Wednesday 20 November 2013

Without a Paddle

On Tuesday we met at the Fisherman's car park at Paull & shared cars into the flatlands of Holderness.  There were plenty of Curlews either side of the road as we drove.  5 miles later we arrived at the banks of a creek and had a look round.  There were plenty of Redshank, and in the afternoon some Dunlin and a Black-tailed Godwit.  There was a massive flock of Golden Plover on the river.  One of the highlights in the morning was a Marsh Harrier, which flew fairly close to us as it made its way to the river.
Redwing (c) 2013 Maggie Bruce
 Fieldfare (c) 2013 Maggie Bruce
 Ditto
 Ditto
 Fieldfare (c) 2013 Chris Cox
 Blackbird (c) 2013 Maggie Bruce
Throughout our stay plenty of winter thrushes continued to arrive, these were mainly Fieldfare with a few Redwing and plenty of continental Blackbirds.  There was also a Little Egret flying around back and forth.  Both groups had fleeting views of a Kingfisher, although some in the afternoon swear it was a black and white bird - but the light was fading.
Little Egret (c) 2013 Maggie Bruce
 Ditto
 Redshank
 Black-tailed Godwit
 Little Grebes (c) 2013 Maggie Bruce
 Lapwings (c) 2013 Maggie Bruce
 Pied Wagtail (c) 2013 Maggie Bruce
On the way back we encountered a pair of Buzzards very close to the road.  later in the day Maggie saw them behaving curiously being mobbed by crows.  It seemed they were landing on piles of filthy straw, picking up lumps of it in their talons, and then sifting it out in mid-air & then pulling out and munching worms.  Buzzards are fairly new in the area, but these are sights we are likely to encounter more frequently in the coming years, if the Buzzards remain unharmed.  
Buzzard (c) 2013 Maggie Bruce
 Ditto

No comments: