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

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 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.

Curlew Sandpiper

Up and away early this morning to take advantage of the good weather. A few delays thanks to roadworks on the A19 as I headed north.
Luckily there were spaces as I pulled into the car park at Greatham Creek. I walked up to the first screen and had a look over the marsh. High tide was not until 1610 so not many birds to be seen.
I walked across the road to the tidal pool, where common terns were still making a noise as they fed their young.
Not a brilliant picture as I was looking into the sun.

I then crossed the road again and looked from the viewing screen. The screen has been designed with lots of circles in it, but it is not easy to position a telescope to be able to see through one of the circles. Luckily I was the only person there so managed to get my scope set up.

Dunlin, redshank, ringed plover, curlew and little egrets were easy to see.

The seals were easier to photograph.

I then walked down the path to Seal Sands.

Lots of redshanks, dunlin, gulls either feeding or resting on the exposed mud.

I used my phone to take the above picture. I checked the bird reports and saw one for a curlew sandpiper back at the viewing screen. I walked back to the screen and managed to get my scope set up so that I could see the bird.

I then went to Hartlepool Headland, where I spent an hour looking out to sea. Lots of gannets, sandwich and common terns, guillemots on the sea, and a fulmar. Plenty of ships.

I then tried to get into Newburn Bridge car park but it was full. No birds to be seen down the road to North Gare and only a goldfinch to be seen down the Zinc Works road.
I made my way back to Greatham Creek and joined Chris. We returned to the viewing screen and looked for the curlew sandpiper but were unable find it.
RSPB Saltholme was our last stop. We negotiated the new entry system and went to the Wildlife Watchpoint where we joined two other people. From our end of the hide we could see, a moorhen , mallards, gadwall and a pochard. We then walked to Paddys Pool hide where we saw lots of coots, a few tufted ducks and a young great crested grebe feeding.

When we left the hide it was raining so we decided to leave the reserve and head for home.

An afternoon with the terns.

An unexpected few hours of free time this afternoon. Not long enough to go to the coast, and the weather was on the dull side, so I opted for North Cave Wetlands. Not many vehicles in the car park when I arrived.

I decided to start at the East Hide. From the hide I could see this grey heron. Now that the black headed gulls have completed nesting, this pontoon is empty.

The turret hide was my next stop. Not much water in one of the lagoons,so the birds are not very close,  but enough mud to attract 7 green sandpipers and a juvenile little ringed plover.

I walked on to the next hide from where I could see common terns. Each year, I always try to appreciate our summer visitors and not just add them to my year list. I  spent the next 90 minutes watching the terns.

The terns were busy fishing to catch food for the young tern.

A marsh harrier flew over

This disturbed the terns who flew around.

this one upset a cormorant which was perched on this post. A pleasant afternoon, watching these birds as they complete their breeding and get ready for their journey to the other side of the world.

Social distance birding

Last chance to get out birding for this month, so decided to go to Spurn, to see if I could add to my year list. I left York early and became slightly worried when I was close to the Humber Bridge and could not see the top part of the support towers. Once through Hull and past Hedon their was a light drizzle. Not enough to have the windscreen wipers on all the time, but I soon drove out of the rain.

My first stop was Kilnsea Wetland, and despite the fact that it was poor weather and still only 0730, the car park was nearly full.

The hide was full, so I walked onto to Beacon Ponds. The wind was blowing off the sea making watching difficult. Little and sandwich terns and cormorants were visible.

Sammys Point was my next stop. Dunlin, curlew, redshank and oystercatchers were busy feeding on the mud. One birder, 4 wood pigeons and a pheasant were all I saw on my walk around the area.

Canal scrape was my next stop, very quiet and the only bird I saw was this swallow.

This bird is still feeding young in its nest, which is on a ledge inside the hide. Meanwhile another pair of swallows are still nestbuilding in the entrance to the hide.

Back to Kilnsea Wetlands, and this time I managed to get a seat in the hide.

This greenshank walked past the hide as it was looking for food.

Snipe came closer to the hide as they looked for food, the ringed plover stayed further away.

Also on the lagoon were 2 spoonbills, lots of grey herons, black-tailed godwits, dunlin, redshank, common sandpiper, little, common and sandwich terns, shelduck, and knot. Chris joined me in the hide, and after he had been to Beacon Ponds to look for a black tern, we decided to go to Canal Scrape. People were working in the reedbed, so no sign of any birds, so we walked to the seawatch hide.

We joined a family in the hide, but maintained our distance.Gannets and terns were the only birds that we saw, and most of these were flying north. A hawfinch was reported again, so Chris went for a second attempt to find the bird, while I stayed in the hide. A few minutes after Chris left a dog came into the hide with its family so I left.

From the screen I was able to see lots of birds feeding on the mud. Golden plover and dunlin were the nearest and oystercatchers furthest away on the waters edge. A bit closer than the oystercatchers were some grey plover.

I joined Chris looking for the hawfinch and as we had no luck, we walked a short distance to look for red back shrikes and managed to see two birds.

The grey plover and red backed shrike were new birds for me this year.

It was nice to see Chris again, perhaps we might manage another outing next month, at a suitable distance of course!