A day in East Yorkshire - Saturday 14th September 2013

Having missed last weekends migfest at Spurn due to being over at Hilbre Island, myself, Shaun and Paul (our friend from over the water in Lpool) planned a trip for the following Saturday, we were jealous we missed all the fun of the festival but on a brighter note were optimistic it would be quieter and may still see some great birds. We were not to be disappointed.

Shaun picked me up at 4.30am and we met up with Paul in Frodsham and shifted all our gear over to Pauls car for the trip East. The roads were clear and in just under 3 hours we were pulling into the car park at the back of the Blue Bell Inn cafe. The North Sea was very choppy and it was a cold wind, so it was defo wooly hat time.

We set off down the famous long road/spit that we had heard so much about and were all very excited about what we may see. All around us we could hear Meadow Pipits and the majority we could see were coming in off the sea. The fields were alive with Goldfinches, Swallows and Pipits.

We stopped in at the canal scrape and a sign on the door to the hide warned to keep right as there was still nesting Swallows inside to the left!! We spotted some Moorhen and a Snipe was feeding opposite.

Just then we heard a Redstart and spotted a female in the bushes quite a far way out to our right hand side, we were watching this bird when a Sparrowhawk flew across the scrape and flushed the Snipe. Presumably one of the local pair that also flushed a Pec Sand yesterday grrrrr.

It had began to warm up slightly and after a cuppa and a sarnie in the hide, we headed back towards Southfield Farm to see if we could spot the Red Backed Shrike. Our luck was in, the Shrike was showing well on a fence post in a small paddock like area with orchards at the back of the farm :)

Brilliant, this was a new year tick and we had great views as seen above.

We decided to head off towards the bird observatory and do a spot of sea watching. As we arrived the hide was full, so we spent around half an hour outside looking out to sea, most of these pelagic birds were quite a ways out and were quite tricky to ID despite having our scopes. With seabirds, shape, wingbeat and behaviour is key in helping to ID. We had some Manx Shearwaters and Gannets pass by and just then two Wheatears flew in off the sea !!

The hide emptied out a bit and a flap opened up and a guy shouted us in as there was now room. His name was Steve from the Obs and he was doing a count, we sat alongside him and it was entertaining to spot these seabirds in tandem. Slowly but surely the counts built up, "Sooty Shearwater, flying low over the waves going North" came the cry, Bonxie, (Gt Skua), Arctic Skua with quick wingbeats and sudden lunges down towards the sea. Sandwich Terns, Red Throated Divers, Fulmars, it was seawatch heaven. Then it would go quiet and all of a sudden after 15 minutes the clicker went mad again as Steve began counting the stream of Gannets that suddenly appeared. We enjoyed a good chat and it's great to meet new people who share a same passion. Shaun (who me and Paul have christened The Lurker) had vanished again and seldom sits in a place for more than 15 mins and likes to be on the move and we often find him lurking up a dark path or near some bushes (hence the new nickname), really he is out and about with camera looking for good photo opportunitys :)

Steve had told us we would not get a fry up at the Blue Bell Cafe, but put us onto a good spot in the caravan park, where there is a greasy spoon cafe. Thanking Steve for his hospitality, we set off for some grub. On the way to the cafe we spotted a very yellow looking warbler and relocated it in some bushes. Sadly it was nothing special but nevertheless a lovely and very bright Willow Warbler, if only they were all this colour, seperating chiff would be made so much easier. See below

On the way to the cafe we spotted 2 juv Med Gulls out on the Sea.

Now, the cafe also doubled as an amusement arcade and had to endure "oo oo oo, I wanna be like you oo oo" tune from the jungle book repeating around every couple of minutes through our breakfasts. Nice as the brekky was, we were glad to get out!!

"Where next?" I said, should we drive or have another walk up the road and scan the bushes to see what may have dropped in? Walk, how fateful that decision proved to be. Walking past Southfield Farm, both myself and Paul spotted a bird fly into some bushes. The Red Backed Shrike was perched on some branches nearby, but another bird was making it's way through the branches towards the Shrike? BOOM Barred Warbler a 1st Autumn imm bird.

