April 03, 2022

I had my first ‘proper’ trip to Spurn this weekend-in fact we stayed over for 2 nights so managed to fit quite a bit in.

As often happens at this time of year migration gets halted by a cold blast of Northerly air and this weekend was no exception. A frost on Saturday morning and hail showers overnight into Sunday morning made it feel more like winter than Spring. Not to be deterred I was up early on Saturday and whilst it was chilly, it was nice and bright. A couple of snipe flushed off Sykes Field and a singing chiff-chaff was a nice start.

I made my way down to the breach and there was not much happening other than a few brent geese and waders moving around on the dropping tide.

canal scrape yielded a few teal, little grebe and a mute swan carefully constructing its robust nest of reeds.

The firs decent birds of the day were at Southfield Farm. First a stonechat then a black redstart. Eventually there were 4 ‘black reds’ which showed amazingly well alighting on posts near the road side giving some nice views.

I like black redstarts when they are in flight and especially if they are backlit, they can look quite cool. Unfortunately capturing a sharp shot is easier said than done and my meagre offerings below can only be described as a work in progress.

Not much else appeared until after tea when news of a ‘continental’ stonechat was viewable from Sykes field. It was distant in fading light but looked a very smart bird.

Unfortunately it didnt hang around and there was no sign on Sunday morning.

A ride up to Long Bank Marsh yielded a spoonbill and a couple of pintail and a quick look again at Southfield Farm held only 2 black redstarts but no sign of the continental stonechat.

Hopefull some southerly winds will encourage more migration in the next couple of weeks.

2021 Review

December 29, 2021

Well what a year that was-to describe it as weird would be an understatement.

No real fall of migrants in Spring, definitely no fall of migrants in the Autumn yet still ended up with a year that will be difficult to beat in terms of rare birds (and I could have had more).

The year started with us in lockdown so the main focus was on garden birds. Nothing of note so was glad to get out to Spurn in the spring once the restrictions had been lifted.

Highlights of early Spring were gorgeous sunrises on Kilnsea Wetlands that made even the most innocuous birds look quite appealing.

Late Spring spluttered into life and I eventually saw a hoopoe at Flamborough, bee eater at out-newton and a golden oriole at Spurn.

Badgers at an undisclosed location were a personal highlight.

The first big bird of the year came in late June in the form of an oriental turtle dove. Then news of an albatross at Bempton resulted in several memorable trips to view this magnificent seabird-for me the highlight of the year.

There was some promise of a fall in August with some good numbers of common migrants, but scarce birds were few and far between, A western Bonelli’s warbler at Flamborough was nice, and the third ‘mega’ rare bird of the year was a white tailed lapwing at Blacktoft Sands.

Next came a two barred greenish warbler at Spurn closely followed by a particularly memorable trip to Flamborough in which I saw a rather elusive taiga flycatchers as well as some brilliant views of a red-flanked bluetail.

Photography wise, the year ended with a trip to Spurn in the teeth of storm Arwen-another memorable day when the wind was that strong, opening the door of the hide at Kilnsea Wetlands was no easy feat!

On the whole, a fantastic year for photography, just leaves me to wish you a very happy, peaceful and wildlife-filled new year!

Black-Tailed Godwit - - Kilnsea Wetlands

White-rumped Sandpiper - - Kilnsea Wetlands

Common Gull - Spurn (battling against Storm Arwen)

Flamborough Rares

November 06, 2021

Unexpectedly news of a Taiga Flycatcher came out on Thursday and it hung around while today, so thankfully managed to catch up with either it (or another) as it would appear that it cant be distinguished from the bird that first appeared some 20 days ago.

The day dawned breezy and not very bright, initial hopes were subdued as it hadn’t appeared up until 9am.

Compensation at the time was by way of a nice red-flanked bluetail- not the sought after rarity that it once was but very nice all the same.

News broke that the Taiga Flycatcher was showing in the gulley and given the orientation I chose to go round to the east side on the basis that the light was better. This proved to be a bad move as it was obviously showing judging by all of the activity on the opposite bank, but was frustratingly out of view from where I was standing.

It wasn’ long before it flew up into the canopy and it remained faithful to a tall ash tree for most of the morning and into the afternoon.

I flitted between the red-flanked bluetail and the Taiga Flycatcher until well into the afternoon-the RFB getting most of my attention.

The light was never great so all images are at ISO 6400.

It was a cracking late Autumn day, not a lot of other birds around but the two that were there more than made up for the lack of quantity.