Sard's the Star

  I am recently back from a few days relaxing and birding in the wilds of Spurn Point, East Yorkshire.An amazing spit of land between the River Humber and the North Sea that is windswept and wild(and hopefully will be kept that way). It is also one of the best places in the UK to see Visible Migration and a chance of a "lifer" which is exactly what happened to us in the first few hours :)
  Looking out to the North Sea (photo by Majella Fox)

  We had already had a couple of hours wondering around Kilnsea Wetlands, watching Ringed Plovers, Little Egrets, Common Sandpiper, Avocets and a Male Garganey before returning back to the farm with aching feet.
  Little Egrets at Kilnsea Wetlands

  Ringed Plover

Avocet defending their nest from a Little Egret getting a bit too close.

  Back at Westmere Farm I removed my boots from my burning feet with a big sigh of relief, uploaded my sightings to BirdTrack and went to check for any Twitter posts.

  Nooooooo......we couldn't miss this opportunity, so painfully I slowly put my boots back on ans struggled down to the canal path where we found Ian and a few others patiently waiting for the female Sardinian warbler to show itself from its bushy hideaway.I got myself comfy laid down on the grassy slope as I could no longer stand on my feet, with camera ready in anticipation that she would give us a clear view.
Success :) as she briefly came out to the edge of the bush and I managed a couple of clicks before she disappeared again.
  Female Sardinian Warbler

  Before we left her, a Cuckoo was heard calling and Majella spotted it on a distant fence post.
Cuckoo

  It took a while hobbling back to the farm but the pain was temporarily forgotten when we saw this Fox running across the field with its prey, a unfortunate Rabbit.

  Next morning I left Majella asleep at the farm and headed off down the trail towards Sammy's Point at about 5.45am.A bit of a breeze but so peaceful with no-one else around, just me , the Reed Buntings and a few Hares.
  One young Hare seemed to be curious as to why someone else would be up and walking around at this ridiculous hour and proceeded to follow me along the trail.Every time I stopped to turn round and look at him, he stopped too, but then continued following me when I walked on.It was like playing "Statues" with the Natural World, a glorious wildlife encounter.
  Playing Statues with the young Hare.

  We spent the next couple of days relaxing and having 2 or 3 walks a day around Spurn & Kilnsea.There were not a lot of Migrants around but I did see my first Sedge Warbler of 2016 and a stunning Wheatear.
  Sedge Warbler

  Wheatear

  If you want to visit a Birding Mecca in the UK then come check out Spurn Point especially during the Spring & Autumn migrations and come support the Spurn Migration Festival Sept 9th-11th for guided walks, lectures, great company and amazing birds :)

http://spurnmigfest.com/

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

Thanks for reading and hope to see you at the MigFest :)

First Visit To Local Patch, MSQ for 2016

  Already a quarter of the year gone as we finally got back to checking out our local patch, Messingham Sand Quarry, North Lincolnshire.

  We arrived as the only other person there was leaving the reserve so we had the place to ourselves :) The feeders at the car park were mostly empty so we topped them up with a mixture of seed and suet pellets while placing more on the fallen trees near the feeders.It was instantly appreciated by the Dunnocks, Blackbirds, Chaffinches and Great Tits who all quickly descended from the nearby trees to take advantage of the food.

  The rafts in Grebe Lake were still empty as the Common Terns were yet to arrive but a Sparrowhawk zipped across the tree tops in front of us and out of sight.Chiffchaffs could be heard in various locations and we eventually ended the visit with 8 Chiffchaff sightings.

Chiffchaff

  6 Treecreepers were dotted about the Pine and Birch trees along with the acrobatic Long-tailed Tits and a pair of Goldcrests.

  Treecreepers

  Long-tailed Tit

  The second lake at MSQ (photo by Majella Fox)

  Most of the action was on the main lake, Goldeneye, Pochards, Shelducks and Tufted Ducks passed close to the hide.

  Goldeneye

  The clouds closed in and the weather turned for the worse.We were happy to stay in the hide away from the downpour while watching 40+ Sand Martins that had completed their journeys back from Africa and were now happily feeding over the water on the early insects.

 The rains coming in over the main lake.(photo by Majella Fox)

  Sand Martins feeding over main lake.

  During a break in the rain, we made our way around to the next hide.The Black-headed Gull colony,currently around 160-180 strong were their usual rambunctious selves.A Redshank and a pair of Oystercatchers were caught among the hive of activity.

  Oystercatchers among the Gull colony.

  The Gulls searched for nesting materials, fought and displayed, real life drama(much better than watching Eastenders ;))

  A Gulp of Cormorants kept to the far edge of the island along with some juvenile Gulls.

  The call of a Buzzard could just be heard as it circled the lake , inadvertently becoming mobbed by a couple of Crows.

Common Buzzard

  A walk through the woods brought more Chiffchaff and Long-tailed Tit sightings as well as Great Tits, Blue Tits and Wrens.

