Friday 27 August 2021

November in August

On Wednesday afternoon we crossed the Humber Bridge to Ness End. The photo opportunities were few and far between, and we failed to see a Bittern.  A young Warbler opposite the screen remained the only bird captured by a telephoto lens.
Immature Chiffchaff
ditto

On Thursday we went to Kilnsea in strong northerly winds.  We saw over 45 species, and that was without going in to the Kilnsea Wetlands hide, which was too full of people.  Despite the weather not being ideal for migrants, we still had plenty of good sightings. 
Immature Swallows
Immature Swallow
Proud Parents
Little Egrets
Ruff
Ditto
Dunlin and Two Immature Plovers
Sandwich Tern
Teal
'Silver' Plovers, Knot & Dunlin
ditto
Yellow Wagtail
Curlew
Dunlin
Golden Plover
Dunlin & Knot
Linnet
Ringed Plovers
Ringed plover
Roe Deer Buck
"Woolly Bear"
Record Shot of Pam's Fox
Friday was another very overcast day, but we did see 37 species.  Some of them were a little out-of-the-ordinary including Little Stint, Sanderling, Bittern, Spoonbill & a very welcome Whinchat.
Black-tailed Godwits, a Ruff and Avocets
Black-tailed Godwits, a Ruff and Avocets (c) 2021 Jane Robinson
Mainly Avocets (c) 2021 Jane Robinson
Lapwing (c) 2021 Jane Robinson
Avocets & Black-tailed Godwits (c) 2021 Jane Robinson
Whinchat & Reed Buntings 




Whinchat
Whinchat (c) 2021 Angela Murray-Nag
ditto
Reed Bunting
Bob's Sedge Warbler
Spoonbill (c) 2021 Angela Murray-Nag
ditto
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Record Shot of Bittern
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Sanderlings [Centre]
Little Stint [Second from right] (c) 2021 Angela Murray-Nag
Little Stint [furthest right, just] (c) 2021 Angela Murray-Nag
Snipe (c) 2021 Jane Robinson
Great White Egret (c) 2021 Jane Robinson
Wren (c) 2021 Jane Robinson
Frog
Frog (c) 2021 Jane Robinson

Saturday 21 August 2021

Merlin Casts a Spell

Immature Female Merlin (c) 2021 Deborah Parry
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On Tuesday afternoon we checked out Killingholme.  There were hundreds of Black-tailed Godwits, scores of Avocets, plus several Redshank and only a handful of Red Knot.
Black-tailed Godwit
Ditto
[Red]  Knot [centre]

On Wednesday only 5 people turned up for Kilnsea, which was a bit of a shame.  If they’d arrived at the same time as Deborah they could have enjoyed their best ever view of a Merlin.  It is an immature female, and she doesn’t appear to have yet learned to keep her distance from humans.  Meanwhile, those who did attend noticed it was a rising tide, and encountered several species as they retreated towards us as the tide advanced inland. 
Golden Plovers & Dunlin
Wheatear
Terri’s Swallow Tree
Magpie
Grey Plover & Dunlin
Knot
Ditto
Swallows & Sand Martin
Sand Martins & Swallow
Ditto
Grey Plover & Knot



Grey and Golden Plovers
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto

Female Wall Brown
Male Wall Brown
Sickle Medick [Thanks to Sonia]
Darter
Darter
On Thursday the group who found the Glossy Ibis in spring returned to Alkborough Flats.  We didn’t locate the Ibis, but we did encounter around 50 species including: Spoonbill, Bearded Tit, Ruff, Knot, Dunlin, Yellow Wagtail, Green Sandpiper, Little Egret, Linnet etc.
Bearded Tit
Ditto
Bearded Tits
Zoomed in
Ditto
Spoonbills
Little Egret
Little Egrets
A lone Golden Plover
Ruff
Ditto
Marsh Harrier
Ditto
Woodpigeon
Sedge Warbler
Yellow Wagtails [far left & far right]
Yellow Wagtails
Ditto
Knot
Small Tortoiseshell 
Female Common Blue (c) 2021 Margaret Richardson 
Small Tortoiseshell (c) 2021 Margaret Richardson
A sheep with a fetish for sticking its backside in the air
On Friday we had a warm day at Paull Holme Strays, which is unusual in itself.  There were good views of Waders all day, and then we were blown away by the young hirundines which for 20 minutes all gathered on a washed-up tree.  Some of the photos almost look like paintings.
Curlew (c) 2021 Jane Robinson 
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Curlew with a Shrimp (c) 2021 Jane Robinson
Dropping the Shrimp 
Picking up again
Black-tailed Godwit (c) 2021 Jane Robinson
Black-tailed Godwits (c) 2021 Jane Robinson
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Black-tailed Godwits (c) 2021 Angela Murray-Nag
ditto
Dunlin (c) 2021 Jane Robinson
Immature Shelduck (c) 2021 Jane Robinson
Hirundines: Sand & House Martins & Swallows 
Sand Martins & House Martins
Hirundines: Sand & House Martins & Swallow
Sand Martins (c) 2021 Angela Murray-Nag
Hirundines (c) 2021 Angela Murray-Nag
Sand Martins (c) 2021 Angela Murray-Nag
Sand Martins (c) 2021 Angela Murray-Nag
Begging Immature Swallows
Yellow Wagtail (c) 2021 Jane Robinson
[Red] Knot & Black-tailed Godwit
Ringed Plover (mainly)
Golden Plovers
Yellow Wagtail
Meadow Pipit
Brown Argus
Dancing on a Bean
Brown Argus Dancing on a Bean (c) 2021 Angela Murray-Nag
ditto
Common Blue
ditto
Common Blue (c) 2021 Angela Murray-Nag
Painted Lady
Small Copper
Small Skipper
Small Tortoiseshell
Emerging Dryad's Saddle
Mature Dryad's Saddle
Partially Dismantled RAF Beverley
Finally, some Bempton photos from last weekend.
Black-Browed Albatross (c) 2021 Angela Murray-Nag
Gannets (c) 2021 Angela Murray-Nag
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