Grey Wagtail
On Tuesday we went to the southern wolds for the first time this year. We almost immediately saw 2 Mistle Thrushes, whilst we were regaled with the tuning up of a Song Thrush. There were 14 large raptors all airborne at the same time, which may have been a record for us. There had been a devastating non-natural loss of trees, which strongly reduced the chance of seeing Treecreeper, Marsh Tit and Goldcrest. In the end we only encountered the latter.
Record Shot of Mistle Thrushes
At the weir we enjoyed 2 better than normal views of Grey Wagtails, and we saw a third with a Pied Wagtail on the roof of one of the cottages.
Male Grey Wagtail
On Wednesday we travelled just across the Humber Bridge. We were still in the car park when a flock of c.30 Redwings dropped in quickly, before heading off towards Main Hide. There wasn’t a lot of spare capacity in the latter, but we enjoyed good views of a Marsh Harrier. A Snipe flew over, but was only seen by a tiny percentage of the group. A Cetti’s Warbler flew low over the water from one line of reeds to another.
Redwings Dropping in
Marsh Harrier
From Target Lake the best birds were a pair of Goldeneye, with Wigeon, Gadwall, Teal and Cormorant. It was high tide, so the only birds near the river bank was a flotilla of Wigeon. The sun was difficult from Reedy Hide, so we didn’t see a great deal there. We heard Cetti’s from the screen, and a swimming Water Rail was spotted, but again it was rather quiet.
There was a similar story across the road, with a distant Great Crested Grebe being the best observation. However, when we approached the car park again, a soaring Peregrine brought the session to a fine climax.
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On Thursday we went to RSPB Bempton as planned. As we walked towards the sea a singing male Reed Bunting was spotted. A few Stock droves flew along hedges in the distance. Then we reached the sea. If we’d gone a week earlier we may have seen a Puffin, but all the Auks had forsaken the cliffs. I did see 3 Razorbills on the sea near a raft of Kittiwakes. We went south first for the best views of Gannets. On the way we saw Linnets, Skylarks, a Pied Wagtail and semi-parachuting Meadow Pipits.
We retraced our steps and visited each of the Grandstands. One had disappeared. We saw more or less the same sort of things, although from one we saw quite a few Harbour Porpoises. Then at the most northern viewpoint we saw at least 2 Shags - one floating on the sea, and another which flew along the cliff below us. We had a brief view of a Peregrine, which drifted in a southerly direction.
In the afternoon we only looked at the north part of the site. However, this time we had a pod of Dolphins, which was a great sighting for all concerned. There were several Hares running around the concrete blocks, and an exaltation of Skylarks just north of the final platform.
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