I had imagined spotting one of these birds and now it was here I was mesmerised as it showed really well and perched on a post and preened and even sunned itself for a while. Fresh in and another year tick :) The 3G signal here in Spurn is sporadic nevertheless and I quickly tweeted RBA with the news. Ian Smith, chairman of Spurn Bird Obs who was nearby also relayed the news on his two-way and soon a scurry of birders descended on Southfield Farm!! Now if you look in the Collins Field Guide, under Barred Warbler it says (shares habitat with Red Backed Shrike), your not kidding!! Take a look at this pic :-

This place was quickly growing on me and my mind was racing, what's next I wonder? We enjoyed the bird for a while, then walked up the road towards the Obs and the Estuary as high tide was approaching and we needed to clock some waders.

Arriving at the Estuary the tide was nearly all the way in but had great views of Red Knot (in thousands),

Dunlin, Ringed Plover, Curlew Sandpiper, Redshank, Spotted Redshank, Greenshank, Grey Plover, Golden Plover, Barwits, Curlew, Sanderling, Turnstones, Shelduck & Little Egret, it's hard to do it justice in words, but it was simply breathtaking. Also we saw a Sparrowhawk and a Peregrine hunting. Here are a few pictures that Shaun took.

Pic of me and Paul enjoying the spectacle :)

After enjoying the waders, we walked further up past the obs and out further onto the spit, on the way though we spotted some young Swallows being fed by their parents in and around the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust reception.

Walking along the road towards the lighthouse was a bit tiring and we had to constantly step into the dunes to make way for a procession of cars that kept coming through. It had it's benefits though as Shaun spotted this fine Wheatear on the beach and got this cracking photo.

We clambered up an embankment and near to a wooden shelter type structure and looked out to sea. Not a lot was happening, Pipits were still coming inland though and then a Leach's Storm Petrel appeared and glided past in the powerful winds. First one of the year for me and another tick :)

Time was ticking on so we decided to have a walk back and take the coastal path to search the bushes for migrants. Some Buntings were in the bushes and with news a Lapland Bunting may be about, we were looking high and low, Shaun managed these photo's of Reed Bunting :}

So many different variations and females often get a male like head pattern, arghhhh.

Not many butterflies or Dragonflies along this path but spotted a Migrant Hawker and a Speckled Wood so not a bad pair to find :)

Paul was suffering with his back so left me and Shaun to walk the path that separates the estuary and Southfield Farm, it leads to the Crown and Anchor Pub :) so we stopped in for a couple of pints! Heading back to the car park where we had agreed to meet up with Paul we saw a chap photographing a dragonfly by the side of the road. Just then a car pulled up and a bloke shouted out to him "Great Snipe at Warrenby Cottage" Vroooooooom, it was off like a shot and so were we, well I was, Shaun don't do running haha.

Upon arrival, there were around 20 birders all looking into a drainage ditch that ran between the cottage and the nearby fields. "Snipes in there" a guy said, in a thick Yorkshire accent :) To say it was well camouflaged would be an understatement!! All the activity had moved the bird deeper into cover and after around 15 minutes when a few more of the senior birders at Spurn had arrived, it was decided a guy would enter the ditch and try to flush it, ethical or not I thought oh well at least I will get to see it.

Butterfly net in hand? This guy clambered into the ditch and the Great Snipe thought I'm not having this and casually walked out into the field on the other side! Mass exodus around into the field, the Snipe was in the grass on the edge of the hedgerow and albeit restricted view, nevertheless I bagged a view of my first ever Great Snipe, a lifer BOOM :) After about ten minutes of viewing, it moved back into the ditch. I spent a while face down on my belly trying to focus in at close range and relocate, however I decided time was ticking on and we had to make the three hour journey back home and grab a meal on the way back so we called it a day.

