Final Visit to the Bog

Yesterday the ginger dwarf said the rain would get less the further north you went, so I took notice and didn't cancel today's session in North Yorkshire.  This morning's forecast on the TV looked quite different with rain shown on the graphics for North Yorkshire all day.  It was too late to cancel, so I drove north with a sinking heart.  The terrible traffic chaos just north of Malton didn't help, but on arrival the sky was very overcast, but at least it wasn't raining....yet.  

All pics (c) 2012 Tony Robinson

Whinchat (male)

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The first birds we saw were plenty of Meadow Pipits, which seemed to be very argumentative, and wouldn't leave each other in peace.  The path was much muddier than last week, which made the going much trickier between clumps of heather, sedges and the other specialised plants.  Despite the conditions we managed to get a little further than last week, and this was lucky because the Green Woodpecker family had moved several metres further south.  We also enjoyed much better views of Whinchats this time, and it was very heartening to find that they had bred successfully - there was a brood of well-grown youngsters.  There were also Reed Buntings in the area.

Lesser Redpoll 

 Lesser Redpoll

 Meadow Pipit

 We retraced our footsteps and returned to the gate, and from here we travelled down towards the railway line.  Another male Whinchat was perched on a post with a female nearby.  A Willow Warbler sang from the trees near the line but there seemed to be very few other birds about.  We were leaving again when suddenly I heard the trills of some Redpolls, which were very hard to locate in the leaves of a tree, but most people got to see them.

Later we tried another path through the bracken to try and get a view of a possible Stonechat.  Unfortunately, we didn't track it down, but we did find a Siskin.  It didn't rain at all while we were there, but some small biting midges made their presence felt, and were far from pleasant.   On the way back to the original car park we saw displaying Curlew, so presumably they are still nesting in the area, perhaps they lost earlier broods?  Apparently, not long after we left the rain moved in, so we were extremely lucky to remain dry.

Roe Deer

A Warm Finale

Yesterday the final Thursday session until September went ahead even though Yorkshire was ringed around with heavy showers.  Some on the pm session were wondering if it was worth leaving Church Fenton, Wressle or Goole where it was hammering down with rain, but it was actually nice weather at Spurn.   We set off along Beacon Lane, where we immediately encountered House Martins and a few finch species: Goldfinches, Greenfinches & then flyover Linnets. The best early bird during the pm session was a singing Wren perched above the hedge belting out its 10-second- 100+ note trills.   Normally there are plenty of Linnets along here, but there are definitely fewer of these this year.

Immature Kestrel

 Goldfinch

 Large Skipper

 Ringlet

 Meadow Brown

 Common Blue [male] above
Burnet-Moth

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It was the sunniest day we have visited this location this year, and there was a corresponding increase in insect activity.  There were a couple of Red Admirals & Large Skippers, some Small Heaths, a single Small Tortoiseshell, and a few Ringlets and Meadow Browns.  There was also a single large dragonfly hawking along the lane.  Over the fields the activity of the Meadow Pipits and Skylarks was more subdued than last week, and the Sedge Warblers seemed less willing to sing in the open.  Many more Burnet-Moths had emerged since last week, and were making the most of the sunshine.  There seemed to have been a noticeable influx of Silver-Y Moths in the afternoon, which wasn’t apparent in the morning.  A young Kestrel spent the whole day among the sand dunes & caught something small on the sand, which it proceeded to eat & then it walked up the dune looking for more of the same.

 Kestrel

 Kestrel

 Sandwich Terns

 Little Gull (flying past a Common Tern)

 Reed Bunting

From the hide it was evident that the loss of many of the Little Tern chicks since our last visit had caused the netting to be rearranged in front of the hide to protect 2 or 3 nests there.  Sandwich Terns were more in evidence, perched on a couple of concrete slabs with a few of their youngsters.  A couple of Common Terns were perched nearby, and an immaculate Little Gull flew through.   The pm crowd watched a Cormorant catch an enormous fish, whilst I was trying to determine if a tern in awkward light could possibly be a Roseate – unfortunately, it turned out to be a Common.  There were also Ringed Plovers, Oystercatchers, and after we left the hide in the morning 3 Knots with remnants of breeding plumage headed south.  Liz did very well to spot a distant soaring Sparrowhawk, which everyone managed to pick up before it was lost to sight.  

 Cormorant

 Wood Sandpipers

 Wood Sandpipers

 Wood Sandpipers

At lunch-time I went to Canal Scrape, but was disappointed that there were no Lizards on the posts outside – perhaps the sun was too strong?  The prospects from the hide didn’t look too good either.  The water was dominated by squealing baby Coots, whilst the grass was overwhelmed by moulting Mallards.  I had a quick span, but couldn’t see anything of interest, so I cracked open my sandwiches.  I was tucking in when there was an unusual wader call.  I looked out of the window and spotted a pair of tiny waders on the shore.  At first glance without bins they looked like Dunlin, but the sound was different.  The bins revealed them to be Wood Sandpipers with their pale vague eyebrow, speckled back, delicate bill & yellowish legs.  They remained there 15 minutes until they were attacked by a stinking Coot & they flew West over the Humber.  Meanwhile a Little Egret flew in & was preening among the Mallard.  It only stayed a couple of minutes before flying off North-West.  Four Cygnets emerged from the reeds and swam right across the pond, but there was no sign of either of their parents.  There was no one to say 'awwww' at their appearance this time.  A Small Tortoiseshell was outside the hide on a thistle, whilst when I joined the main road a Sedge Warbler was perched with its bill stuffed with insects.

