Wednesday 15 April 2009

Mist Defied Revisited

Firecrest
ditto
ditto
ditto
Wheatear (male)
Wheatear
Wheatear
Wheatears
White aers - pardon my old English!
Siskin
Siskins (female left)
Merlin (female)
ditto
Small Tortoiseshell
Black Redstart
Chiffchaff
Weasel
ditto
ditto

Pretty similar to yesterday, so a shorter report today. Met up with Jim from Calderdale (Bird Forum's JTW521) who set off at about 4.30am & arrived at Spurn by 6am. He was able to photograph the Firecrest in the Crown & Anchor car park before I'd finished my breakfast! The weather was similar to yesterday, but the sun did actually break through by about noon. In the sunnier weather there were more Wheatears - hotspots being the Sheep Field & Sammy's Point (pm). The latter also had 4 male Yellow Wagtails & a female Common Redstart. We failed to see the Hawfinch at the point despite giving it a couple of tries, and although we could have gone to the warren to see a ringed bird being released, we decided to give it a miss. Jim prefers to see his first Hawfinch in the wild, rather than in the hand. There were a lot of exhausted Siskins at the point, and we found an unreported Black Redstart near the Parade Ground. Jim spotted a Weasel running around Chalk Bank which was a surprising find; as was his discovery of a Merlin almost sat on the beach (riverside). On the way home we stopped off for the Firecrest, which unlike yesterday gave prolonged views, some of them very close. It was an absolute cracker, but the pictures don't really do it justice. Jim caught the bird in flight, so I'll add that to the blog if he sends it on. Feel like I've done Spurn to death for a while, so will go somewhere else for the rest of the week!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm not jealous of these birds, or your proximity to Spurn. Honest...

Michael Flowers said...

I still think your tame Shrike takes some beating!

Mike Randall Bird Photography said...

Great posting Michael with very nice pictures.