SPURN - 24th - 28th November

 A few days at Spurn, during which I enjoyed every single, possible kind of weather ranging from flat calm and sunny to the blazing force 8-9 northerly wind of Storm Arwen on the 27th.   

Birding highlights included a fine adult male Hen Harrier at Skeffling on the 24th (I also saw it at Welwick on the 25th) along with a Merlin, 7 Buzzards, 6 Kestrels, 440+ Golden Plover and 345 Brent Geese including the distinctive, pale brown leucistic bird which has been returning the last couple of winters, 11 Whooper Swans south and 2 Snow Buntings on a walk down to the point on the 25th, a smart juvenile Glaucous Gull on Kilnsea Wetlands at lunchtime on the 26th along with a Mediterranean Gull and a few birds on Beacon Ponds / Kilnsea Wetlands on the 28th comprising 2 Short-eared Owls, 2 Goldeneye, 26 Little Grebes, a Merlin, 270+ Wigeon, 110+ Teal and 10+ Pintail.

Hen Harrier at Welwick

Grey Plover

Dunlin

Grey Plover and Knot

Sparrowhawk

Common Gull

Wigeon

LANDGUARD - 4th October

 A pleasant start, bright with a moderate SW breeze which slowly increased through the morning; a small selection of birds went south including 23 Swallows, 48 Meadow Pipits, 2 Grey Wagtails, a Jackdaw and 3 Rooks whilst in the bushes 4 Chiffchaffs and 4 Blackcaps were about it but a Jay did bundle into a net.   

Totals at Melton in the afternoon consisted of an increased 166 Wigeon and 94 Teal, 4 Avocets (my first here), 2 Grey Plovers, 28 Ringed Plovers, 30+ Curlew, 440 Black-tailed Godwits, 3 Turnstone, just a single Greenshank and 150+ Redshank.

Fischer's Estuarine Moth - Super-rare in British terms, known only from two sites one of which is just across the water in Essex (the other is in north Kent); they are very sedentary so out-of-range wanderers such as this one is even rarer!

Jay

Black-tailed Godwits

Wigeon

Redshank

Curlew

SPURN - 3rd January

A nice and sunny afternoon with a walk round the Triangle, Beacon Ponds and Kilnsea Wetlands produced a Greenshank on Beacon Ponds, a Great-crested Grebe and 5 Red-throated Divers offshore, a single Pink-footed Goose in the Triangle, the 14 Whooper Swans still along Easington Straight, 3 Little Egrets, a Sparrowhawk and 24 Linnets.

More Wigeon and Brent Geese

SPURN - 2nd January

Windy and cold through the day so I didn’t do much until the afternoon where a productive hour spent stood at Skeffling carpark produced the Black Brant and a single Pale-bellied Brent Goose in with the huge Dark-bellied Brent Goose flock, a single Barnacle Goose with some more Brents and c17 White-fronted Geese just to the south, a Marsh Harrier, several Buzzards, a Merlin, an adult female Peregrine, a Sparrowhawk, several Kestrels and a few Golden Plover. 

Wigeon

Shelduck and Brent Geese moving up the Humber as the tide is coming in

SPURN - 1st January

Saw in the new year at Spurn and in the morning I walked round the Triangle then over to Beacon Ponds and Kilnsea Wetlands; it was bang on high tide so there wasn’t much to see on the Humber with 9 Stock Doves and 6 Reed Buntings along the Canal and three Red-throated Divers offshore before a decent number of wildfowl on the Wetlands and Ponds including the two Scaup from last year (first-winter drake and first-winter female), a drake Pochard which circled several times but didn’t land, 700+ Wigeon, 200+ Teal, 4 Gadwall and 32 Shoveler.   

In the afternoon I walked along the Humber to just beyond Sammie’s Point and back along Peter Lane; the highlight was some good Goose flocks in fields to the west of Sammie’s which held two Tundra Bean Geese, two White-fronted Geese, c60 Pink-footed Geese and a huge flock of 500+ Brent Geese a bit further along.   Other birds seen included 14 Whooper Swans along Easington Straight, a Woodcock at Grange Farm, a couple of Sparrowhawks, three Little Egrets, a Buzzard and a few Yellowhammers.

Brent Geese

Wigeon

NORTH RONALDSAY - 30th July

A day spent shrouded in the fog, drifted over on the light easterly breeze; the only birds of note really were an adult Black Tern on Gretchen – presumably the same one that was last seen on the 14th, now in heavy body moult, 5 Ruff also on Gretchen and more excitingly, a pristine young Garden Warbler trapped at the Obs, our first migrant warbler of the autumn!

Black Tern

Tystie

Wigeon

NORTH RONALDSAY - 17th February

Largely overcast with a strong southerly wind throughout; with summer migrants amazingly turning up on Shetland today, there was a smidgeon of anticipation out in the field but there was little new to mention as totals from around the island consisted of long-staying or regularly commuting birds.   Numbers included 4 Herons, the 2 Whooper Swans which didn’t leave after all, the Eurasian White-fronted Goose still, 4 Shelduck, the drake Green-winged Teal still on Gretchen, 97 Mallard, 10 Pintail, 10 Shoveler, a further increase to 36 Tufted Duck, the drake Smew once again on Bewan (last seen here on the 5^th and present on North Loch, Sanday yesterday), 4 Red-breasted Mergansers, 47 Coot, 50 Black-tailed Godwits still on Brides, 12 Fieldfare, 5 Chaffinches and 15 Snow Buntings.

Wigeon

NORTH RONALDSAY - 1st February

Another glorious day with plenty of sunshine and hardly a breath of wind (until mid-afternoon when a series of heavy, wintery showers swept across the island); totals on the calm seas along the coast from the Obs to The Links included 5 Red-throated Divers, 16 Great-northern Divers, 18 Long-tailed Ducks, 2 Red-breasted Mergansers and the highlight of a Little Auk in Nouster Bay.   Other birds of note through the day comprised the Eurasian White-fronted Goose, a single Pink-footed Goose, a Hen Harrier, 351 Golden Plover, 2 Knot, 2 Ruff, 11 Rock Pipits, 36 Redwing, 11 Fieldfares, a Song Thrush, the 5 Chaffinches and 20 Twite.

This Wigeon was the highlight of a dazzling session

Fulmars were active on Brides Loch

Even the Hen Harrier was sunbathing