Patch Grippage!

Many of you that know me are aware of how obsessed I am with my patch, Beddington Farmlands. Obsessed in terms of rinsing it and seeing good birds, but also regarding its restoration, its future and its legacy. Today there have been several members of the BFBG on site and they have absolutely gripped me off this morning! Two patch ticks!! I cannot remember the last time it was possible for me to get two patch ticks in a day! Firstly, a Cattle Egret on Phase 1 Wet Grassland and North Lake. Visible from public hides too, which is brilliant. It's the 4th site record - see records on the website HERE. Then, an hour and a half later, they twisted the dagger... adult Kittiwake west. Ouch! First record since 2019. Also a patch tick for Steve Thomas (Tank) so I am glad he got onto it. So despite me being at Spurn (I know where most people would pick if given the option between Beddington or Spurn), it still hurts when a patch tick gets found.

But I cannot complain. Spurn is just fantastic. Even on quiet days there's plenty of birds to look at - waders on the Humber, mass movements and roosts of Starlings in the evening, Whooper Swans, lots of Brent Geese etc. There was a strong westerly wind yesterday and although the point counts around The Triangle were fairly quiet there was still a small scattering on Chiffchaff and Goldcrest in the bushes. I also saw my first Wheatear of the year, a stunning male, on the rocks along Canal Footpath. The other highlight was a Crossbill that I picked up on call going south over Cliff Farm. Jacob got on it down at The Warren too and it just carried on going. It was also a good day for raptors. I saw Red Kite, Buzzards, Sparrowhawks, Kestrel, and Merlin. The others had a Peregrine at The Warren. My full eBird list for yesterday can be seen HERE.

Today the strong westerly continues and actually picks up even more in the afternoon. Point counts were even quieter this morning but it was just nice to be out and about, as always. Having said that, a few more birds would have been a welcomed distraction from the good birds I am missing back home!

Back at Spurn for Another Season

I am back volunteering at Spurn this year but this time I am doing the spring and summer rather than the autumn.. I did apply for the Assistant Warden role but just got trumped by Jacob Spinks. He has lived up at Spurn for the past six years and his knowledge of the area is impeccable. I know he is going to do a great job as the new AW. I am very pleased that I even managed to make it a close call between us and overall the application and interview process was all good experience - the second interview being my first ever in person.

I am looking forward to the season ahead, both in terms of birds that could turn up and also building up more experience so that I can become a stronger candidate for AW applications either here or at other bird observatories. Posts on social media and on this blog have been very slow over recent months, partly to do with having a broken camera lens and partly down to changes at home. However, I do intend to start posting more frequently again in the near future. By some time next week I should be able to take photos again, as thanks to Peter Alfrey I am getting a replacement second-hand lens. After so long being out without the option of taking photos with a camera I am excited to try out the new lens. Hopefully throughout the season it will come in handy when finding some rarities.

I have also started to learn to ring this time - something that I intended to do last autumn but never got round to. After ringing 19 birds in Skagen last summer I am keen to get under way again, with the eventual goal to obtain at least a C permit for ringing. Lots of bird observatories ask for this in AW and some volunteer job descriptions so it will be beneficial to me in that sense, but I am also looking forward to learning lots of new and interesting facts throughout the process - particularly how to age and sex different species. Paul Collins has been great at teaching me the very basics over the last couple of days.

After completing the point counts round The Triangle this morning I joined PC in Church Field. He had not caught much and was considering packing up for the day. Thankfully, he changed his mind so that I could do a few net rounds with him and soon there were more birds turning up in the nets. The star highlights included a female Firecrest and a male Brambling nearing summer plumage, along with several male Siskins, some Chiffchaffs, Redwings, Blackbirds, and Goldcrests etc.

Female Firecrest

Early afternoon Rob gave me a lift up to Withernsea so I could go food shopping. On the way back he (rather impressively) managed to pick out the Black Brant amongst the Brent Goose flock whilst driving along. I soon got onto the bird he was on and being my first ever view of one I was happy that I too could recognise the difference between it and the Dark-bellied Brents fairly easily. Over the next few days I will go and have another look to see if I can pick it out again without anyone's assistance.

Wader Day at Beddington Farmlands

On Friday I met up with Glenn at the Farmlands. He had timed his day off perfectly to make the most of the easterly winds. Most of the time, even when the conditions look good on paper, we end up standing there staring at am empty 'birdless' sky and find nothing of note on the deck. But this time were treated to a few different wader species. Firstly, Nick Gardner found a group of 4 Dunlin on the newly drained Enclosed Lagoon. Glenn and I were elsewhere on site but not too far away so we decided to head round there via Phase 3 Wet Grassland. Before we got there Nick then managed to find an Avocet on Phase 3! We had all separately scanned the area earlier in the morning so this bird was new in, which was a promising sign. It was also only my second Avocet for Beddington and the first for the site since spring 2022. Glenn and I were then shocked to find a Redshank right next to the Avocet! Where we were stood on the mound we could see the 4 Dunlin, Avocet and Redshank all at the same time. It was a great morning and it was the first time in a while were I felt a little bit anxious about having to leave the site before midday. Not much else was reported by others afterwards though. The trio of notable wader species stayed most of the day but by the evening both the Dunlin and Redshank had seemingly disappeared/ The Avocet was not present the following morning.

Avocet