Steve's Birding,Wildlife & Walking Blog: The Scarborough Area,Sunday 26th February 2017.

The chance of a full day out today and a half decent forecast saw me heading out to one of my favourite birding areas in this fine country.
An early start saw me heading through the Wolds and eventually arriving at the Forge Valley feeding station as it was just getting light properly.
A quick scatter of sunflower hearts on the feeding posts had the desired effect,with several species visiting the feeding station which included my targets,Marsh Tit and Nuthatch.
At least 2 of the former and only a single Nuthatch visited while i was there amongst the commoner species which included Coal,Blue and Great Tits,Chaffinches and Blackbird,but were great to see all the same.It is a treat to see these two species as i don't very often encounter them locally.
On to site number two,Hilla Green in the lovely Troutsdale valley and it was beginning to brighten up as i drove through Hackness towards my destination.
After parking up at the little bridge over the Derwent,a quick look on the river, revealed the resident pair of Dipper and they gave some lovely views as always,one of the birds had a silver BTO ring,something i hadn't noticed on this pair before.
A little wander up the road to look on the small ox-bow lake saw another target for the day being seen,Mandarin Duck.Today there were only 2 birds,a pair and they didn't seem to want a strange man looking at them and promptly flew off onto the river.
Back in the car again and around to Wykeham village and up into the forest,with a brief stop at North Moor,as a Roe Deer decided it was a good idea to stand in the middle of the road,before she disappeared into the forest,a lovely sighting all the same and one i always enjoy.
After arriving at the raptor viewpoint car park and getting the gear together i made my way down to the viewpoint.
Thankfully someone has done some pruning at the viewpoint,as there were several saplings beginning to grow up and obscure the view,but now it is great.
Anyway onto the birding,it was particularly windy and with great visibility today allowing fantastic views towards Broxa and the distant Moorland and it wasn't long before i was watching my first Goshawk as an immature bird soared around over the opposite side of the valley.This was followed by at least 7 more birds,which included 2 pairs displaying,giving fantastic views of this beautiful raptor and one was even watched hunting,chasing a Jackdaw.I never did see it catch it's target,but both birds disappeared into the forest.
Other species seen in the air over the valley included 5 Common Buzzard,which included 1 bird displaying,a displaying male Sparrowhawk.Kestrel and a Grey Heron.
A few notable passerines around the viewpoint included at least 15 lovely Common Crossbills,with their distinctive 'Chip chip' calls and at least 5 Siskin.
After enjoying my fill of the woodland birds,i travelled the short journey over to Scarborough to spend the rest of the day here.
Before parking up along Marine Drive i had a quick look on the sea defences in front of Albert Drive cafe to see if any of the wintering Black Redstarts were still present and sure enough after a couple of scans one popped up.
It was actively feeding and a buggar to get near,but i managed a few record shots of this little beauty before moving on.
I parked at post 54 in the hope of seeing the resident pair of Peregrines and sure enough both adult birds were perched on the cliff,no doubt sheltering from the blustery south westerly wind along with several pairs of Fulmar already on their nesting ledges,a great sight and sound to see.
I then walked up to the harbour to see if the other wintering goodies were around and it wasn't too long before i was watching a Great-northern Diver,but only one Black-necked Grebe,perhaps the other was fishing in amongst the boats in the marina area.
It was interesting to see the progress of moult on the Great-northern,with more black feathering beginning to come through on the upperparts and it losing it's scaly juvenile patterning.It gave the usual great views,catching several crabs while i watched it,but the Black-necked Grebe wasn't showy at all and disappeared again,no doubt keeping out of the way of the Great black-backed Gulls that were present.
After enjoying my fill of the birds around the harbour,i decided to end the day at Holbeck with the wintering Med Gulls.
Ten minutes later i was parked up and watching 7 Med Gulls walking around on the grass just feet away,a bit of encouragement with some pack up,brought in another 3 birds making for an impressive 10 birds present.These comprised of 2 2nd calendar year's,2 3rd calendar year's and 6 adults and they gave some fantastic point blank views and the expected photo opportunities as always.
I spent ages just sat on the grass a few feet away from these superb gulls as one of the males continually chased away the Black-headed Gulls present with his puffed out chest display,brilliant to watch.
Sadly it was time to leave,but i couldn't complain after adding 9 species to my year list and enjoying another brilliant visit to this bird blessed part of the world.