Welcome To My Blog,This Will Be Mainly Used As A Diary For My Local Birding Patch At East Halton/Goxhill On The Banks Of The Humber Estuary,With Occasional Twitching And Visits Elsewhere Including Photos From Mine & Tracey's Walks And Holidays Around Our Beautiful Countryside.
With the chance for us both to get out together today, Tracey and myself headed for our favourite destination, Flamborough for the day.
For the first few hours we enjoyed the visit just watching from the lighthouse headland, seeing Grey Seals and the local seabirds passing by which was great. I even saw a Yellow-legged Gull pass by and a couple of Harbour Porpoises.
We then decided, as it was lunch time that we would try and get a table at the North Star around at North Landing. After enjoying our sunday lunch, we went exploring the caves at North Landing as it was a very low tide.
It was great looking around this area, but you certainly need to be very careful and be aware of the tides.
There were still quite a few Kittiwake chicks fledging and it was really nice to see some natural House Martin nests under the cliffs.
After enjoying our time here, it was back up the steep slope to the car after another lovely visit here, what a great place it is.
No Visit Here Is Complete Without A Photo Of The Lighthouse
Selwick's Bay Looking Lovely At High Tide
New & Old, The Modern Day Lighthouse & The Chalk Tower
After the very kind offer from Tim, of a chance to go on a trip to see both the long staying Hudsonian Godwit and Long-tailed Shrike and also a look for Migrant Spreadwing, I, of course, said yes.
After Tim picked me up from home, we travelled over to Doncaster to meet up with Mark, before heading off towards Suffolk.
After having a trouble free journey, we arrived at the car park adjacent to North Marsh at Cattawade beside the River Stour. We got our gear together and headed for the area the Hudsonian Godwit had been seen from.
Straight away we noticed 2 Godwits feeding distantly over the other side of the marshes and were certain one of the birds was the Hudwit. Sure enough after a disagreement with the other Godwit, the bird flapped its wings and revealed the diagnostic black underwings, get in!.
We watched as the bird fed and took in the other identification features, such as the slightly upturned bill, which was more reminiscent of Bar-tailed Godwit and the notable supercilium which extended from the bill base to the eye, being stronger than both Bar-tailed and Black-tailed Godwits. It did look smaller and more compact than the two other species mentioned.
I took some video of the bird, but it was pretty distant to be fair, but will share it below.
A few other species here included Whimbrel, Green and Common Sandpipers and a juvenile Green Woodpecker.
After seeing the Godwit and enjoying views of this new species for me, it was onto site number two for the day, Canvey Island.
After finding parking, we got our cameras and headed off for the famous 'Canvey Island Marshes Ditch', for an account of what we saw here, see this link https://lincolnshireodes.blogspot.com/ . Other notable sightings here included a first for me in the form of a stunning Jersey Tiger Moth and a few birds included a flyby Cattle Egret.
After successfully seeing target number two, we were Gloucestershire bound for our final target of the trip.
After travelling through Essex and along the M25, we eventually made it into the Cotswolds and site number three for the trip, Eastleach Turville.
After parking in the field which a local farmer has gladly allowed people to park in, we walked the short distance along the country lane to where the bird was.
After a few minutes we were all watching our first Long-tailed Shrike for the UK. At first we watched from a distance, but then walked along the public footpath to where the bird was feeding and got some much closer views.
This bird was very smart, but in obvious moult and in my opinion being more reminiscent of a Red-backed Shrike rather than the often mooted confusion species of Lesser-grey on first views.
The combination of solid dark mask from the bill base extending well behind the eye, longish pale based bill, pale grey head and peachy washed flanks making for a very handsome bird.
We watched as it hunted along the adjacent hedgerow, catching several Grasshoppers and occasionally was mobbed by a Whitethroat.
Other sightings while on site included 3 Whinchat, a Red Kite and a Clouded Yellow.
After the bird flew away further, we called it a day and Tim expertly drove us home after another very successful days twitching. A big thank you to Tim for allowing me to come along and Mark for his great company as always.
Jersey Tiger, Canvey Island
Some Phonescoped Images Of The Long-tailed Shrike.
A chance to get out with Mrs R today on her day off, saw us heading for the white peak in Derbyshire/Staffordshire, to carry out a circular walk starting from the picturesque little village of Alstonefield down to Milldale and then up to the caves at Doveholes and Ilam Rock and then back along Halldale to Alstonefield.
The walk is a really nice one, but does take in some steep sections so bear that in mind.
We managed to see some nice birds on the walk which included 6 Raven and 2 lovely Red Kite overhead, plus 3 Mandarins and a couple of Grey Wagtails along the River Dove.
If you like limestone scenery, then this is a walk for you and the added bonus of the caves at Doveholes and Ilam Rock add some extra interest.
With regards to refreshments, Frank's Cafe Hut is a must with superb cakes and drinks and was open when we arrived.
The following are my favourite photos from our day.
Picturesque Alstonefield
St.Peter's Church, Alstonefield.
Looking Across The Fields To Milldale.
Milldale
Ravens Tor, Milldale
The Caves At Doveholes, Dovedale
Ilam Rock, Dovedale
Mrs R, Ilam Rock Bridge
Halldale
Looking Back Across The Fields Towards St.Peter's Church At Alstonefield
Another chance to visit this superb seabird city today in pretty rough conditions which certainly were not forecast, saw me enjoying another great day mainly photographing Gannets again.
I concentrated my efforts again taking pics with my Swarovski ATX 85, Swarovski Phone Adapter & Google Pixel 10 Pro. I'm pretty pleased with the results to be honest, as phonescoping results just get better and better providing you have the patience.
The below photos are my personal favourites from the day, with a couple of videos also attached.
Just Stunning Birds.
Nice To Get Some Photos Of This Relatively Close Fulmar.
I Just Love Watching The Gannets Do This Sky Pointing Display.
