Sanderling and Little stint

 I took 3 members of the RSPB York Local group to South Gare to see the brown booby. We had only just got out of the car when another car pulled up and the driver got out and told us that the bobby had been reported flying north. So what to do.

We went to Redcar to use the toilets and then walked down to the seafront. On this slipway were several turnstones a single bar tailed godwit, 4 sanderling and 3 redshank. Lots of eiders out at sea and a gannet and juvenile sandwich tern flying past.

We then went to RSPB Saltholme and walked down to the Saltholme Pools hide. On the causeway on the West Pools  were several birds. Shoveler, gadwall, lapwing, golden plover, dunlin and a little stint.

38 black tailed godwits flew in from the direction of Dormans Pool.

A pleasant end to our day.

Curlew sandpipers at Blacktoft Sands

 After helping at the football club this morning I decided to go to Blacktoft as the weather was not as bad as forecast,

After a word with Daz in reception I went to Marshland hide.

Lots of snipe

After a while, Pete and Masha came into the hide and told me about the 6 curlew sandpipers and other waders at Singleton.

Dunlin, ruff, snipe, redshank, spotted redshank, lapwing, black tailed godwit and curlew sandpiper were all busily feeding. The teams hard work to reduce the water level after the flood were paying off.

Marsh harriers kept flying over the lagoon which disturbed the birds and made trying so sort out the different waders difficult.

Spotted redshanks were walking along the edge of the water

At least 14 little egrets

and 2 great white egrets

several grey herons

A pleasant couple of hours and I was surprised that I manged some photos despite the poor light conditions.

Hartlepool Headland and Salthome.

 RSPB York Local Group Trip to Hartlepool.

First stop was the Headland. It was high tide and there were plenty of birds to see close to the shore.

Red throated divers, guillemot,, razorbill, herring gulls and lots of eiders on the sea,

On the rocks were cormorants, shags, herring and lesser black backed gulls ,a young sandwich tern, turnstones, purple sandpiper, curlew and bar tailed godwits.

On the small beach a turnstone and a ringed plover were feeding.

Near the museum we were able to add wheatear, house martin, sparrow hawk and blackbird to our list. 

A short coach drive to Saltholme.

Greenfinch, goldfinch, blue and great tit and tree sparrow on the feeders.

At Saltholme Pool, we scanned the causeway in the hope of seeing a little stint. We added ruff, dunlin, curlew sandpiper, lapwing, golden plover and pied wagtail to our list, but no little stint.

A walk to Haverton Viewpoint was rewarded with views of 2 peregrines attacking a buzzard and a great white egret.

A snipe was difficult to find in the vegetation outside the Phil Stead hide, but after several ininutes we all managed to see it.

A pleasant day with 65 birds on my day list, 1 year tick and very pleasant company.

Cattle egrets at Fairburn Ings.

 

After I had completed the H&S checks at St. Aidans and Fairburn, I had a walk down to the Lin Dike hide.

Lots of small birds in the bushes/trees as I walked along the path towards the hide. Blue, great, long tailed and willow tits. Robin, cetti's warbler, chiffchaff and possibly others, but they moved too fast for me to be able to identify them.

From the hide I could see lots of black-headed gulls, lapwings and teal. I did not take my telescope, so I was unable to identify all the ducks at the far end of the water. A green sandpiper slowly came closer to the hide as it was feeding.

 This spoonbill was in the distance and looked as if it was sitting on the post. At the far end of the reserve several cattle egrets were with the cattle.

A jay was busily looking for acorns.

A few butterflies on the wing.

Snipe, shovelers and a booby.

I have been busy for the past couple of weeks helping my eldest granddaughter sort out her place at Newport University. I had a free day so went to South Gare to see the brown booby, however the weather was poor.

The mist cleared a little but not enough for me to see the bird.

The following Saturday I was at Blacktoft.

The high tides at the end of last month filled the lagoons and the footpaths were also under water. 

Luckily by Saturday the water level had dropped enough for the paths to be dry. There was water now in front of Ousefleet hide and about 1000 ducks were busy feeding. The team were working hard to lower the water levels in the lagoons.

Wednesday the 13th was a better day weather wise so I returned to South Gare.

The bird was on a green buoy, but not on the top.

Saturday the 16th and I was at Blacktoft again. The water level had dropped and Singleton and Marshland had an interesting mix of birds. Ruff, black tailed godwit, redshank and spotted redshank were feeding on the recently exposed mud on the left hand side of the lagoon. On the right hand side the water was a bit deeper and 2 great white egrets and 22 little egrets were feeding.

Lots of snipe and shovelers at Marshland.

Still a few insects about. Lots of redshanks

and a grey heron looks on.

Another sign of autumn was the sight and sound of over a thousand pink -footed geese.

Whinchats at St. Aidans

 

Started the day at Fairburn with a visit to Lin Dike. A bit misty as the sun was starting to break through the clouds.

One spoonbill busily feeding about half way across the lagoon with a couple of little egrets and a grey heron in the distance. Closer to the hide were several black headed gulls and teal. 4 snipe were feeding quite close in as was a single common sandpiper.

As I left to walk back to my car a willow tit was calling and there were plenty of speckled wood butterflies.

After carrying out the weekly health and safety checks at Fairburn visitor centre, I drove to St. Aidans.

Lots of activity at the site as there are events taking place on an evening. After a cup of tea and a cheeese  and onion toastie for lunch, I had a walk towards the hillside.

Lots of dragonflies

and butterflies

I walked along the footpath and sat on the second bench. From there I could see the fence that leads up to the top of the hill. Three whinchats and at least one stonechat were flying back and forth and would land on the fence now and again. One whinchat flew a little closer.

In an elderberry bush several chiffchaffs and willow warblers were bust feeding. After an hour I left to attend a meeting.

Filey

 

I arrived at the Country Park at 9am and walked along Carr Naze and stopped just where the path decends to the Brigg. Mark Pearson turned up after a while and we had a chat. Lots of sandwich and common terns feeding in the bay and gannets were plunge diving into the sea. Sadly no sign of any skuas and I was too far away from the terns to be able to see the roseate terns that had been reported earlier.

After a couple of hours I left Mark sea watching and I walked past the Rocket Field and along the top  scrub. Lots of linnets, goldfinches and a single greenfinch.

Filey Dams was my next stop, where I had lunch. A few moorhens and lots of greylag geese and then a fox turned up.

It sat for a while but as the geese saw it and all stood up and started to face towards the fox

Perhaps the fox realised that there were too many geese, so it turned around and left.

Not a lot to be seen from the next two hides. Several dragonflies near the pond.

East Lea was my last stop.

156 lapwings

The lapwings were as usual a bit flighty and when they took to the air some of the waders either joined them in the air or flew elsewhere on the lagoon.

2 snipe

there were 5 black-tailed godwits

further away there was a bar-tailed godwit, the first one I had seen this year.

2 ruff were also busy feeding

2 common sandpipers, 1 came close to the hide

a young heron was looking for food.

A pleasant day out.