Well it didn't take long to not update my blog. Last time I blogged I was struggling with a bad back gutted that the third ever
Masked Shrike had been found in Kilnsea. So what has been happening since. On a health note I am up and er running, well walking anyway, but back to normal and I have been out birding as ever.
22-9-14, Whitemoor Haye.
7
Little Egrets, 151
Cormorants, 28
Wigeon, 4
Ruff, 4
Greenshank, 1
Ringed Plover, 1
Common Sandpiper, 1
Snipe, 4
Swallow.
27-9-14, Kilnsea.
A pre-organised trip saw me having a couple of days in East Yorkshire and the main question was whether the
Masked Shrike was still present. Well, bang, yes. It hung around and By 09.00 I was watching the third
MASKED SHRIKE for the UK. A right cracker. Other birds included
Pink-footed Geese,
Grey Plover,
Wheatear,
Spotted Flycatcher,
Whinchat and
Water Rail to name a few.
Easington Gas Terminal.
Last year this held a
Yellow-browed Warbler so as we were passing we thought we would give it a go. Nowt special.
Hornsea Mere.
Spent an hour or so photographing birds in flight, great fun. Again nothing special.
28-9-14, circa Bridlington.
Today we had booked ourselves on the Skua/Shearwater cruise from Bridlington. Whilst waiting to board I noted
Kittiwake,
Turnstone and
Sandwich Tern. After the cruise we found a few
Purple Sandpiper along the walls.
Skua/Shearwater cruise.
It was great to get out on the boat, not done it for a few years. Not a brilliant trip for skuas bit notable sightings were
Common Scoter, several
Puffins,
Sooty Shearwater,
Manx Shearwater,
Shags,
Little Gulls and some harbour porpoises.
Bempton Cliff RSPB.
With little reported nearby we headed for Bempton Cliffs RSPB as a
Red-backed Shrike had been present and my mate needed this for a lifer. 5 minutes from parking and the bird was in the bag so we had a walk around the cliff tops with not much else to tell about.
29-9-14, Blacktoft Sands RSPB.
With little decent birds around East Yorkshire we headed home and decided to stop at this great reserve. Notable birds were
Wood Sandpiper,
Tree Sparrow, Spotted Redshank,
Snipe,
Water Rail,
Bearded Tit,
Marsh Harrier and
Pink-footed Geese.
2-1-14, Whitemoor Haye.
2
Greenshank,
Tree Sparrow.
3-10-14, Whitemoor Haye.
29
Tufties, 7
Great Crested Grebe, 1
Ruff, 1
Greenshank,
Tree Sparrow,
Sparrowhawk.
4-10-14, Whitemoor Haye.
8
Great Crested Grebe, 8
Tufted Duck, 1
Greenshank,
Chiffchaff and c40
Tree Sparrow.
5-10-14, Alrewas GP.
16
Great Crested Grebe, 112
Tufties, 27
Coot, 30
Mallard, 2
Teal, 6
Pochard,
Kingfisher,
Chiffchaff, 1
Snipe, few
Wigeon.
Croxall Wides - part of Croxall nature reserve but viewed over river from national arboretum.
1
Green Sandpiper, 1
Little Egret,
Teal,
Lapwing.
Whitemoor Haye.
83
Tufties, 4
Coot, 1
Green Woodpecker.
7-10-14, Denham Green (somewhere NW of London).
Red Kite,
Ring-necked Parakeet,
Grey Wagtail.
Whitemoor Haye.
3
Little Egret, 6
Tufties, 3
Pochard, 7
Coot, 1
Grey Partridge.
9-10-14, Whitemoor Haye.
1
Teal, 31
Tufties, 2
Pochard, 3
Great Crested Grebe, 5
Coot, 11
Shoveler, 1
Little Egret, 1
Greenshank.
12-10-14, Whitemoor Haye.
News broke of a
Shag at whilst I was at home just about to go out to check the pits so it was straight down to get a Staffordshire and site tick and a good one too. It was soon located, viewed from the road. Other birds included 8
Coot, 14
Tufties, 1
Raven, several
Mistle Thrush and 5
Little Egret.
National Arboretum.
Long-tailed Tits,
Mistle Thrush,
Raven,
Teal.
Croxall Wides.
Teal, 1
Little Egret.
Alrewas GP.
9
Great Crested Grebe, 16
Mallard, 126
Tufties and 32
Coot.
17-10-14, Whitemoor Haye.
17
Great Crested Grebe, 16
Tufties, 1
Merlin.
18-10-14, Warham Green.
Over the previous few days there was big numbers of birds making landfall in Norfolk,
Yellow-browed Warblers,
Barred Warblers,
Red-breasted Flycatchers etc plus an
Isabelline Shrike. Friday I ummed and arred but eventually gave up, managed to get some digs Saturday night and was on the road at 04.00 to try and nail the shrike. Things don't always go to plan and after an hour at Warham Green it was pretty obvious the shrike had gone, in fact a lot of birds had cleared out and with high winds birding was going to be tough.
