A Friday Snob

We met by the side of the River Humber and left our cars in the guardianship of some anglers at Paull. We started off by heading off east. The tide was just starting to recede. A few Redshank flew past from time to time, and the evocative sound of the Curlew punctuated the day, but these were much harder to see than normal. There were lots of Friday Unmentionables on the seaweed-covered rocks, and eventually some Wigeon also swam out on to the river. 

Snow Bunting



 Bar-tailed Godwit & Dunlin



A very pale wader flew in and allowed us to observe it. Dave set up his telescope so people could view it in more detail. Later, we could see that some of the other apparent rocks began to move, there were quite a lot of Turnstones about. It was shortly after this when we reached the saltmarsh and could see a large flock of a Lapwings in the distance. There was not much to see in the main channel, as it was still pretty full of water, but where were all the Teal? We passed the 2 Lighthouses and then Joan spotted lots of waders along the tide line. These included 3 Bar-tailed Godwits, plenty of Dunlin and a few Ringed Plovers. The light was terrible so we tried to get ahead of them to look back at them with the light behind us, but the birds took fright at our approach, so it was difficult to see them as we wanted. Eventually, we managed it, but the birds were further away by this time. We also got a good view of a Grey Plover, and Sue spotted an even better one in the afternoon. 

Wigeon & Curlew



 Record Glimpse of a Knot



 Golden Plovers



 Grey Plover



 Grey Plover



 As we carried on along the grassy, muddy spit a strange call rang out and a bird with a lot of white came along towards us, and then over our heads - a Snow Bunting. Unfortunately, it just kept on going and not everyone saw it. Over on the excavated area were a large flock of Golden Plovers, which increased even more in the afternoon. At times they flew up, but they always settled back down. In the afternoon they flew up in more alarm and with more speed. At first it seemed a Buzzard was responsible, which I thought was a bit odd, but then I spotted the real reason for the rumpus - a Peregrine. After lunch on the return journey eagle-eyed Sue spotted movement on the beach, she had found a Rock Pipit.



 Golden Plovers



 Peregrine



 Rock Pipit

Mongrel Mallard



In the morning as Bob doesn't like returning the way he came we came, I took the group along the top to see if we could find any winter thrushes, but these were a bit thin on the ground, apart from Blackbirds. This may have been a tactical error, as by going this way we almost certainly missed the Snow Bunting, which was seen really well both coming and going by the 3 people who turned up for the afternoon session. There was no doubt that this was the real highlight of the day, and we got some amazing and prolonged views. 

Snow Bunting



 Ditto



 Ditto



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 Ditto



For those not in the know, Snob is an abbreviation for the Snow Bunting used by twitchers.