Little Egret

 Little Egret

Small Tortoiseshell

 Mute Swan Cygnets

 Sedge Warbler

 Sedge Warbler

 4-Spotted Chaser

 Caterpillar

It was great to bring this term to an end in decent weather conditions when we have had to endure all sorts of unseasonal showers, winds, mists and generally appalling weather over the last few weeks.  We deserve a peaceful, Indian summer after this unsettled so-called Spring & Summer, but will we get it?

Green & Gold

Now all but the Thursday sessions have finished until September we had 2 One Off Special on Tuesday & Wednesday to somewhere a little further afield.  We were very lucky in this unsettled weather as we remained dry on both days.

Juvenile Green Woodpecker

Golden-Ringed Dragonfly [male?]

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 Moths

On Tuesday we went to a raptor viewpoint, but the best sighting there was a Golden-Ringed Dragonfly - a species of northern latitudes and high ground - not as species I had encountered before.  There were a myriad of moths fluttering at the tips of the conifer branches, so plenty of food for the local Nightjars once the evening arrives.  We did see quite a few Buzzards and one Sparrowhawk, but the raptors were fairly disappointing.  Other birds seen included Jay, Siskin, Coal Tit, Bullfinch, while Crossbills & Goldcrests remained heard only.  At least the going underfoot was easy, which you couldn't say about Wednesday's location. 

Hedge Woundwort

Silver-ground Carpet Moth (Thanks to E. Hediger for ID)

 Juvenile Green Woodpecker about to be fed by the Female

 Sundew

 Sundew

Normally the Wednesday location is pretty dry at this time of the year, but when the weather in July is as wet as a normal February, then you have problems with mud.  before we reached the muddy area we had good views of a family of Green Woodpeckers.  Participants especially enjoyed one youngster begging & receiving food from its parent on a fence post.  Sally spotted some Sundew plants and there was also some crimson lichen, a Heath Orchid & other specialised plants.  We did see a pair of Whinchats, but these were much harder to locate than normal, and everyone was being bitten by midges, so we had to beat a fairly hasty retreat.  Of course we may have seen plenty of specialised butterflies if only the sun had come out, but thick cloud hovered over us all season, but at least it didn't rain. 

Heath Orchid Species

 Lichen

 Tiger Beetle

 Record shot of Male Whinchat

 Record Shot of Female Whinchat

 Record Shot of Female Whinchat

 Is a Large Loudspeaker more aesthetically pleasing then a Golf Ball?

 One for the Train Spotters

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Eyeballing

Friday was able to go ahead as originally planned as fewer showers were forecast & we were going somewhere with hides and most of those faced north and the strong winds were blasting from the south.  The most disappointing thing for me was that the winds were also in the worst possible directions for catching the unusual call of a Savi’s Warbler, which has been singing to the north east of where the hides are sighted at Blacktoft Sands.  Peter spotted a male Marsh Harrier in the fields to the south of the car park – it was to be a day of exceptional sightings of this raptor species.

Before we had even reached the Visitor centre the morning group had located an extremely confiding young Hare eating grass by the footpath.  This permitted me to get extremely close, actually too close.  I had to pull in my telephoto lens, and even so I was only able to obtain a head & shoulders shot.  We travelled first to Marshland hide we saw 6 Spotted Redshanks in their smart black summer plumage hunkered down with 2 bog-standard Redshanks and a few Lapwings on one of the tiny islands made of bricks.  There wasn’t much else here, just a pair of Shelducks and a Shoveler identified by Andy.

Leveret

 Spotted Redshank (& 2 standard Redshank)

 Sedge Warbler

 Konik Pony

 Spotted Redshank (Coot & Mallard)

 Cormorants

As we left the main area of hides there was one Reed Warbler which gave several excellent views, but too brief to be photographed.  The afternoon group saw this bird even more briefly, but had a much more prolonged views of a Sedge Warbler.  At Ousefleet there was more water than is usual for the time of year, so in addition to 3 completely different male Ruffs and a single Reeve, and a single Green Sandpiper there were plenty duck species, including: Shelduck, Teal, Tufted, and Shoveler.  In Xerox we only just failed to have a big fat zero, but we weren’t exactly overwhelmed with birds.  There were a few Tufted Ducks and Pochard just starting to go into eclipse, and 4 feisty Konik ponies.  Andy spotted a Little Grebe in the far left hand corner of the pool, while Caroline identified a Spotted Redshank, which spent a couple of minutes here before flying west.  

We leap-frogged 2 hides and made our way to Singleton.  There were relatively few birds here, in what can often be the most interesting hide.  However, there were a few Cormorants on the bare part of an island with Pochard and Tufted Ducks, but when 2 Crows flew in all the ducks left.  A Mute Swan sporting a ring flew in to this pool in the afternoon.  However, the best sightings here were the many Marsh Harriers – a maximum of 7 – hunting over the reserve.  It was noted that these were invariably male birds in the morning, but in the afternoon they were nearly all female-type individuals.  The birds were struggling in the stiff winds, but that also made them easier to photograph than usual as they attempted to control their position over the reedbed as they hunted, so the attached pictures of Harriers should be better than I’m normally able to obtain.

 Marsh Harriers

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 Marsh Harrier - 1st time eye visible on one of my photos