Hornsea and Far Ings NR

With the prospect of a couple of hours birding today after work, it was a question of where to go to make the most of it, do I head south to Covenham for the Bufflehead or east to Hornsea for the erratic Green winged Teal. Luckily, for once, I made the right decision. After a quick trip into work, I found myself at Kirkholme Point at Hornsea Mere in very blustery conditions. Predictably there was no sign of the Teal, but the place was alive with hirundines and I soon picked up my first House Martin (129) of the year followed shortly by several Common Terns (130). The teal is probably still around but the mere is a huge piece of water, with large areas unaccessible. Pretty sure I'll get another chance to catch up with one sometime this year, famous last words!!

Arriving home just after lunchtime, I noticed on the pager that I had apparently missed both Osprey and Arctic Tern mid morning at Hornsea, that cheered me up. The afternoon plans were soon to change from a swimming trip for the kids to a quick trip across the bridge to Far Ings NR, Lincs. for a Red rumped Swallow. Setting off into pouring rain I wasn't too hopeful but with the recent decrease in bridge toll fees I thought we'd give it a go anyway. Arriving on site some 20 minutes later, I was soon onto the Red rumped Swallow (131) as it showed well over the Blow Wells Pits with small numbers of Swallows, Sand Martins and the first Swifts (132) of the year.

North Cave (VERY) Wetlands

Managed a day off on Wednesday, the wettest day of the week!! Was busy with an appointment with Toby in the morning but managed to get out for a walk around North Cave Wetlands. I seem to have been there more than ever this year and with every trip there seems to be more and more work being done. The development of the quarry on the opposite side of the track to the main reserve is coming along nicely and now there's a new state of the art straw bale hide over looking it. I'm lucky to live so close to the reserve and it's starting to pull in some decent birds, last year it was the confiding Spotted Crake and the year before was the Spotted Sandpiper. There's already been a couple of Caspian Gulls this year and a fly over Glossy Ibis, I think it's only a matter of time before a real rarity is found and everyone else discovers what a great place this is.

I thought I'd start off in Turret hide for a look for the Reed Warbler but with the raiin lashing down and wind blowing there was no sign but the flock of Avocets (125) on the pools continues to grow. With the continued presence of the Ruff on Village Lake, I headed round the perimeter path getting drenched in doing so. No sign of the Ruff, my second attempt for this bird this year, but a singing male Blackcap showed well as did my first Willow Warbler (126) of the year. Predictably no sign of the Little Owl in the North West corner, but there were large numbers of Swallows and Sand Martins (127) over the lakes at the west end. Walking into the hide over looking the main lake, I was put onto the moblie Ruff (128) as it disappeared over the bank, again large numbers of hirundines were present alnog with one of the regular Black necked Grebes on the far side. All in all a worthwhile walk, even if it was a little on the damp side!!

A catch up

Back in January I decided to set myself a few targets for the 12 months ahead. Every year when I read the annual reviews and see all of the decent birds I've missed, I think "Why didn't I get to see that?", usually the answer is either that I simply couldn't be bothered or had family commitments. By setting myself a few, modest achievable targets, I felt that I would get myslef out in the field a bit more than a normal year and would get to see a few decent birds, sounds easy doesn't it?

Year List: 225
A more than achievable target as long as I can actually get out every now and then. Year listing can be a bit full on if you're going to do it properly and I'd really love to be able to have a proper go one year, but for that you need to have a lot of spare time and even more money. My last serious year list was back in 2005 and involved some pretty decent birds as well as a lot of expense. It was the year before Amy was born so meant that I could go for a lot more stuff. One particular madcap trip was the Green Heron in North Wales followed by a return route home for the Surf Scoter in Derbyshire and a Great White Egret in Leicestershire, bit of a long journey round for 3 year ticks but they were pretty decent birds to catch up with. Other "days out" were the King Eider up in Ayrshire and another trip to Anglesey, this time for a Blue winged teal.

Yorkshie List: 30 new ticks
30 new birds for Yorkshire seems a lot in one year but there are some ridiculous gaps on there so with a little effort, it's more than do-able.

Life List: BOU 2 / UK400 4 new ticks
Most years I tend to get a couple of new birds, so again, altthough this may need a bit more effort, it's achievable.

Watch this space............................................

A little unexpected...

