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!

An Early Red-flanked Bluetail

It is just over a week since I arrived back at Spurn for another autumn as a residential volunteer. My first few days were focused on Migfest 2023 and helping out, where possible, to ensure the event ran as smoothly as possible. It was really great to see some familiar faces again over the weekend and have a good catch up - even when there are not so many scarce birds about Spurn is still great just from a social aspect too. One of the Friday evening talks (Stephen Menzie's educational "Beginners Guide to Moult") was temporarily disrupted when a Short-eared Owl flew over North Field and caused a lot of people to run out of the marquee for some views. However, it was on the Saturday evening that the weather became the disruption. I was sat in the Observatory when some lightning struck insanely close to the building (there is dispute as to where exactly it hit but the consensus seems to be near the pub somewhere). The result was a loud gun-like noise. The impact shook the building and all power was temporarily lost. Most of the lights came back on shortly after but some guests were saying that their lights were no longer working. It soon became apparent that most of Kilnsea had no power. Nonetheless, the Migfest team did a great job at keeping the lectures and other events going.

This past week has had some very quiet days but also some pretty decent days too. So far I have had eight Spurn ticks, four of which were lifers. Undoubtedly, this weekend just gone was the craziest couple of days yet. On Saturday morning I was walking along the Canal Footpath heading towards the Peninsula to do the point counts when I heard an unusual call coming from behind me. It sounded a bit like a weird Quail, which was the way my thought process was going until I realised it was something flying over. Frustratingly I never got onto the bird. I was hoping that I was not the only one to hear it and that maybe someone else had also managed to see it. Sure enough not long later Harry Appleyard appeared from round by the Discovery Centre and asked if I had it. Then Adam Hutt announced on the radio that he had picked up a wader with a call he had "never heard before" going low south past The Warren and down the Peninsula. At this point Harry said he had got a couple of record shots of the bird and so he sent those to Adam. Discussions were still happening on the radio so I asked Harry to suggest to Adam that I thought it sounded like an Upland Sandpiper. Harry then also showed me the pics and that confirmed my suspicions. About a minute later Adam came back on the radio to say that he had listened on Xeno Canto and it was definitely an Upland Sandpiper. Result! A first for Yorkshire that only a few people actually managed to see, but some more people were like me and only managed to hear it. On the same day at Middle Camp down the Peninsula I found a Lesser Stag Beetle, which also turned out to be a first for Spurn, so two firsts on the same day!

Yesterday did not have anything as rare as an Upland Sandpiper but there were plenty of scarce migrants around (the lack of common migrants is concerning though). I once again was doing point counts along the Peninsula. It was quite a strong easterly wind, which on paper looked promising, but equally made birding most of the Peninsula very difficult as most birds were sheltered away. I knew my best bet for finding something was right at the end of the Point. Thankfully once I got there it did not take me long to find my first Spotted Flycatcher of the autumn and then on the way back through that same path on my way back I found the first Yellow-browed Warbler of the autumn here. Jacob Spinks then took over and I headed back towards the Observatory. I hadn't made it far before he found a Barred Warbler, Pied Flycatcher, and 2 Redstart, all of which were along one of the only routes I did not walk. Things were also turning up back in Easington, Kilnsea and the Triangle, with 2 more Barred Warblers and 2 Red-breasted Flycatchers. I had seen on Birdguides that Fair Isle had got a very early Red-flanked Bluetail but I never expected there to be one here so early as well, but amazingly Andy Bunting found one in the 3rd Paddock at Sammy's Point. I was hoping to get one here last year but knew that I was leaving about a week too early as they are much more a classic October scarce migrant. Thankfully I managed to get brief but superb views of Andy's one, which definitely made up for not seeing any of the Barred Warblers or Red-breasted Flycatchers, and even helped heal the pain of the news that there was a Little Stint at Beddington Farmlands back home, which is a much wanted patch tick!

Highlights so far:

Long-tailed Tits (Spurn tick), Fieldfare (Spurn tick), Short-eared Owl, Lesser Redpolls, Barn Owls, Spoonbills, Great White Egret, Barred Warbler, Pied Flycatchers, Pink-footed Geese, Spotted Redshanks, Great Skuas, Little Gulls, Manx Shearwaters, Merlin, Curlew Sandpipers, Little Stints, Pectoral Sandpiper (lifer), Leach's Storm Petrel (lifer), Sooty Shearwaters, Crossbill (Spurn tick), Jack Snipe, Caspian Gulls, Black Terns, Shag (Spurn tick), Tree Pipit, Brent Geese, Upland Sandpiper (heard only, lifer), Yellow-browed Warbler, Spotted Flycatcher, Yellowhammers, Red-flanked Bluetail (lifer).

