A trip to the Seaside

I thought I would try around Scarborough today, have a look at a few of the local specialities the go for an hour or two looking for Goshawks.

I started at Holbeck car park and saw some nice mediterranean gulls in the morning light along with a few more commoner black-headed gulls.

Then on to the harbour but didnt see a great deal apart from a few feeding shag (one appeared to catch a dragonet) but no sign of black-necked grebe or great northern diver.

Then on to Forge Valley and had a nice couple of hours there photographing some of the more common species. Great spotted woodpecker, stock dove, marsh tit, nuthatch and treecreeper were all 'new' for the year.

Then on to the raptor watchpoint a few siskins were feeding quite close then a couple of crossbills appeared which was ver nice.

Then the stars of the show appeared goshawks! they were miles away to be fair and well out of the range for a photograph but very nice to see all the same.

By late morning it was beginning to cloud over so I headed off back home after a very nice trip out.

The Dunnington Pine Bunting

I've been meaning to go for the Pine Bunting at Dunnington for a while, but most reports were of it being elusive and the photo's on the net didn't get me running for my camera (especially when there is a Pallid Harrier on the local patch). Recent reports however suggested that it was a little bit more visible so I set off this morning with high hopes of at least seeing the bird.

I parked in the village and headed blindly down Intake Lane-I was there just after Seven so was the first there.

I saw Kerver Lane and headed down there first then doubled back, the last report I read on Twitter suggested that it had gone back to the stubble field at the end of Intake Lane.

I kept on going as all the fields were more like paddocks then through a gate and the first hint of stubble.

There was a decent flock of Yellowhammers feeding about a third of the way down the field so I made my way down. The wind was a biting south westerly without much sign of the sun so pretty chilly. I was soon joined by a coiple of lads who had seen the Pine Bunting in the are I was viewing a couple of weeks earlier.

Another birder joined us and after much scanning in all directions he picked the bird up in a large oak tree about 100 yards away. I got a view of it and a shot of some branches but that was it as it flew away overhead. It then re-appeared after an hour or so in a hedge on the opposite side of the field, then flew into the stubble.

It then flew towards us with a flock of yellow hammers and typically it landed in the deepest cover giving fairly close but obsucured views. It stayed a while giving the small crowd some decent views then flew off. This was the cue for most of the crowd to disappear, amazingly it came back only 5 minutes later and perched up in full view for around 5 minutes.

It then flew back over to the far hedge and then appeared to go back into the stubble.

I was happy with my shots so set off for home at around 11.15 very content with the mornings work.

The Lincolnshire Bluethroat

I had some time off last week and I thought the Bluethroat showing at Willow Tree fen would be worth a visit.

I set off around 7.30 and a pretty uneventful drive had me arriving about 9.30. There were plenty of cars parked on the roadside and the car park was also full, this bird was proving to be a star attraction.

I made my way down the track where a group of around 60 birders were eagerly awaiting the bluethroat to come out of cover.

there jhad been some posts on the internet about bad behaviour of photographers and when everyone is packed into a small place tensions can run high.

One poor guy wanted to go around the rest of the reserve so ran the gauntlet of walking down the track only to be berated by a rather irate chap oringinating from Birmingham/midland area.

Another one to brave the wrath of the crowd (bit harsh) was a guy walking his dog towards the group and again he came in for some unfair criticism.

This reminded me why I don't like twitching, however back to the bird, it was regularly coming out and showing for about 5 minutes then would disappear for 20 minutes to half an hour. Each time it came out more people started to drift away and buy lunch time there were only about 12 people there.

The crowd were generally very well behaved, there was no encroachment while I was there and at one point the bird flew to within 5 yards of me enabling me to get some nice shots and see this stunning bird close up.

A bluethroat in Britain is always a pleasure to see but one in February at such close quarters was an absolute delight. At the time of writing it is still present and not doubt will continue to draw crowds especially if it hangs around and begins to develop some breeding plumage.

Apart from a marsh harrier and some common wildfowl there wasnt a great deal more to see but a very nice trip all the same.