Wryneck

had a quick scoot down to Spurn tonight on the off chance of connecting with one of the recently reported wrynecks.

I passed a few birders on the way down to the point and all confirmed that a wryneck had shown earlier in the day but there had been no sign since.

I had a look in the area called the parade ground and in the 15 minutes I was there I was suprised by the amount of birds there.

wheatear,spotted flycatcher,willow warbler, whinchat and some beautifully marked redstarts.

But no wryneck.

Then a guy on a bike came along and said there was a wryneck in the next car park down past the lighthouse (heading north).

As I got there there was a small crowd and the usual 'its just been showing for 10 inutes but gone to ground'.

After a while it appeared on a bush and I managed a couple of record shots, then to everybody's amazement it took flight and landed about 10m away!

Wow what a beautifully marked bird, it was happy to feed out in the open for at least 20 minutes I was pleased with these shots as the light was rapidly depleating, there was a sense of expectation at Spurn tonight as reports of a hawfinch and waxwing crackeled over someones radio.

Prospects are looking good.

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.