Merlin

Pied Flycatcher

Left to right: adult Little Stint, Dunlin, juvenile Pectoral Sandpiper and Curlew Sandpiper

Barn Owls above and below

Guillemot

Yellow-browed Warbler

Skagen, 25th May 2023

I headed out to World's End for observation due to the strong north westerly wind and was later joined by Dante. We spent the first part of our observation mostly looking north out to sea. We had 101 Red-throated Divers, which is a good total for this time of year, along with 5 Black-throated Divers and 1 Great Northern Diver. Dante kept a count of the Fulmar and Kittiwake numbers on his clickers and got up to 61 and 42 respectively. The sea progressively got quieter and quieter and not much was happening over the land, other than a nice flyover Rosefinch and a couple of Corn Bunting, so Dante decided to go for a walk around before heading back to the observatory. I stayed out longer and was treated to good views of a Merlin perched up on a post, plus at least two Honey Buzzards and 5 Common Buzzards. On my way back to the observatory I had 6 flyby Cranes.

Over at the ringing site for the day Lauren and Michael caught a thunbergi Yellow Wagtail, which is the first caught by the observatory. They also caught a Water Rail.

Sunrise

Barnacle Goose below:

Male Yellowhammer above and below

Merlin

Lincolnshire Long Weekend

Last Thursday I travelled up to Lincolnshire to see Beth for the first time since we left Spurn. She kindly let me stay round hers for the weekend. On the Friday morning we got up early to head to RSPB Frampton Marsh. As soon as we got out of the car upon arrival we were welcomed by a Marsh Harrier, flyover Rock Pipit and a vocal Brambling over the refurbished Visitor Centre. A friendly Stonechat perched up well for us but typically flew off just as Beth went to get a photo of it! A single Pink-footed Goose was in a field with a flock of Greylags and both a Buzzard and a Peregrine were perched on the same fence. A decent total of 206 Teal were present on the water adjacent to the Visitor Centre. It was great to see the large numbers of Wigeon and Pintail compared to back near me. Thousands of Lapwings flooded the skies when alarmed. At one of the hides, Beth found a female Goldeneye. This was easily my personal bird of the day and only my second ever sighting of Goldeneye after seeing three males by Thorpe Park on the last day of 2021. From the same hide there were also three Ruff with a lot of white in their plumage. Up on the sea bank we were battered by the strong wind whilst Rock Pipits flew around our head and several Dark-bellied Brent Geese fed out on the saltmarsh. A Merlin darted low past us but unfortunately Beth did not see it - I thought she was looking at the same bird but turns out she wasn't so my bad!! By the time we'd walked there the Goldeneye had relocated to "The Reservoir" and was with some Pochard and Tufted Ducks. My eBird list from Frampton can be seen here.

Lapwings above and below

Marsh Harrier

Female Goldeneye above and below

Pink-footed Goose

On the Saturday we headed to RSPB Freiston Shore for a quick walk round before heading off to Gibraltar Point. My day was made almost immediately at Freiston as a group of 8 Whooper Swans dropped in when we were still in the car park. They showed much better than the ones I lifered at Spurn in late September. I also thought I heard a Twite but talked myself out of it. Once we were in the hide, hundreds of ducks (mostly Wigeon) started to drop in and a flock of Golden Plover flew past in the distance. From the Seawatching Hut a Red-throated Diver flew south and a male Red-breasted Merganser flew north, whilst a male Eider was sat out on the mud - there may have been a female as well but it was mostly obscured so couldn't be certain. A Marsh Harrier flushed most of the ducks off of the mud but thankfully the Eider did stay for me to get a rubbish phonescope. 5 Rock Pipits flew above us and their calls actually echoed in the hut. On the way back to the car park we had 2 Lesser Redpoll. Freiston eBird list here.

Whooper Swans below:

Brent Geese

Wigeon above and below

Male Eider

We arrived at Gibraltar Point early afternoon and so enjoyed some food in the Visitor Centre before heading out. Whilst sat by the window we saw 2 Stonechat (one of our faves), and much to our shock 2 Swallow went south. When we left the Visitor Centre there was a Swallow still hanging about feeding and occasionally perching on a fence. Once out on the beach we saw a Red-throated Diver sat on the sea and had some Siskins flying south (there was a report of over a hundred moving at Hunmanby Gap on the East Yorkshire coast). A quick visit into one of the hides provided close views of a Redshank before we then moved to another hide to watch the sunset. The sky was busy with Teal and Pink-footed Geese but yet the sunset seemed so peaceful. Once we were back by the Visitor Centre and it was almost totally dark a minimum of 1,000 Pink-footed Geese called loudly as they flew overhead and I caught a brief glimpse of a Short-eared Owl - in doing so I accidentally broken my promise to Beth that I wouldn't spot an owl without her whilst she had a final pitstop before we headed off. Sorry Beth!! My full Gibraltar Point eBird list can be viewed here. Before heading home we stopped off at Skegness for fish and chips and a brief visit to the amusements - who says we're too old! At 9pm we heard a Tawny Owl from Beth's house.

Barn Swallow and Rabbit

Redshank

Peaceful Sunset

Sound recording of Pink-footed Geese:

The Sunday was very much more of a day of relaxation with no birding planned, but we still managed to see c60 Pink-footed Geese fly over Boston high street, which were presumably forced lower due to the thick fog.