There are some birds that you just don't expect to get the chance to see. For me these include: Fea's Petrel- not being a fan of seawatching and with the Scillonian pelagics now a thing of the past, seems unlikely. Needletail Swift also seems unlikely as you have to be pretty quick off the mark with hirundines and those days have gone.

When the news initially broke, this list also included Thayers Gull. Ok, so they've been turning up with increasing regularity or at least being reported in Ireland but as I don't intend on doing Ireland any time soon, it seemed unlikely that I'd catch up with one. I always fancied one being found by the Welsh birders but have done so ever since the first back in 1989 in County Cork and was still waiting, that was until TL found this contender at Elsham, Lincs.



Little did I realise how much of a rarity finder he'd be when I took him on a twitch to the Scillies back in 1999 for the Siberian and White's Thrush combo, but he's really delivering at the moment, congrats Tom.

Living less than 20 miles away from Elsham, all be it on the North shore of the Humber, should have meant for a pretty straight forward little twitch, hmmm- yeah right!! The bird was confirmed on Weds 4th April but we had an appointment and couldn't cancel at such short notice. Thursday saw us all heading to Norfolk for Easter, driving past the field that the bird had been frequenting, game on! Arrived on site at 10am with no sign of the bird so far and with 2 children in the back of the car who didn't want to stop, aaagggghhhh! Decided to have a quick recce of the site in case it turned up again. Of course it did, when we were an hour and a half closer to Norfolk, disaster! Decided for the best that we should continue on our journey and get to Norfolk. The bird continued to show for most of the afternoon and I considered heading straight back as soon as I'd dropped off the family but was needed for the kids bedtimes. Plans were immediately made for the next day.

As the bird hadn't been picked up much before lunch on any of the days it had been present, we decided not to be onsite for first light, of course, less than 10 minutes into the journey, it was reported as still being present. FOOT DOWN!!! This helped to speed the journey up a bit, although it wasn't reported again until we were less than 30 minutes away from Elsham. Having been onsite the previous day proved invaluable as we were able to get straight to the bird and it was still there - result.

The bird showed reasonably well if a little distant. Having been for 2 previous reported Thayers, in Cambs in the nineties and more recently, Worcestershire, for what turned out to be a Herring Gull!!!, it was something of a relief to catch up with a real one.  Oh well, all good things come to those who wait.

 

Above 3 photos all courtesy of Alan Lewis

28 years and finally unblocked

Certain things stick in your memory and a phone call from my Dad back in October 1984 from the Scillies, always has. He was phoning for his daily catch up with things at home as he was on his yearly birding trip to the Scillies and although I was only 8 at the time, I still remember crying when he told me he'd just seen a Common Yellowthroat on Bryher, worse was still to come when he phoned later in the same week to tell me he'd also ticked off Cliff Swallow. Still haven't got that one back yet, although I have tried, was only half an hour away from the Dorset bird when we got stuck in traffic and arrived too late, there'll be another but just might have to be a bit quicker off the mark next time.

Thursday 16th Feb and we had just arrived at Amy's favourite restaurant for a treat, Pizza Hut, then the MEGA alert went off on the phone - Common Yellowthroat Rhiwderyn, Gwent, well that put a downer on the rest of the evening although thankfully Amy didn't notice. I could have gone the next day but I'd already made plans to work - whoops!! Negative news on the Saturday morning in heavy rain came as something of a relief as the family had come down with a sickness bug. But then of course it was refound in the afternoon when the sun came out and a potential twitch was back on, just needed to hope it would hang around. It was still there Monday morning when I left for work so that was that, I was going Tuesday morning with the aim of being there at first light.

Heavy drizzle first thing brought no sign of the bird, but once the 30 or 40 birders had decided there was no point staring into one bush when there was so much other suitable habitat where it could be, things looked more promising. Of course I was as far away as possible from the bird when the shout went up that it had been relocated but after a quick sprint, I was grilling the bird in the scope as it fed along the bottom of the hedgerow.

Common Yellowthroat - Andy Jordan

Check out some fantastic footage here 

Having had decent views for an hour or so, I decided to head off for the Lesser Scaup at Cosmeston Lakes at nearby Penarth. Having made my way through Cardiff, I eventually arrived at the lakes and found I was the only birder present, excellent!! Nevermind, a drake Lesser Scaup isn't too  difficult to pick up but then I saw the size of the place and wished some others had followed me down from the Yellowthroat. Undeterred I set off to the far lake and began searching, an hour or so and still no sign even though it had been reported on the Monday, right where I was searching. As I'd seen a few before I decided to cut my losses and head back to the car and start the long journey home. Stopping at the East lake on the way back I decided on one more quick scan and there not more than fifty yards from the shore was the Lesser Scaup - result!