The Great Snipe proved more accommodating later on and I grabbed this pic off the Spurn website

What a great day's birding and with great company, thanks to Shaun & Paul for making it an entertaining day and taking great pics. Also a big thanks to the friendly people of Kilnsea and Spurn, we will defo be going back again!!

Follow us on twitter @bucko41 @shaunkhickey @arborist2222

Observers

Mike Buckley
Shaun Hickey (Photography)
Paul Jason (Photography)

http://www.spurnbirdobservatory.co.uk/sightings/

http://www.ywt.org.uk/

Hilbre Island Saturday 7th September 2013

Had booked a trip with the RSPB and Wirral Coastal Rangers so myself and Shaun met up with the rest of the group at the marina lake in West Kirby around 9.15am. Weather was fine but breezy with the chance of hit and miss showers, had a quick scan for a Med Gull around the lake, but could not see any. Colin Wells (reserve manager Burton Mere Wetlands), Dan and Hannah were heading the RSPB team and Lynne was helping the guided walk on behalf of the Wirral Rangers.

Hilbre Islands is a haven for wildlife, especially birds and consists of three islands, little eye, middle eye and the main larger island Hilbre. Low tide was around an hour earlier so, we made the walk out to little eye, dodging the bigger pools of water as we went along. As we got to middle eye,

we stopped to scan the sandbanks for waders, we could see, Ringed Plover, Oystercatchers (in huge numbers),

some Bar tailed Godwits and I spotted a solitary Grey Plover still in resplendent summer plumage. Moving along we reached the main island which is roughly a 2 mile trip from the mainland. The guiders explained we would be doing some seawatching and also keeping an eye out for any passerines (small birds) that may be on the island. Some Meadow Pipits and a Dunnock were noted near the observatory garden. The guys in the observatory do a lot of bird ringing on the island and Colin showed us the heligoland traps (so named after an island off the coast of Germany where the first trap was built, hence the name) in which they catch the small birds. They are then measured, weighed, sexed and ringed and recorded in log books then released.

We made our way down to the old lifeboat station for a bit of seawatching. The tide was high now and we were  completely cut off from the mainland. Most of the birds that flew past were Cormorants.

Quite a few Sandwich Terns were noisily passing overhead and we also spotted a Great Crested Grebe out to sea. Just then Colin spotted a Common Scoter which was flying very low and fast quite a ways out! A couple of guys in our group spotted a young Guillemot but the views were not too good as the waves were disrupting the views as the sea was very choppy. Sadly no Skuas, Petrels or Shearwaters were to be seen today. The weather forecast had changed in the run up to the trip and the gusting North Westerly we were hoping for never materialised.

Myself and Shaun decided on a look around the island to see if we could spot any small birds. We flushed a small party of Linnets and then later spotted them bathing in a freshwater pool :)

A couple of Swallows were flying around and Shaun then spotted a female Wheatear up on a grassy bank. This time of year is known as return passage and quite a few of these fantastic birds had been spotted locally over the last few days.

The hweet call brought my attention to a Chiffchaff that was calling just outside the obs garden, but was proving elusive and was deep in foliage away from the breeze. Just then a female Kestrel flew up and I watched her hunting for a while. It was thrilling to see her hanging in the breeze and then dropping down in stages to finally catch her prey, a small mouse in this instance :)

We headed back for refreshments and had a brew in one of the old buildings that accommodate visitors to the island. I was intrigued by the old bird books and was looking through one at declining species and causes, habitat loss and more worryingly climatic change was highlighted and this book was going back into the early 80's!! Great to see the effort put in by the RSPB and volunteers to try and reverse this trend by providing great habitats for wildlife and birds.

After lunch, we walked around the East side of the Island as the tide was back on it's way out, here we got some great views of a Ringed Plover family. You can see the juvenile bird in the middle as it has an incomplete breast band.

Quite a lot of birds were now on the move and a Whimbrel flew past and we then spotted a family of Turnstones who were not the slightest bit bothered about us interrupting their get together.

