Tophill Low

A windy morning so I decided to go to a reserve with hides so I could shelter from the wind. If I had braved the coast then I would have added several birds to my year list.
2nd vehicle in the car park at the reserve. After getting my parking ticket I set off for the hides at the south end of the reserve, No birds at all to be seen from the first hide so I went to the photography hide. A few gadwall having a preen but not much else to be seen.

From the next hide I could see a little egret

a pair of snipe were hiding

Time to move on to the next hide where I saw a common sandpiper.

From the next hide I visited I was able to watch sand martins coming to feed their young in the man made bank of nests.

young whitethroats were hopping about in the brambles near the sand martin nests.

From the hide at Wooton I could see lots of greylags and canadas as well as 67 cormorants.

After lunch I walked to the hides at the north end of the reserve but no extra birds for my list.

Sunny Day at Spurn

A change of plan gave me a few spare hours, so I decided to go to Spurn to see if I could add to my list of birds for the year.

A nice sunny and it was high tide so I was hoping for a good sea watching session.

A very quiet time, not even a gannet. Dunlin, curlew, oystercatchers, sandwich terns and a seal.

Looking out over the estuary these curlew were at the edge of the water.

Canal scrape hide was next on my list.

swallows are still feeding young on their nest in the hide

some swallows were perched on a wire to the left of the hide

common, green and wood sandpipers were on the scrape, but not very close to end of the hide where I was sitting.

I was hoping to get all three in the same shot, but the green and common sandpipers kept moving.

A sparrowhawk landed on the top of one of the bushes

perched on a branch below it was a spotted flycatcher

a little egret flew in

I then parked near the Blue Bell café and had a walk down Beacon Lane in case there were any birds to be seen in the bushes. Sadly no birds but lots of butterflies.

 I then drove to Kilnsea Wetlands and joined other birders in the hide, As it was high tide there were lots of waders on the scrape.

there were redshank, dunlin, knot, greenshank, ruff, snipe, ringed plover, curlew sandpiper and black tailed godwit in the flock.

Feeding on the far bank were some yellow wagtails, and a Caspian gull was amongst the gulls. A pair of spoonbills were fast asleep and I saw my first pintail of the winter.

On my way home I called in at Sammy Point.

The tide has started to go out and there were lots of waders on gulls feeding on the newly exposed mud but there were no birds in the bushes.

46 birds on my day list, 3 new one for my year list.

Royal Scot

Change of "occupation" for a while. Helping out at a local football club while friends are on holiday.
Late night last as there was a cup final and the club won on penalties, thanks to the goalie making two good saves.

Back this morning for the training sessions and then shopping with the eldest grand daughter.
Then it was time to go and see the Royal Scot.

Filey: 2 bites of the cherry.

The weather forecast was for a fine day, so I took the opportunity to visit Filey.  My first point of call was Filey Dams nature reserve.

This is the view from the first hide I visited. 3 green sandpipers were on the scrape

a single redshank was also present

I walked to the next hide

Mostly greylag geese and a single Canada goose plus a few lapwings.
O then went to the third hide.

As you can see, a bird free zone.

A chap had turned up to cut the vegetation. Time to move on to the Country Park. There was a queue at the machine to get a ticket to park. A notice said either cash or card but it was not accepting either, so I had to walk to another machine. I parked the car and set off along the top of the Brigg.

I found a spot at the edge of the cliff and got ready for a couple of hours sea watching

.

 Most of the birds flying past were gannets, presumably from the nearby Bempton Cliffs. Other birds include sandwich terns, fulmars, kittiwakes and shags. Lots of guillemots on the sea but sadly no sign of birds such as shearwaters or skuas. Then I was stung by a wasp, so went back to my car to get some ointment. 

I decided to go back to Filey Dams. On the way out of the car park I noticed that a man from the council had turned up and was stood next to the ticket machine, waving his arms at the queue of people.

Back at the reserve, the man was still at work cutting the vegetation near the first hide, so I walked to the last hide. Mostly gulls that were present.

This gull had rings on one leg.

A wood pigeon came close as did a greylag.

Then a couple of black tailed godwits flew in

3 dunlin were the next to arrive followed by some ruff and 3 common sandpipers, The sun was behind them so taking photographs was not easy.

Returning for a second bite of the cherry proved worthwhile.