Rough-legged Buzzard being the only decent bird.
Cley NNR.
A
Grey Phalarope had been present on a pool near the beach, I didn't really have time to go round the reserve so it was to the beach and then find the
Grey Phalarope. This was not hard and a few photographs later I was off to the next site.
Salthouse Beach.
Lapland Buntings had bee reported here, I decided to have half an hour as you never know what might turn up,
Snow Bunting,
Shorelark,
Lapland Bunting. It was few years ago I had my pone and only Lapland Bunting on Salthouse Beach, the same day I twitched the
White-crowned Sparrow in Cley-next-the-Sea. Today In was also in luck when I found 2
Lapland Buntings on a fence.
Wells Woods.
This can be a great site this time of year however I aw very little.
Holkham Pines.
As with the last site this can be brilliant this time of year and indeed a
Pallas Warbler,
Firecrest and
Yellow-browed Warbler had been seen and was seen whilst I was there however the tit flock was moving through the pines very quickly, wind assisted and needless to say I never got on any of the birds.
Titchwell RSPB.
Having had a fairly disappointing day I decided to head for Titchwell to at least see several birds and do a bit of photography. Notable birds were
Black-tailed Godwit,
Water Rail,
Cetti's Warbler, 40+
Little Egrets,
Spotted Redshank,
Grey Plover,
Mediterranean Gull, but what turned out tom be bird of the day was found whilst I was twenty feet away, a
Penduline Tit.
19-10-14, Guyhirn.
After an enjoyable but disappointing day I headed home but wanted to visit a couple of sites on the way and I was told of this site the previous day. I searched for the Chill Out café, pointed by scope over the road and I was watching 7
Common Cranes.
Rutland Water.
I was hoping for
Red-necked and
Black-necked Grebes here. No luck with them but I noted
Great White Egret,
Tree Sparrow,
Marsh Tit,
Green Sandpiper and a close
Kingfisher.
20-10-14, Whitemoor Haye.
33
Mute Swan, several
Tree Sparrow, 5
Great Crested Grebe, 21
Lapwing.
23-10-14, Whitemoor Haye.
22
Mute Swan, 40+
Tree Sparrow, 45
Lapwing, 5
Mallard, 21
Coot, 16
Tufties, 1
Shoveler.
25-10-14, Whitemoor Haye.
1
Little Grebe, 16
Coot, 111
Mute Swan, 120
Lapwing, 3
Grey Partridge.
26-10-14, Whitemoor Haye.
19
Little Egret, 120+
Cormorant, 188
Lapwing, 20
Tufties, 16
Great Crested Grebe, 15
Coot, 126
Mute Swan, 8
Mallard, 2
Teal.
National Arboretum.
Redwings,
Goldcrest,
Sparrowhawk.
Croxall Wides.
Teal,
Green Woodpecker,
Redwing.
Alrewas GP.
43
Tufties, 11
Mallard, 1
Green Sandpiper.
29-10-14, Whitemoor Haye.
45
Lapwing, 90
Mute Swan, 19
Coot, 17
Mallard, 7
Teal, 2
Tufties, 3
Great Crested Grebe,
Tree Sparrow.
31-10-14, Whitemoor Haye.
Yellowhammer,
Tree Sparrow,
Grey Partridge.
1-11-14, Whitemoor Haye.
10
Tufties, 55
Pochard, 22
Coot, 39
Mallard, 7
Little Egret,
Goldcrest, 98
Lapwing, 200+
Golden Plover, 12
Grey Partridge,
Tree Sparrow,
Yellowhammer.
2-11-14, Whitemoor Haye.
46
Coot, 6
Tufties, 15
Mallard, 188
Mute Swan,
Tree Sparrow.
Alrewas GP.
Jay, 9
Mallard, 74
Tufties, 4
Coot,
Mistle Thrush.
Junction Pit (pool within National Arboretum).
Cetti's Warbler.
Croxall Wides.
Pochard,
Teal,
Little Grebe.
8-11-14, Whitemoor Haye.
52
Cormorant, 3
Little Egret, 8
Great Crested Grebe, 84
Tufties, 156
Pochard, 66
Coot, 1
Little Grebe, 31
Mallard, 15
Wigeon, 211
Lapwing,
Fieldfare,
Redwing,
Tree Sparrow.
9-11-14, Whitemoor Haye.
59
Tufties, 4
Wigeon, 43
Pochard, 58
Coot, 350+
Lapwing, 1
Kingfisher, 1
Teal,
Great Spotted Woodpecker,
Tree Sparrow.
National Arboretum.
Redwing,
Goldcrest.
Junction Pit.
Cetti's Warbler.
Alrewas GP.
65
Lapwing, 5
Teal, 59
Tufties, 1
Goldeneye, 2
Mallard, 3
Coot, 4
Wigeon, 3
Pochard.
Once I have sorted them out I will get a few pictures rom the last few weeks and I will also try and keep this blog up to date much quicker.
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