Hilbre is also known for other wildlife and the @hilbrebirdobs team do a great job of managing the wildlife gardens on the island which attract a number of butterflies and dragonflies during the summer months. We were being watched by a number of Atlantic Grey Seals and they are quite curious about visitors to the island and will pop up and take a peek :)

The sky was darkening in the distance and it looked like we may be in for a sharp shower. I joked about the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow and was wondering if a rare bird was in the nursing home gardens over at Red Rocks!!

Time was ticking on and the tide was receding faster than my hairline (ahem) so we made our way back across the wet sands and back to the car park. On the way, Shaun spotted a Little Egret feeding and took this picture.

All in all it was a good day out and despite getting soaked on the way back to the van as the heavens opened, I would recommend to anyone who has not been, to go over to Hilbre and enjoy the fresh air and great wildlife. Here is a link to the Hilbre Bird Observatory and also the Dee Estuary Site for those planning a guided trip in the future. Once again many thanks to Colin, Dan, Hannah & Lynne.

http://www.hilbrebirdobs.blogspot.co.uk/

http://www.deeestuary.co.uk/index.html

Observers

Mike Buckley
Shaun Hickey (photography)

Rivacre Valley Country Park - Bank Holiday Monday 26th August 2013

I could not sleep, so decided to venture out at 5am to see what wildlife was about whilst it was still dark. Heading out with only my nightsearcher commander torch (pocket sized but packs 700 lumens) to guide me, I headed off into the woods. Down the track, I spotted a Tawny Owlet sitting on a branch up in an Oak tree.

Sorry about the quality but when your holding a torch and trying to take a photo in the pitch black, you cannot expect good results. This bird looks fairly small and still had a fair amount of down, so think they may have had another brood as the 1st two Owlets were spotted in March!!

Moving further on into the wood as I did not want to disturb the Owlet too much, I heard a couple of foxes and then heard some rustling in the undergrowth and spotted a large toad making it's way from the brook into the wood.

A three quarter moon shone down at me through the trees and Jupiter was also pretty bright in the Eastern sky, however I could hear Gulls crying out overhead so knew they were on the move to the Dee from their roosting site over on the Mersey and it would soon be sun up.

As dawn broke I could hear mainly blackbirds and robins and through the gloom of the woods, could just make out their sillouettes on the paths as they searched for food. Coming out of the woods and into a clearing, it was now very light and there was a mist shrouding the pathways and bushes, overhead a Buzzard came into view and glided over the clearing before disappearing over the trees.

Now I could hear, Blue tit, Great Tit, Nuthatch and Wren whose explosive song certainly woke me up!! As I approached the Ranger station I could see some small warblers flitting in and out of the branches of a birch tree and as I looked could see it was a family of Blackcaps. I watched for at least 10 minutes as they frantically searched for insects and hovered almost hummingbird like at times to try and get small flies.

The ranger station is a small non-descript building almost like a cabin in the woods, it acts as a base for the Valley rangers and as a visitor centre.

Now in the bushes at the back of the building, I could hear Bullfinches calling but could not pin them down, I waited patiently and was pleasantly surprised to see a family of Bullfinches, I counted at least 5 birds including the adults, always great to see and a favourite of mine as I also have them visit my back garden especially in winter months.

It was now around 6.30am and I saw a dog at the head of the footpath and thought great just what I need dog walkers to disturb my birding, only then did I realise it was a small fox looking at me and it eyed me warily for a few minutes before darting off to its left and into the undergrowth :)

Great Spotted Woodpecker, Jays, Nuthatch, Magpies and Wood Pigeons were all heard over the next half hour as I made my way down towards the Rivacre Road Bridge.

I heard the distinct call of a Raven and saw one bird flying overhead towards Rossmore. This road bridge is good for Grey Wagtails as the brook runs down a small weir and I regularly see them here. Sure enough there was at least three or four birds on the gravel banks and seen in flight.