  Wren(photo by Majella Fox)

  On returning to the car another Buzzard appeared from behind the tree line, followed by a 2nd, then a 3rd, 4th and 5th. 5 Buzzards all drifting on the wind together over the adjacent field, a spectacular sight to end the 3 hour visit to Messingham Sand Quarry :)

  We will return again soon.Thanks for taking the time to read my blog.I thank all 6 of you ;)

http://www.lincstrust.org.uk/reserves/Messingham-Sand-Quarry

  

Spring Returns to RSPB Bempton Cliffs

  Well you wait for ages for one and then two turn up straight after each other.My blogs I mean , not buses ;)

  I think this is going to be more of a quick photo blog rather than a lot of text as most of you know about RSPB Bempton Cliffs anyway on the coast of East Yorkshire, just North of Bridlington.

  So anyway I had my second visit of March to Bempton Cliffs this week.The weather couldn't have been more different than my last visit 3 weeks ago.

  Blizzards at Bempton Cliffs 3 weeks ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxlJQnUo_Go

  Yesterdays weather was a bit better :) (photo by Majella Fox)

  Three weeks ago I saw Gannets and Fulmars through the snow along with Tree Sparrows at the feeders.

Gannet battling the wind and snow.

  Now there are an increased number of Gannets plus the arrival of Kittiwakes, Guillemots, Razorbills and Puffins on the cliffs and sea as well as Meadow Pipits in the fields.Also this week, the first Gannet eggs were laid :)

Razorbills.

Guillemots

Puffins were among the Gannets, Guillemots and Razorbills on the cliffs.

Gannets

  During our walk around I also bumped into award winning photographer Steve Race running one of his photography workshops :)

  I really do urge you to visit Bempton Cliffs within the next few months to witness one of the UK's most spectacular Wildlife experiences, especially if the Government do the unthinkable and do allow Fracking there in the future :( (Read about it below)

http://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/Fracking-threat-RSPB-Bempton-Cliffs-nature/story-27825583-detail/story.html

Please check out the BAWC website and sign the petition below against Driven grouse Shooting :)

Help save our wildlife

Thank you

http://birdersagainst.org/

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/125003

  

  

Spurn Bird Observatory March 27th 2016 - A New Chapter

 So March 27th 2016 became an important date in the history of Yorkshire Birding and in UK Migration.It's an exciting new chapter for SBO , 70 years since its beginnings in 1946 by John Lord, Ralph Chislett, George Ainsworth & RM Garnett. A lot of time and hard work has gone into the new building by the SBO Committee and volunteers, and it shows.

  Bookings are already being taken to stay at the new Observatory, just check the website below for details.

http://www.spurnbirdobservatory.co.uk/staying-at-spurn/

  SBO Patron and TV Naturalist Mike Dilger made the journey up from Bristol to officially open the new observatory. SBO Chairman Rob Adams addressed the good sized crowd that had arrived for this important occasion, thanking volunteers and Friends Of Spurn Members for enabling this to be possible.

Rob Adams with Mike Dilger

  Rob then introduced Mike who gave a fantastic speech including a fitting tribute to the late, great Martin Garner who tragically passed away earlier this year and also mentioned the amazing new book coming out soon on The Birds Of Spurn by Andy Roadhouse(details also on the SBO website)

  Mike then proceeded to lift the curtain on this new chapter in SBO history despite the struggles against the strong winds.

 Mike struggling with the curtain and.....

  ...reacting to shouts of "Should've got Chris Packham!"

  Free drinks and food were available as everyone congregated in the Observatory to chat about birding, wildlife and the future of Spurn.In here we also got to see Findlay and Heather Wilde again :)

 With Mike.

  We had arrived 5 hours previously to the opening so had plenty of time to walk around the wild beauty of Spurn Nature Reserve. Skylarks were trying their best to be heard over the North Sea winds while Snipe probed in the long grass for food.

  Oystercatchers, Shelducks, Curlews, Redshanks and Ringed Plover were all seen along the Humber Estuary.

  Spurn Lighthouse with Oystercatchers in the foreground.

  Dozens of Brent Geese arrived jostling for position to feed on the succulent grasses now exposed by the receding tide.

  Inland to the more sheltered Church Field we watched Chiffchaffs, a Willow Warbler and numerous Goldcrests while hoping to get a view of the Firecrest that was in the area.We didn't see the Firecrest but we did meet some new friends Linda & Ron Lowndes with whom we had a good chat about all things wild.If you are reading this Linda & Ron, it was great to meet you both :)

  Goldcrests

  We also had a close encounter of the furry kind with a curious Weasel that checked us out a few times before deciding we were harmless enough and just continued its exploration of the field edge.

  All in all it was a fantastic day in an amazing place.It was great to meet new friends and old and be there for the beginning of this new chapter for Spurn Bird Observatory.

  Cannot wait til September and the next Spurn MigFest :)

See you all there.

For all the recent sightings, booking accommodation, ordering Andy's Birds Of Spurn book or to help and become a Friends Of Spurn member please go to the SBO website below.

Thank you

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