Waders at the Wetlands

August 08, 2021

In the last week I have spent 3 sessions just in the hide at Kilnsea Wetlands and it has bee fantastic.

This time of year is always great for waders and this year it has been no exception (there’s still more to come) but when you have the added attraction of herons, gulls and terns, sometimes its difficult to know where to look.

Waders have included white-rumped sandpiper, curlew sandpiper, wood sandpier, common sandpiper, curlew, whimbrel, bar-tailed godwit, black-tailed godwit, lapwing, snipe, dunlin, ringed plover, little ringed plover, knot, redshank and greenshank.

There has been some fantastic performances by the three semi-resident spoonbills as well as a quite a showy great white egret, high counts of little egrets and the odd grey heron.

Gulls have included common, little, black-headed great black-backed, mediterranean and caspian and there has been a good number of sandwich terns, little terns and common terns.

Kilnsea Wetlands is one of those places that has its best times for viewing. Its always best over high tide and the bigger the tide the more birds there are as the water rising on the humber pushes the birds off and they relocate for a few hours on the wetlands. Big tides invariably occur either early morning or in the evening and if you get the timing right you could plan a visit that includes two high tides.

There has been the added distraction of birds of prey with marsh harrier, sparrowhawk, kestrel and peregrine falcon as well as a short-eared owl.

Mid-day and low tide is the wrong combination and would normally result in seeing the least activity, combined with the harsh mid-day light its best avoided.

All in all it is a truly magnificent place ant arguably at its peak at this time of year.

Summertime at Kilnsea Wetlands

July 18, 2021

Normally Kilnsea Wetlands are better known for the waders and wildfowl in Autumn and Winter but it is rapidly becoming an all year site. With yesterday’s fantastic numbers of Sandwich Terns along with 4 spoonbills, 1 great white egret little gulls common terns and the summer breeding little terns proving beyond doubt that there is some great birding to be had even in the traditionally quiet month of July.

I arrived at just after 6 and the sun was well up (sun rises are just too hard at this time of year!). The first thing I noticed since my last visit was the amount of noise-mainly from young Sandwich terns that had been brought by their parents from breeding grounds further north. At first the parents were bringing very small fish but as the sun rose (an potentially the temperature increased) they were bringing back large sandeels which no doubt made for a substantial meal. A quick scan on to Beacon Ponds had me viewing a distant great white egret which soon came very close and was not deterred by my presence one bit.

Back on to the wetlands and the little gull numbers were starting to build. These diminutive gulls are at their best in mid-summer with a sooty black head and bright red feet. As the end of the month approaches, their black heads get increasingly faded and disappear altogether as we get closer to autumn.

Another look on to Beacon Ponds produced the rather spectacular sight of around 40 little terns taking flight to see off a kestrel as to flew too close to the breeding area.

Someones dog was clearly out of control as it splashed around at the edge of the lagoon, perilously close to the breeding area-thankfully it appeared that no lasting harm was done.

One last look at Kilnsea Wetlands resulted in a nice fly-by from a pair of common terns and spoonbill numbers increased to 4 albeit they remained distant.

By 10am the sun was up, the heat was increasing as was the heat haze.

Time to go.

Another fantastic visit to the Uk’s premier wildlife watching site.

Sandwich Tern with young and Black-Headed Gulls

Summer Seabirds

July 10, 2021

Using the combination of two tried and tested scientific theories (one being who dares wins and the other being third time lucky), I had a trip up to Bempton earlier this week to see if I could see the Black-Browed Albatross.

Some of the photos and accounts have been stunning and to think that this is a rare bird in the northern hemisphere and when they are seen it is usually at a distance at sea, this one is very tempting.

I arrived at around 6.15pm and it was a very pleasant evening with plenty of common sea-birds on view (thousands in fact!)

At first there was no sign of the BBA so it was just a case of enjoying the scenery and the sounds of thousands of seabirds flying in an out of their cliff side perches. It’s quite a spectacle.

Rumours of the bird being sat on the water a long way out gave some hope and it was’t long before it was sighted-the tiniest of dots on the sea. It seemed quite content and I thought it was going to stay on the sea until it got dark, however it took flight and made its way towards us.

It headed inshore and snaked in and out of view as it went behind cliff headlands.

There was a running commentary as it got closer and it was quite exciting. It carried on past Staple Newk and continued towards us eventually going underneath the cliffs and out of view.

It circled round and came back into the bay and after 10 minutes or so took up its favourite position on the cliff in readiness to roost.

Not quite the views some have had but very nice all the same. Great to have seen a Black Browed Albatross off the east Yorkshire Coast.

I went again this morning but unfortunately theer was no sign (it had been seen before I arrived. Somewhat surreal having to use the overflow car park at 6.30 in the morning!

I spent the morning photographing puffins which was a absolute delight.