SPURN - 6th February

Walked along the Humber shore all the way to Welwick Saltmarsh where the obvious highlight was excellent views of the juvenile PALLID HARRIER which flew past me heading east; otherwise it was pretty quiet in the misty conditions apart from 3 Merlins – a first winter female, a first winter male which flew in from the Humber carrying some small wader and an adult female sat on Long Bank.

                Opened the nets at Kew in the afternoon but it was typically quiet catching only 3 House Sparrows, 2 Tree Sparrows, a Blackbird and a Chaffinch.

Record shots of the Pallid Harrier

7th September

Not a cloud in the sky, really calm and very warm throughout; a great day’s birding with maybe not too much in the way of numbers but some quality birds around, there was little in the nets and little on the sea but the PALLID HARRIER spent some time perched on a rock in Vågsvollvåien, a Pectoral Sandpiper flew low over the lighthouse with a group of Ruff, a Red-throated Pipit went over and there was a steady stream of 30+ Sparrowhawks heading south.   Other birds included 25+ Yellow Wagtails, a Grey Wagtail, a Goshawk distantly perched in a tree and 6 Kestrels.

                The day’s highlight came mid-morning when I nipped over to Langåker, just outside the recording area to twitch a cracking adult SHARP-TAILED SANDPIPER feeding in a little flooded corner of a field - about the 7th record for Norway; it showed incredibly well down to 3-4m in brilliant light – fantastic!   It was an awesome little temporary site with 70+ Ruff and single Spotted Redshank, Wood Sandpiper and Black-tailed Godwit also feeding at very close range.

                The rest of the day kind of fizzled out with two Hen Harriers fighting with Peregrine over Skollevoll the highlight as the coast was very quiet with a Pintail in Sevika the only bird of note while inland there was little to mention.

 

I took at lot of pictures of the Sharp-tailed Sandpiper!

Spotted Redshank

Ruff

Pallid Harrier

Some Magpies were on the move in the fine weather, not really sure where they were going but I'm not sure they did either!

 

 

 

6th September

Very similar to yesterday with the NW wind a touch lighter (at least in the morning anyway!); the couple of nets I could get open just produced one bird but it was the autumn’s third Barred Warbler.   The sea was quiet but there were a few birds around the lighthouse including the first two Lapland Buntings of the autumn while there were a few Yellow Wagtails and Tree Pipits around with a couple coming in off the sea, a single Grey Wagtail and 30+ Wigeon and 20+ Ruff still on the flooded fields.

                The coast was very exposed and pretty quiet but 3 Pintail in Sevika and a Grey Plover in Verevågen were of note; there seems to be just one of the juvenile Red-backed Shrikes left in the area which was very quiet this afternoon.

                The two Black-tailed Godwits and the Spotted Redshank were the only birds on the now drying Gunnarsmyra mid-afternoon while the PALLID HARRIER was again quartering the fields for parts of the evening along with a different Hen Harrier.

 

Barred Warbler

Grey Plover

Hen Harrier

Pallid Harrier

Heron

Blackbird

 

Harriers

There were three harriers out across the fields yesterday afternoon, I spent a few hours watching them and trying to get some pictures and despite their almost supernatural ability to appear over the exact spot I had been standing 15 minutes before I managed some pictures (it really was like they were taking the piss at one stage!)

This first bird is no problem - a stunning juvenile Pallid Harrier

This bird is much more tricky, it was bigger than the Pallid Harrier and identical in build to the Hen Harrier which was also present but it is very orange with a good collar, so I reckon its probably a Pallid x Hen Harrier hybrid?

And finally, terrible pictures I know but how often do you see a Pallid Harrier in a dogfight with a Gyrfalcon!?

5th May

A blustery start but it was clear there were plenty of migrants around, however the conditions limited the ringing to only a few nets but I managed to catch 30 new birds including the first Icterine Warbler of the year.   Birds around the lighthouse in the first few hours included 30+ Willow Warblers, 2 Redstarts, a Lesser Whitethroat, 10+ Chiffchaffs and a couple of Blackcaps; the wind continued to increase and I was forced to close the nets mid-morning and just as I had the Pallid Harrier drifted low across the carpark, round the lighthouse and back out over to Gunnarsmyra and of course I had put my camera away so I could close the nets!

                The rest of the day was severely limited due to the hard, driving rain that arrived late morning and only let up briefly late afternoon but birds seen in the brief window around Lebeltet included 6 Redstarts, 7 Tree Pipits, 2 Whinchats, 3 Whitethroats, a Pied Flycatcher, 13+ Blackcaps and another 30+ Willow Warblers.   A very brief and very wet look at Vågsvollvika in the afternoon produced a Wood Sandpiper, 4 Whimbrel, 7 Common Sandpipers, a Blue-headed Wagtail and the pair of Garganey.

 

Redstart

Even in the nasty conditions, this White wagtail was full on nest building

Yellowhammer

A terrible, long range, heavily cropped, terrible record shot of the Pallid Harrier