Lesser Scaup - Cosmestn Lakes (iPhone through scope)

A quick look through the ducks and swans being fed by the vistor centre also revealed the very confiding Whooper Swan.

Whooper Swan - Cosmeston Lakes

All in all a decent twitch and one finally back on my Dad, the last time thta happened was the Red necked Stint at Somersham in Cambridgeshire in 2001. Just hope it's not another 11 years before the Song Sparrow in Yorkshire!!

It's been a while...

Sorry for the distinct lack of drivel/updates on here lately, things have been a bit hectic what with work, being ill, living, oh yeah and we also had another one of these!!!

Toby was born at the end of November last year, hence the lack of birding updates. But now, as things have started to settle down and we're managing more than 2 hours sleep a night, I've managed a bit of local birding and even would you believe it, a twitch! I've already got a pair of bins for him, courtesy of Mothercare, to match his big sisters, just in case he decides to get interested (as if he has a choice). She's already got a couple of decent blockers on him though, White Throated Robin and Audouin's Gull, are good starters.

Long haul north

September 2009 was memorable for me for a few reasons, most notably because Amy underwent open heart surgery in Leeds General Infirmary. It was a traumatic time for our family but as always with her, she just gets on with it and once again proves what a fantastic little girl she is. We spent just over a week in Leeds and then spent a further week back in Hull before being discharged home. As well as this, I moved my shop into new premises, slightly less traumatic but still quite stressful!!!

The first day we arrived on the ward at Leeds, news broke of a Blackburnian Warbler on St Kilda. Fortuantely it proved to be untwitchable, but to be honest it could have been at Old Moor and I still wouldn't have gone. I've promised myself that one day I'll make it over to St Kilda, one of my favourite ever TV episodes was Monty Halls Hebridean Adventure when he made landfall on St Kilda, awesome place, scenery, birds, everything, oh and there's also this:

St Kilda Wren

News also broke of the Sandhill Crane on Orkney, this was one bird I knew there was no chance of getting to unless it stayed until Christmas!!! Then of course there was the Tufted Puffin in Kent, ridiculous bird in a ridiculous place, proving that anything can turn up anywhere at anytime. As always, when you can't go for a bird, you imagine that everyone else in the country is off seeing it, of course that's never the way. As it turned out the only bird that proved to be twitchable was the Crane on Orkney, only then if you were prepared to invest a bit of money and a bit of time travelling up for it.

When news broke of another Sandhill Crane flying over Dunbar at 8.15am on 16th September, plans were being formulated, but then after disappearing again, I thought it was another one that had got away. Then, while waiting for more news of the Long toed Stint in Sussex on 22nd, news broke that the Crane had been refound in Aberdeenshire at Loch of Strathbeg RSPB. The twitch was back on.

I should have tried to go the next day and been there at first light, but as always I dithered about a bit and finally decided to travel through the night on the Friday. With a few false alarms when it flew off south during the day, the twitch was nearly over before it had even started, but at 11.30pm I started the long haul north. Picking up Jonny and Ellen at Scotch Corner services on the A1, just before 1am, we had a chance to catch up on the last few years since we last twitched together, that was also to Aberdeenshire, for a Barrow's Goldeneye. It was constantly on my mind that we had to be there for first light, just in case it did a flit. So the foot was held down for a bit and after a brief encounter with the local police just into Scotland (just a routine check up!!) and 440 miles later we were pulling onto the reserve car park just after 6am and before it got light. We wandered into the visitor centre and joined the waiting crowd. Amazingly somebody picked it out in the near darkness, saying he could see the red on the forehead, therefore not one of the resident herons, it was a brave call but the correct one. The bird continued to show reasonably well from the visitor centre before flying to it's daytime feeding area in the stubble fields in the St .Combs area.

So we had connected well before 7am and we could finally relax a bit, oh yeah and drive all the way home. But with the pressure off, we took it a bit steadier on the way back south, stopping for the obligatory McDonald's celebration breakfast.

Of course, now that every man and his dog have had a chance to connect with it in Suffolk, it will be several years before it returns to it's true status of being a MEGA, I wonder what the next unblocked MEGA will be?

Old fall plantation anyone?