White Winged Black Tern

I went for another look at the white winged black tern at Hornsea Mere tonight. It was a better night than last night, the wind wasn't so strong and the evening sunshine gave perfect light.
The tern was up close as soon as I arrived and kept feeding close for about half an hour before making its way to the other side of the mere where it alighted briefly.It then made its way back and put on another display before returning to the north side.As far as value for money goes this bird has to be to value, close views quite stunning to look at and a varied display of hunting techniques make this one of the birds of the year for me so far.
I will be back again if it sticks.

Autumn Comes Early

Some favourable winds on the East Coast produced some pretty decent birds over the weekend. Fairly steady reports of scarce migrants on Saturday promised a good day on Sunday.
I popped down to Patrington haven for an hor on Saturday night it was fairly quiet but 7 ruff and a group of roosting little egrets made things interesting.
On Sunday I set off for Spurn with the intention of starting at the point and working my way back up.
This plan was scuppered when news of a citrine wagtail had me shooting back up to the warren.
Initially giving brief views on the spartina off the warren it soon headed towards canal scrape. I got into the hide in time for some decent views but then it got spooked and disappeared north.There were also 5 little egrets, 3 green sandpipers and a wood sandpiper on canal scrape.
From here I went to see a red backed shrike, this was again distant but showing well.
A report of an ictrine warbler at the point had me heading back south but a quick scan around didn't promise much.
Another icterine warbler was reported at cliff farm so being nearly time to go I thought I would call in. No sign at first but an appearance by a pied flycatcher was quickly followed up by an appearance from the Icky.2 lifers in the day!
I saw a report of a white winged black tern at Hornsea so had a ride out after tea with my daughter. Initially there was no sign but after about 20 minutesthe tern showed vey well down to about 30m.Finished up with 3 lifers.
I've had worse days;)

Distant Dotterel

I was pleased to finally add adotterel image to my collection the other night.
The first i heard of it was on Tuesday but I couldn't get there so fortunately it hung around and I was able to catch up with it on Wednesday.
The bird was feeding in a tilled field between Tansterne and West carlton which basically is in the middle of nowhere, I was lucky enough to arrive at the site with birders already on it.
It kept its distance while i was there and I would say the nearest it came was about 70m.
The light was good and coming from the right direction so all in all a pleasing nights work.

Kingfisher

I thought i'd spend a couple of hours at a local spot this evening looking for kingfishers.
I only had to wait 20 minutes until this fellow turned up.
He disappeared for a while then came back and stayed longer catching a single fish. he tried for another and failed and that seemed to signal his time to go.
Nice.

Just Like the Med...

I've been down to Pat haven a couple of times this week both on glorious summer evenings with hardly any wind.
The main focus has been on gulls with an impressive amount including black headed, common, lesser and great black backed,yellow legged flyover little and my first mediterranean gull at this spot.
The wader numbers on the lagoon have been down due to the small tides, but still there has been a green sandpiper, greenshank,whimbrel and a brightly coloured black tailed godwit with a smattering of common waders.
Just for added interest there has been at least 5 little egrets and they have been active around the lagoon feeding on small fish and shrimp.

Mediterranean gull

Mediterranean gull

Black -headed gull

Common Gull

Lesser black backed gull

Little egret

Little egret

Black-tailed godwit

Black-tailed godwit

Oystercatcher

Whimbrel

Shellduck

Mid Summer at Pat Haven

I've been down to Pat Haven just lately and the conditions have not been great-hence no recent posts.
I was just browsing my archives and I found these that didn't get uploaded at the time.
The barn owl has been seen hunting regularly along the drain and posed beautifully in the evening light.
I took the shot of the sky looking down the lane from the car park and with some manipulation in lightroom created a nice effect.
Hopefully we might get some still weather soon for another bash at the waders.

Patrington Haven

Been down to pat haven a couple of times this week first on Monday night, the first thing that struck me was the dramatic increase in waders since the following week.

In total there were 14 different species including a single green sandpiper, 2 curlew sandpipers and a small flock of golden plover.The black tailed godwit and knot in summer plumage were stunning.Also little egret and a very vocal cuckoo,but no raptors or owls.There was also a hare that tokk a short cut across the lagoon temporarily flushing the waders.

I went back again last night and the conditions were perfect, hardly any wind and perfect light.

There was another good showing of waders, a marsh harrier, long eared owl and barn owl.

A good flock of gulls but nothing out of the ordinary.

there was quite a bit of disturbance from walkrs on the bank so the wders were a bit more wary thanthe night before, but still gave some superb views.

Other birds included grey heron, yellow wagtail and kingfisher.

Grey Plover
Avocet

Bar Tailed Godwit

Curlew Sandpiper

Barn Owl

Marsh Harrier

Shellduck

Shellduck

Shellduck