Friday 16 October 2015

Final Day at Spurn: Ending on a High

Today was pretty much a rerun of yesterday, but in much stronger winds.  This time the Great grey Shrike was seen sat next to its prey, which it dropped then carried into a hawthorn, where it was seen to remove feathers.  The actual eating of the small bird was hidden behind many twigs.  We had views of a delightful Pallas's Warbler hovering after insects in the Crown & Anchor car park.  All but the couple from Ossett made our way back to our cars.  Only minutes after we left a Firecrest showed well, and Mike managed to take the record shots below!  The Pallas's Warbler, the Firecrest, together with the Jack Snipe were lifers for all those who saw them!  Although we didn't see any "mega" rarities, we saw plenty of birds, and some of the intimate encounters with the Goldcrests will remain in the memory of those they almost touched for a long time.
Record shot of Firecrest (c) 2015 Mike Woods
 Record shot of Firecrest (c) 2015 Mike Woods
Female Brambling
 Fieldfares
 Willow Warblers
 Willow Warbler? (c) 2015 Mike Woods
 Record shot of Great Grey Shrike (c) 2015 Mike Woods
 Record Shot of Great Grey Shrike with its prey
 Record shot of G G Shrike with its prey (c) 2015 Mike Woods
 Stonechat Firecrest (c) 2015 Mike Woods
 Redwing (c) 2015 Mike Woods
 Knot (c) 2015 Mike Woods
 Record Shot of Pallas's Warbler (c) 2015 Mike Woods
 Pallas's Warbler (c) 2015 Mike Woods
 Pallas's Warbler (c) 2015 Mike Woods
 Continental Robin

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Michael,

Just though you might be interested in this new blog (don't worry if not): http://thesecretbirder.blogspot.co.uk/

Michael Flowers said...

That's fine, Secret Birder. I guess you aren't from these parts?