Scarborough Birders Pelagic Take 2,Sunday 1st September 2019.

Another organised trip out on the ocean waves with the Scarborough lads today was on the cards and i set off nice and early travelling through the wolds as it began to get light.
 I arrived at at a very sunny,but breezy Scarborough,paid for my parking for the day and headed over to the harbour side to meet the lads.
 After loading the very smelly vats of fermenting fish scraps onto the boat,we were off.
 Today's efforts were really hard work,with no seabirds coming into the food until the return journey back to the harbour,when a hand full of Gannets followed the boat,most passed us by at distance and included 3 Manx Shearwater and a single Bonxie.On the water several Guillemot and a few Razorbill were also seen and a single 'Puffling',with it's dusky face.But it was on the return journey,when things certainly hotted up.
 Micky had saved the majority of the fish scraps for the journey back in along the coastline,as further out we hadn't encountered anything as mentioned above.This at first drew in the usual Herring,Greater and Lesser black-backed Gulls,but then Micky,to his credit called a Caspian Gull.Sure enough a cracking 1st calendar year bird showed brilliantly and then i was pretty sure i had seen another and yes,after looking at shots taken on the camera there were 2.The second bird wasn't as quite as strikingly plumaged as the first and had some tail feathers missing,but it certainly was one!.This was brilliant and gave all on board a chance to capture some images of the 2 birds and a great oppertunity to study this eastern species at close quarters.This was certainly just reward for all the hard work put in on these trips and was a cracking end to what would have been a disappointing trip.
 After docking,i said my good byes to the lads and wandered back to the car and i then decided to head over to Wykeham for a couple of hours,as it is always a great place to sit and watch.
 After arriving at the fantastic vista at the viewpoint and meeting Kieth and his friends from Teesmouth,we settled down to scan the forest and moorland for any raptors.
 It wasn't long before we were watching the first of at least 4 different Goshawk,one juvenile bird which took a disliking to one of the local Buzzards,mobbing it right overhead,with the other birds consisting of 2 immatures and a single adult female.Other birds noted included at least 6 Common Buzzard,a Crossbill and a few Siskins.
 The promised for rain eventually materialised and i my made my way back to the car and home after enjoying another brilliant visit to this cracking area for the hobby.

2nd Calendar Year Gannet.

2nd Calendar Year Gannet.

1st Calendar Year Caspian Gull(1st Individual)

1st Calendar Year Caspian Gull(2nd Individual)

Patch Wader's etc.....Saturday August 31st 2019.

With another decent forecast on the cards today,albeit a breezy one,i headed for the local patch at East Halton.On today's visit,i just covered the area between Winter's and the Skitter along the edge of the mitigation site and then returned along the Humber bank back to Winter's again in a square.
 After picking Mrs R up from work and dropping her at home after her night shift,i made my way over to my parking spot at Winter's Pond.I knew it would be high tide,so i expected a few waders to be roosting on Winter's, i wonder what today would bring.
 After getting the gear together,the first bird i saw was a juvenile Little-ringed Plover feeding on the piece of mud directly opposite the car,a nice start i thought.As i walked around the small copse and began to scan the pit,it became apparent that there were 3 not 1 LRP's present and all were juveniles.These lovely little,clock work waders are always a joy to watch with their stop start feeding action and it would be great to think these 3 are locally bred birds.
 More scanning saw only a relatively small number of Black-tailed Godwits present today,with 140 present,but also 2 Knot and a juvenile Greenshank added a bit of variety.
 There was a huge flock of Greylag's loafing on the pit and eventually i counted a whopping 852 with the regular 14 Canada's also present.Other bits of Wildfowl included the 2 resident Mute Swans,the 4 Tufties that have been here for months now and 25 Coot,but it looks like the Goldeneye has left now.
 I then decided to walk the edge of the mitigation site up to the Skitter,with some lovely big,sunny skies on show giving me a chance to take a few landscape pics.
 Bird wise along here,it was pretty good,with a single Ruff,3 Curlew and 2 Green Sandpiper on the pools,with a distant Marsh Harrier hunting the pasture field at the Skitter.The best bird went to a passerine,with another juv. Whinchat being recorded,after the birds on the 24th.It gave pretty brief views,before disappearing into the sea of thistles,but was nice to see all the same.
 The only other notables along here,were a good sized flock of 135 Goldfinch and 4 Roe Deer,with 2 Doe's and 2 fawns,1 female had twins,which was nice to see and i managed to grab a record shot of one of them.
 A quick search around the Skitter plantation and hedgerows revealed no interesting Warbler's or Flycatcher's unfortunately,but the Skitter area looked like it had decent numbers of waders and wildfowl.
 A quick scan through,saw the unseasonal sight of Dark-bellied Brent Goose browsing on seaweed and i wondered if it could be one of the birds i saw on 30th July here.Other sighting's here today consisted of 3 Ruff,the juv. Spotted Redshank again,as on my last visit,3 Avocet,6 Common Sandpiper,7 Knot,1 Whimbrel and at least 650 Black-tailed Godwit.A good look through the latter revealed another colour-ringed bird with white over a black flag on it's left leg and white over red on it's right leg and I'm waiting for details back on the bird.
 After covering the Skitter area,i slowly headed back to Winter's and the car seeing a flock of 10 Wigeon heading south along the estuary,a sure sign Winter is on it's way.
 Another decent visit today and i look forward to my next here.

Roe Deer Fawn On The Mitigation Site.

Dark-bellied Brent Goose At The Skitter.

Whimbrel Flyby At The Skitter