Beardies and Bittern

 My day started at RSPB St. Aidan's where I was leading a walk looking for raptors. Little owl, buzzard, kestrel and red kite were seen, as well as watching a common tern diving for minnows.

Stuart and Catherine had also been for a walk and had seen black necked grebes. We sat outside to eat our lunch and had nearly finished it when the rain started. We retreated into the Little Owl Cafe and after lunch I headed for RSPB Blacktoft Sands. 

After a short chat with Craig in reception hide I walked to Marshland hide where Ian and Suzanne were.

At least 70 black tailed godwits were feeding on the lagoon.

several little egrets flew in to join the ones already fishing.

Bearded tits were busily feeding at various points at the edge of the reedbed, when suddenly at least 5 appeared to the right of the hide.

After everyone had left the hide a bittern suddenly appeared to the right of the hide where the beardies had been feeding.

Little Tern

 

As I mentioned in my June 23rd blog, summers almost gone and I have still have a long list of summer visitors to catch up with. So today I decided to go to Seaton Carew and see the little terns.

Luckily I had my coat in the car as it was chilly with a fairly strong breeze blowing and rain!

I saw 3 little terns and 3 ringed plovers.

RSPB Saltholme was my last stop. 3 great white egrets from Phil Stead hide.

Common terns from Saltholme Pools

lots of black-tailed godwits, but only one near the hide.

I tried taking photos of the sand martins as they hunted in the wind and rain, not brilliant results.

RSPB Fairburn Ings

 The above photo was my view from the Pickup Hide at Fairburn Ings.

I spent an hour there after attending a meeting. 32 birds on my list.

This young long-tailed tit was near the bird feeders. I was hoping to see a kingfisher, as one is reportedly spending a lot of time in front of the hide. A family of 5 jays were also noisily moving about, but did not come close enough for a photograph. A family group of 3 great spotted woodpeckers were also in the are, but did not settle for long.

32 birds on my list including marsh harrier, red kite, kestrel, cattle egret, great white egret and spoonbill.

Spoonbills.

 

I along with another volunteer took 8 visitors on a "Spoonbill Experience Walk" at RSPB Fairburn Ings today.

This was part of our view. Lots of cormorants in the trees to the left of the ones in the photo.As the spoonbills are the last to arrive, the cormorants, grey herons, little and cattle egrets have all taken the best nesting sites.

 we saw several spoonbills on their nests and the young ones. we also saw spoonbills feeding and flying.

After the walk I went down to the Lin Dike end of the reserve. The highland cattle were near the footpath so i was able to get a few pictures of the cattle egrets.

From the viewing screen I saw a couple of black-tailed godwits.

Tornado: Scarborough Spa Express

 

Osprey

 

The weather was not as bad as forecast. Raining on my journey up the A1 but it was fine by the time I reached the car park at the quarry. I was hoping to see an osprey.

No activity near the nest site.

The water level at Flask lake was fairly low and work was taking place at the right hand end of the lake so I was not too hopeful.

I sat and watched sand martins hunting for about 45 minutes before setting off for the hide on the other side of the lake.

Lots of orchids and as the sun came out so did the insects,

This is the view looking across the lake towards where I had been sitting.

The sunshine had gone as I sat and watched a pair of marsh harriers.

Then I noticed a large bird in the sky, an osprey. It was flying quite high and did not attempt to catch any fish.

Not brilliant photos due to the light and distance. I put the sighting on Bluesky, and when I looked up again I could not see the osprey at all. I walked back to the car park and drove to the other part of the reserve.

Not a lot of water but plenty of activity. Swifts flying around, swooping low over the water.

Lapwings and oystercatchers close to the hide.

I presumed that the land further up the slope was easier for them to penetrate with their bills, rather than the dryer mud close to the waters edge. Shelducks had 3 young, lots of young black-headed gulls and four avocet chicks.

Rarely were they all together, I hope that they manage to survive.

Avocets rule !!

 

A cloudy and cooler day at RSPB Blacktoft on Sunday.

A mixture of sunshine, cloud and rain with a fairly strong breeze. Marshland Lagoon is currently home for several adult avocets and their young. When the birds first arrived on the reserve there was water on Ousefleet and that is where they nested and their young hatched. As the water level on Ousefleet slowly reduced some of the adults took their young to the next lagoon, Marshland. 

The adult avocets rule and anything that is near their young is chased away, even if it is a day old mallard duckling!

The four remaining young avocets are now nearly adult size and their plumage is slowly turning darker.

When a marsh harrier appears, several avocets take to the air to chase it away.

It is now the time of year when waders are starting to return from their breeding grounds in northern Europe or Siberia. Female spotted redshanks leave before the males, who look after the young and make their journey south later.

Three spotted redshanks were on marshland lagoon on Sunday. They like the other birds were chased by the avocets, so they did not come close to the hide, hence the poor photo.

This is one of the 3 green sandpipers having a rest before the avocets attack again. A single greenshank was at the fat end of the lagoon.

Again this is possibly a female as they too leave before the young can fly.

A family of lapwings were close to the hide

the adults were defending their young from the avocets. A few young bearded tits were feeding on the insects at the edge of the lagoon.

So, the next stage of birding begins as the migrants begin to trickle back southwards. Reports from Filey include large numbers of swifts flying south. Gotta travel on, summers almost gone, winters coming on!!