filey Brigg.
I did manage to add quite a few to the year list including puffin,gannet,guillimot,fulmar,kittiwake and shag.
There were two dorks from 'out of county' on the cliff top at Flamborough making stupid remarks about Yorkshire people and Yorkshire birding.
In a way I am glad the king eider didn't show up because it made their journey completely fruitless and with their attitude, it was just deserved.
Rant over.
The brigg at Filey is not somewhere that I visit often and when I do I usually see some decent birds.Yesterday was no exception.
The purple sandpiers were quite obliging as were the commoner waders.
A shag close in was quite entetaining to watch as it fed along the wave line also a female eider was brave enough to let me get a couple of shots.
there was also a distant common scoter for good measure.
the most entertaing birds were the oystercatchers and watching them extract razorfish and mussels was fascinating.
I must make Filey Brigg a more regular venue, but thankfully it more than made up for missing the King Eider yesterday.

Two Out Of Three Aint Bad

Glaucous Gull

Glaucous Gull

Glaucous Gull

Glaucous Gull

Lesser Redpoll

Siskin

Green Winged Teal

Green Winged Teal
I went for a bit of a drive around east yorkshire today in the hope of connecting with some recently reported scarce birds.
First port of call was North cave Wetlands for the green winged teal.Once the bird was located it was relatively easy to photograph albeit it a bit distant.
On the way bak to the car I managed a couple of shots of a rather obliging siskin, then a quick look down dryden lane for a look at the resident lesser redpoll flock.
Then on to barmston for the glaucous gull.
It was about half a mile north of Barmston and quite mobile as it stayed with the other larger gulls.
It moved towards Fraisthorpe, so I headed back to the car and on to scarborough for the Iceland Gull.
Unfortunately after about an hour of looking there was no sign so I went to Holbeck for the Mediterranean Gulls.I forgot to take some bread so theye weren't very obliging.
hopefully the Iceland gull will hang around a little longer, it seems to favour the afternoons around the harbour.
Might have another trip next week.