Near to the road bridge is the old Borwell No2 pumping station that was owned by the Bridgewater Paper Company, this building has ivy all over it and is a magnet for small birds that use it regularly in their search for food.

Walking back through the woods you come across some strange characters pulling tongues and this one reminded me of the trip to Moel Famau, great carving :)

All in all a good few early morning hours well spent out on my local patch, other birds seen included Long tailed tit, Coal tit, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Jackdaw, Stock Dove and Dunnock.

Woolston Eyes and a quick hour at Burton Mere Wetlands Thursday 22nd August 2013

Thursday morning saw the chance of a few hours at Woolston Eyes, my mate Shaun had dropped the good wife and daughter off at a local hotel and spa for some pampering, whilst we headed off for a brekky then onto Woolston Eyes.

Unlocking the gate to No3 reedbed, we crossed the bridge and one of the first things we noticed on the track up to the hides, was a Jay that quickly flew into the farther trees. The amount of butterflies on the Buddleia were out in force and put in a great show in the warm sunshine alongside numerous dragonflies. Shaun took some pics, here is a quick selection :-

Common or Adonis Blue ?

Red Admiral

Peacock

Climbing the steps up to the first hide, we were disappointed looking out as all we could see were a couple of Gadwall and a Lapwing. Moving swiftly on, we reached the Tower Hide and now we could see a lot more birds in view, a pair of Lesser Black Backed Gulls were sunning themselves on one of the man made floating Islands and quite a large number of Lapwing and young were showing well, I guestimated at least 100 birds. Teal, Tufted Duck with young, Little Grebes, Mallard and Shoveler could be seen. A female Kestrel flew over and quite a way out Shaun spotted a group of birds that turned out to be Snipe, we counted at least 16 birds, some roosting and some feeding. Just then a flight call alerted us to a Green Sandpiper and we watched as it flew out and made it's way across the water to a more quieter part of the reserve.

In the next hide along, a rare sighting of two other birders!! You don't see many bods at this reserve. A Buzzard flushed the Lapwings and landed on a nearby branch of a tall Silver Birch and was pestered constantly by a cheeky young Magpie. Good shot here of the Little Grebe and also some Greenfinches that were on the feeders at the end of the hide. It's good here for Willow Tits as well :)

This juv bird poked it's head out at us, now could be a young Willow Warbler? You decide

On the path back to the car we could hear the lone hweet calls of a Chiffchaff and a Robin was clicking away in the undergrowth. A few more butterflies and dragonflies were snapped :-

Ruddy Darter

And finally a speckled Wood Butterfly

Not a great variety of birds at the moment, but I'm sure as winter approaches and the wader scrapes take shape, it will pick up. We decided on a quick hour at Burton Mere Wetlands so took the short trip back down the M56. Upon arrival at BMW the sun was quite blinding so viewing the birds from the reception hide was difficult, we could make out a lot of Black Tailed Godwits and a Black Swan that was on the far side. Moving over to Marsh Covert Hide was better and easier viewing. Colin Wells had been out and about earlier in the day cutting the grasses, so viewing the birds was a lot easier and there was a lot of Greylags and Canada Geese enjoying this freshly cut area.

I spotted a Green Sandpiper fairly close in feeding on a shallow strip of water about 100 yards in front of the hide, lovely birds to watch and they have a great flight call.

Just then all hell broke loose and over at Inner Marsh Farm hundreds of Black Tailed Godwits took to the air, one assumes trying to evade a predator, although we could not see the said perpetrator in amongst the sheer numbers. Apparently 750+ had been counted that afternoon.

So the end of a fair days birding, not much of note, but nevertheless good to be outdoors and taking in fresh air and enjoying nature.

NB. This afternoons trip to BMW (23/08/13) produced 4 Little Ringed Plovers, 2 Green Sandpiper and a Barnacle Goose in amongst the Canada Geese !! Most likely a feral bird.

Observers
Mike Buckley
Shaun Hickey (photography)