A spell of good weather at last. Where to go birding. I decided to go to Spurn but sadly picked the wrong day, weather wise. By 8am on Tuesday I was looking out of the hide window at Kilnsea Wetlands at mist!
I could just make out a shelduck in the murk. I then went to Canal Scrape
the visibility was slightly better. A family of mute swans, two sleeping mallards and a moorhen family.
A message came through about a golden oriole in the bushes between the gate and the warren. By the time that I got there the bird had flown south. I decided to continue walking towards the wash over point. I soon got to the part where there is only sand and walking was not easy. I could see several birds on the shoreline and 2 of them were brent geese, my first of the year. In the fenced off area there were oystercatchers and ringed plovers. I was going to walk onto "Spurn Island", but it was further than I realised so I retuned to the Warren area. Lots of linnets and meadow pipits in the bushes. As I approached the visitor centre I saw this whitethroat.
I returned to the Canal Scrape hide and visibility was slightly better. A swallow had a nest inside the hide and kept bringing in food.
the mute swan family were heading for the far bank.
a pied wagtail was catching food for its young. A couple came into the hide and they had a radio, red breasted flycatcher was near "Middle Camp". was the message. The couple told me that this was part of the way down the point, so I decided not to trudge over the sand again. I returned to Kilnsea Wetlands to discover that the visibility was no better than on my previous visit, plus YWT staff were moving sheep, so were walking in front of the hide and I could not see or hear any birds. It was now nearly lunchtime and I decided to leave for home and call in at North Cave Wetlands.
It was now after 1pm and the sun was shining. Lots of vehicles in the car park, but most of the people were there for a walk and were not in the hides.
the black headed gull chicks are slowly growing.
a blackcap was singing and I was lucky enough to be able to see it.
On my way home I called in at North Duffield Carrs and spent about 30 minutes in the Geoff Smith hide where I met John Heaton. A long day and a bit disappointing due to the weather, but that is my choice of hobby at least I had one new bird for my year list.
On Wednesday I had lots of jobs to do about the house so it 1735 by the time that I reached North Duffield Carrs. I had a quick look from the Geoff Smith hide but there was nothing special to see so I walked down to the Garganey hide.
The water level is slowly going down and the vegetation is growing so it is getting more difficult to see the birds, The mute swan herd is fairly easy to see but the little egrets are mostly hidden from view. No sign of the male wigeon that were here a few days ago and I only saw the mallards when they took to the air.
After an hour I decided to return to the other hide when I noticed a bird of prey, It was flying quite low over the reserve and then it would suddenly fly higher. I lost sight of it for a while due to the wood in some of the hide windows. I managed to see it again a few minutes later and the it flew over the river.
I left the hide and slowly walked back to the Geoff Smith hide. I had only just sat down and opened the window when I saw the bird again.
I tried to take some photos but the bird was flying fairly quickly and kept changing its direction and height.
I was very lucky to watch the bird for about 10 minutes as it flew over the scrape, several times it was very close to the hide. Another new bird for my year list, what a hobby!
When I was talking to John Heaton he showed me a picture he had taken of a snipe perched on the top of a hawthorn bush, which we both thought was strange. Well, I saw a snipe perched on top of a hawthorn bush. The picture John took was better than this one.
