Steve's Birding,Wildlife & Walking Blog: July 2017

Monday, 31 July 2017

Marsh Tern Stunner......Barton Pits,28th & 30th July 2017.

After Mark Bannister had found a nice juvenile White-winged black Tern feeding on the Pursuit Pit at Barton,i just had to pay this lovely bird a visit.
So up early after my 2-10 shift on Friday morning saw me heading over to Barton.
On arrival the bird was soon seen and i watched it through the scope as it gave some nice views as it hawked insects over the pit.
It seems ages since i have seen a juvenile and my last was at Covenham Reservoir on the 3rd of October 2004,so re-aquainting myself with a bird of this age is always constructive.
I was then joined by GPC and we watched the bird as it gradually came closer and eventually i managed to get some half decent shots of it,what a super little bird.
Another visit on the morning of the 30th,saw more nice views of the bird eventually,but it spent long periods perched up and my photos were much more distant this time apart from when myself,along with Nige and Steve walked around to the Westfield Lakes end of the pit and it luckily came into land not too far away to join it's adopted Lapwing flock.
This is the third White-winged black i have seen at Barton after a joint find along with GPC of a moulting adult at Pursuit Pit/Ness lake on the 16th July 1994 and a stunning spring adult on the Sailing Pit/Pit 25 which Neil Drinkall found on 23rd of May 2006.

Friday, 14 July 2017

Scarborough Seabirds And Honey B.....Sunday 9th July 2017.

A good forecast today,albeit the wind in the wrong direction really for searching for seabirds,saw me heading bright and early up through the Wolds to lovely Scarborough on the North Yorkshire coast.
I had booked to take a trip out with local Scarborough birders Nick Addey and chief chummer Micky Mcnaghten and others to attempt to see what seabirds we could attract in and find off this cracking coastline,with a lovely concoction of rotting fish,fish ice pops and bread.....i can still smell it now as i write!.
To be fair we didn't see anything out of the unusual on the 4 hour trip,but it was certainly an enjoyable one all the same with superb views of the local Fulmars,a couple of Puffins,Razorbills,Guillemots,Kittiwakes,Gannets and loads of Gulls which included an adult Herring Gull ringed near York earlier in June.
A few land based migrants were also seen which included a couple of hundred Swift south along the cliffs,a Peregrine and a juvenile Kestrel which was seen flying in off the sea 2 miles off the land.The latter sighting was an interesting one and who knows were it originated.
As we sailed back along the coast past Long Nab,the lads beloved local patch,it was great to see what a lovely untouched coastline there is,with some cracking habitat,who knows what was lurking along there last autumn!.
After arriving back on dry land i picked the car up and headed the short distance over to Wykeham Forest where i spent the next couple of hours with Chris and James looking for raptors.
To be honest,it was a bit later in the day than i normally like to visit but we still managed to see several Common Buzzard,at least 2 Goshawk and the cracking pale male Honey Buzzard briefly also.This latter bird was only seen for a couple of minutes as it displayed high over the viewpoint before disappearing out of view,but what a great sight to see again.
This place and area is such a favourite of mine and i have enjoyed fantastic views over the years of the special species that call it their homes.
So,sadly it was time to head back through the Sunday traffic after another excellent day out in this superb part of the world.

A Sunny Scarborough Harbour.

Marine Drive As We Headed Out On The Boat.

Hide And Seek Amongst The Waves.

2nd Calendar Year Puffin.

Surfing Puffin Style.

A Stunning Immature Lesser black-back attracted into the melee.

Fulmar...Words Can't Describe How Much I love These Birds.

Fulmar,What A Bird!.

Fulmar Close Up.

Colour-Ringed Adult Herring Gull,Ringed Near York In June Of This Year.

One Of The Local Herring Gulls,Wanting More Fish.

Sunday, 2 July 2017

Recent Highlight's,25-26th June & 01.07.2017.

Because of the high volume of Dragonfly recording and the lack of birding lately,i have again decided to put together a bit of a compilation of sightings and added some of the photo's taken on my visits to both the cracking Crowle Moor NNR and fantastic little reserve at Messingham Sand Quarries.
To be honest,bird highlight's have been few and far between,but a lovely sighting at Crowle on the 25th June saw the confirmed breeding of Cetti's Warbler,as a pair were seen feeding fledged young and yesterday a cracking 2nd calendar year Hobby was watched hawking dragons at Messingham.
The following is a selection from the above dates of some of the fantastic highlights observed on my visits to both these amazingly diverse reserves.