A Mixed bag

I was minful of the big tides predicted this weekend so I went to check out patrington haven on Friday night just to see how high it came up.
The lagoon was completely flooded leaving very little space for the waders but there were some perched on the extreme outer spits, amd one confiding golden plover landed within 10m of where I was stood.
On the walk down there were a couple of willow warbler,grey heron,yellow wagtails lots of hirundines and a distant marsh harrier.
There was also a pair of whinchat on the brambles on the opposite bank suggesting a small movement (13 were recorded at Spurn on Saturday).
Having sorted a spot I was back again before first light on saturday morning and got to the spit for about 5.30.
The river was already pouring into the lagoon , it was like a couldron and all the birds appearde to be whipped into a frenzy, I was only there 5 minutes when a large raptor shot over my head at what felt like about 3ft, it looped round and perched about 25m in front and I managed a few shots albeit in poor light.
The river continued to flood and wadres were whizzzing about all over the place.
Eventually the spit covered and it was all over.
I made my way back to the car and then on to Spurn.
There was a single snipe on canal scrape a few common waders on the river bank along side the road down to Spurn.
Not much on Beacon lane but a small seal on the beach at the end was a nice suprise.
Quite a bit going on at beacon ponds-all quite distant but plenty of terns and common waders.
All in all an interesting couple of days.

Blacktoft Sands

I had a trip out to Blacktoft sands today mainly for the wood sandpiper and the little stint.
I got there about 8.40 and was able to get into the hides straight away.The wood sand was on townend hide to start and then moved over to marshland.
It was there that most of the action happened, wood sandpiper,little stint,spotted redshank,black tailed godwit, avocet, snipe, plus some more common waders and wildfowl.
There were also some grey wagtails which are apparently quite scarce for Blacktoft, plus yellow and pied wags, a hobby and marsh harrier kept the waders on their toes plus occaisonal glimpses of the barn owl in its box.There has also been a juvenile peregrine about just lately(but didn't show whilst I was there)
The most supising sighting for me was seven bearded tits feeding openly on the mud flat, usually I have fleeting views of birds in the reeds but these stayed out in the open for a long time.
There was some good birds today, I got there early and left just after 11 I suppose crowds of people are to be expected at Blacktoft on a Sundayin August but the constant almost shouting at the excitement of relatively common birds made it rather uncomfortable.
Give me the peace and quiet of my bag hide any day.

Humber Waders

I've been having some problems uploading my photos just lately so these are some images from last weekend.
I've been down to my favourite spot at Patrington haven and managed some shots of the usual redshank,greenshank and dunlin but i wanted some variety so I tried a ne place at Paull and got the shots of the black tailed godwit and common sandpiper.
They wer taken in late evening but all the other shots were taken early in the morning.
For the green sandpiper, I had gone bak to Pat Haven with an idea of getting even closer setting up under a bag hide right at the edge of the mud.
It didnt take long for the waders to come on to the lagoon and I heard the green sand calling but thought it flew over.
Unknown to me it had landed about 5 metres away.When I eventually got it in focus I managed a few close up shots then it went to the other side of the lagoon.
Also about were thousands of knot, a curlew sandpiper and a massive flock of gulls, turtle dove at the car park.

More Humber Waders

Hornsea Mere Little Gulls

I went down to Hornsea Mere on saturday for a look at the little gulls.
Fortunately there was at least half a dozen perched on a small rock on the end of Kirkholme Point.
They were almost oblivious to anyone walking along the bank top and gave a good photo opportunity.
The light was a bit harsh but I was happy with these shots.
there was a few other birds about including common sandpiper,greenshank,common tern and loads of common wildfowl.
the best thing though was a water shrew showing occasionally around the big tank block.
Nice.