Thursday 29 June 2017

Colour-Ringed Black-tailed Godwit

In this morning's constant drizzle at Kilnsea, we came across a flock of 28 stunning Black-tailed Godwits.  Elaine noticed that the nearest was sporting a wide array of coloured rings.  It had another much nearer its foot!  Also present some people's first ever Whimbrel, plus Curlew, Lapwing and Oystercatcher.
Black-tailed Godwit

Tuesday 27 June 2017

Take up a Hobby

Yesterday, I thought I'd have a look at the Wassand hide during a time of the year I've never been before.  The woodland walk was very attractive with plenty of wild flowers and butterflies.  Nothing unusual or rare, but very pleasant nonetheless.  As we approached the hide the clamorous song of the Cetti's Warbler was almost deafening.  On reaching the hide it seemed very quiet on the Mere at first with just unmentionables, but a group of 10 adult Great Crested Grebes apparently marooned towards the left hand side of the hide was the largest group of this species I've seen at this particular location.  
Perhaps 10 minutes or so later I spotted a Hobby on the far side of the Mere above the reedbed.  It performed over a recently-mown field and spent some time "playing" above the mature trees running along the road on the opposite side.  Finally, two other Hobbies were seen, and eventually one came right towards the hide, but it was really too quick and erratic to take decent photos.  In the end the greatest success was obtained when the hobby had the trees opposite as a background.  Other raptors seen included a female Marsh Harrier and a Buzzard.  Overall a fairly productive afternoon.
Hobby
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 Record shot
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Sunday 25 June 2017

Week 8: Round-up

Female Peregrine with young Guillemot?
On Tuesday we made our only visit to Allerthorpe.  The vegetation had rioted, and although we saw Willow Warblers and Yellowhammers the only photos I'm left with are flowers.  The birds we encountered included: Cuckoo, Linnet x dozen, Yellowhammer x 4, Garden Warbler x 4, Willow Warbler x 3, Chiffchaff, Treecreeper etc
Heath Bedstraw?
 Climbing Cordyalis
 Marsh Cinquefoil
 Unusual fenced-off plant?
On Wednesday we went to Sammy's Point first and found a privet bush absolutely crawling with 50+ Red Admirals, 5+ Small Tortoiseshells, a Painted Lady and a Large Skipper.  There was a Willow Warbler flitting among the bushes.  We saw Oystercatchers and 2 immature Herons across the fields.  We then went on to Kilnsea Wetlands.  We discovered that every Avocet chick had perished in the previous 7 days.  On a more positive note there around 40 Little Tern nests being incubated.  If they all fledge it will be a very successful year.  The bird of the morning was a Hobby that frightened all the small waders as it powered over the water heading south.  Other birds seen included: Sandwich Tern, Mediterranean Gull, Grey Plover, Dunlin, Ringed Plover, Shelduck, Whitethroat, Lesser Whitethroat, Reed Bunting, Skylark, Meadow Pipit etc

 Record Shot of Hobby



 Grey Plover and Little Terns
 Oystercatchers (c) 2017 Aileen Urquhart
 Oystercatcher releasing its payload (c) 2017 Tony Robinson
 Record shot of Grey Plover
 Shelduck (c) 2017 Aileen Urquhart
 Grey Plovers
 Grey Plovers
 Herons
Reed Bunting (c) 2017 Tony Robinson
 Common Whitethroat (c) 2017 Tony Robinson
Roe Deer (c) 2017 Aileen Urquhart
 Six-Spot Burnet Moth
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 Six-Spot Burnet Moth (c) 2017 Aileen Urquhart
 Dunlin 
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 Painted Lady
 Red Admirals on Privet
 Red Admiral (c) 2017 Aileen Urquhart
 Ringlet (c) 2017 Aileen Urquhart
 Small Tortoiseshell
On Thursday we visited the Great White Cape.  Unfortunately, the middle of the day was marred by drizzle, so some of these puffins were taken on a solo visit on Monday afternoon.  All the usual suspects were on their shelves.  The Puffins were close, but not as close as the previous week.  At one point the volume of the Kittiwakes went off the scale.  Spinning round I noticed a Herring Gull fluttering in front of a Kittiwake nest.  It took a very recently-hatched chick from its nest and presenting it to its own youngster.   The Herring Gull chick remained unimpressed, so the parent swallowed it itself, probably to regurgitate it later!  The Peregrines seemed to be absent at first, but then I spotted the female plucking a bird like a Guillemot with the male sitting only a few yards away.  
 Puffin
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 Puffins among the Flowers
 Puffin (c) 2017 Dick Watson
 Puffins (c) 2017 Dick Watson
 Male Peregrine (left) & female mantling prey (right)
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 Starting to Pluck
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 Razorbills
 Guillemots
 Study of "Bridled" Guillemot (c) 2017 Dick Watson
 Black-legged Kittiwake (c) 2017 Dick Watson
 Fulmar
 Study of a Tubenose (c) 2017 Dick Watson
 Herring Gull with Kittiwake Chick
 Herring Gull with Kittiwake Chick (c) 2017 Dick Watson
 Ditto [MJF]
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 Skylark
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 Linnet (left) & Skylark (c) 2017 Dick Watson
 The same with added out-of-focus Meadow Pipit
Shag
 Meadow Pipit
On Friday we visited the Yorkshire Wolds again, and were rewarded by a pair of Spotted Flycatchers - the first of the year!  The redstart was completely absent.  We had wonderful views of an extremely  confiding Grey Wagtail in a new little area.  The weather wasn't brilliant, so butterfly numbers were down, especially in the morning.  however, we did see a Marbled White.  We also saw Marsh Tit, Sparrowhawk, Yellowhammer, Tree Sparrow, Treecreeper, Willow & Garden Warblers, Chiffchaff, Blackcap‬, House Martin, Swift, Pied Wagtail.
Drizzle most of morning, but still saw Marbled White, Ringlets, Meadow Brown, Common Blue, Small Heath.
Plants: Thistle [Yorkshire] Broomrape (record numbers), Bee Orchid, Clustered Bellflower, Restharrow, Yellow Rattle,

 Spotted Flycatcher [Archive in same location)
 Ditto
Male Grey Wagtail
Marsh Tit [Archive in same location]
Mike and Glenys decided to stay behind at Goole the previous week, but their photos arrived too late for last week's blog, so they are now added to this one.  They found this youngster which hadn't been predated by a Stoat!
Immature Green Woodpecker (c) 2017 Mike Woods
 Study of an immature Green Woodpecker (c) 2017 Mike Woods
 Roe Deer (c) 2017 Mike Woods
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 Some Boring Garden Photos
Immature Great Spotted Woodpecker 
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