Thursday 24 September 2015

A Wild Swan Chase

On Wednesday we were at Spurn. We tried Kilnsea Wetlands first looking for the Bewick's Swan, but without success. There were 5 Mute Swans some Lapwings, but few other birds. The ploughed field to our right was full of chasing Meadow Pipits, plus a sprinkling of Pied Wagtails and a few Skylarks. There were also quite a few Linnets about. 
Bewick's Swan - on Tuesday at Kilnsea Wetlands
 Ditto
 Aggressive Mute Swan
 Seeing off the Interloper
 Ditto
 Ditto
 Size Comparison: Mute v. Bewick's
 Ditto
 Bewick's Unmolested
 Golden Plover
 Immature Kestrel
We shared cars to Sammy's Point. Here we had a pair of Mediterranean Gulls flying inland and a single Siskin looking lost. The waders were too far out, and the light was very tricky. There were plenty of Redshank and a single Knot nearby, plus flocks of Golden Plovers moving continuously before settling in another recently-ploughed field. We had close views of several Kestrels - most of these seemed to be immature birds.
Ditto
 Ditto
 Ditto
 Ruddy Darter
Darter
 Migrant Hawker
Speckled Wood
 Hawthorn Berries
 Female Common Blue
In the afternoon we changed tack, and just walked the triangle. The Bewick's Swan had settled on the Borrow Pits, but later flew off to Canal Scrape with a Mute Swan. This was a mistake because the resident pair of Mute Swans kept chasing the interloper, although when we were watching they didn't turn their full attention to the Bewick's. This was definitely the best bird we saw. There were a few butterflies and dragonflies at the southern end of Beacon Lane.

 Singing Starling in winter plumage
Radar - monitoring Pink-footed Geese

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi Mike - whilst walking the dogs yesterday along the Tunstall coastline we saw 5 swan type birds just floating in a group near to the shore. Could these have been Bewick's Swans? Didn't have a binoculars so can't describe them in any great detail.Maggie