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 Around Our Beautiful Countryside.
After a quick visit to the local patch to carry out my WEBS count this morning,i traveled back home to pick Mrs R up as we had organised to meet up with our friends Dan and Jeanette.
A frustrating journey up to Bemptonin some horrendous traffic,was soon forgotten as we arrived at this lovely cliff top bird reserve.
After finding Dan and Jeanette we then made our way to the various viewpoints to witness the amazing sights and sounds of this seabird city.
After Tracey and myself's previous visit in April,it was heartening to see the huge numbers of seabirds now present and no signs of avian influenza more importantly.
My favourite species Gannets and Razorbills gave some fantastic views as always,a real pleasure to see.
A lovely female Cuckoo and a singing male Corn Bunting were also seen as we had our wander around the reserve,which were great to see.
After enjoying our visit to Bempton we travelled the short distance to Flamborough for some lunch.
After enjoying a lovely meal,Dan and Jeanette had to leave,but Trace and myself walked down to the fog station seeing at least 40 Grey Seals which gave their usual superb views.
The scenery is always a show stopper here and we stopped to take several photos of Selwick's Bay and what a fine sight it is.
After enjoying this beautiful area it was sadly time to travel home,but we certainly look forward to our next visit here.
The following are some images from the day,including all the images of the birds taken with my phone x scope combo.
The continued efforts on the local patch of trying to find something good continues and the yearlist is ticking along slowly with a decent 131 species now.
The following is what i saw over the last 2 visits.
Saturday April 29th
An early start today at the usual spot of Winter's Pond saw the weather being a bit cool as has it been for weeks now it seems.
The main lake was as quiet as ever and i wandered down to the floodbank to scan the Humber,as the wind was from the north east and you never know what may turn up at this time of year....hopefully some Terns.
After an hour or so i gave up and decided to walk around the rest of the site and go and look on the marshes.
I managed to find a missing Warbler from my summer visitors so far this year along here,Lesser Whitethroat,with at least 4 singing males in the Hawthorn scrub around the site,just great to hear their stuttering rattle again.
A few nice waders were present today and included 7 Whimbrel,4 Ruff,a flock of 20 Icelandic Black-tailed Godwits,a single Little-ringed Plover and a pair of Lapwings with at least 1 chick.
Passerines present included 2 male Wheatear and yet another Brambling,this time a female feeding along one of the hedgerows,which was chased by one of the local Reed Bunting males.
Back onto the floodbank and i decided to walk up to the Skitter and it was good to see some better numbers of summer visiting warblers present which was encouraging after what seems like weeks of cool weather.
As i approached the Skitter,a single adult Kittiwake was seen flying leasurely north,a new species for the year.
I then headed inland along the beck and followed my usual route up to Goxhill Haven.
More of the same summer migrants were encountered and the weather had improved nicely now and it was pleasantly warm and a nice surprise was a hunting Barn Owl near Chapel Farm which gave cracking views.
As i passed by the Rookery along East Marsh Road,it was great to see the first fledged young Rooks of the season,still keeping close to the nest and waiting for their parents to deliver their next meals.
At Goxhill Haven the welcome sound of a male Cuckoo was heard,but sadly i didn't see this lovely bird and it added to my year list another summer migrant species.
A total of 4 singing male Cetti's Warblers were recorded between Goxhill Haven and East Halton Skitter and the final addition to the year list was seen feeding in the outfall at the Skitter,a Common Sandpiper,giving it's usual fidgety,bobbing display as it preened.
Migrant totals from the day included 11 Whimbrel,1 Little-ringed Plover,1 Common Sandpiper,20 Sedge Warbler,9 Reed Warbler,12 Sand Martin,24 Swallow,5 Willow Warbler,8 Chiffchaff,6 Blackcap,13 Lesser Whitethroat,17 Whitethroat,2 Wheatear,4 Yellow Wagtail and the male Cuckoo.
A very good count of 82 species was logged during the day
Saturday May 6th
After arriving later than usual after dropping Mrs R at work,i got the kit together and headed onto the marshes first to check if any waders had been dropped in overnight with the heavy rain.
This proved to be a good choice,as i looked up to see all the birds on the site scattering in all directions as an Osprey flew relatively low down towards me,with a group of Shelduck in hot pursuit.
It flew over the marshes and the over Winter's,hovering briefly on 2 occasions,before carrying on its journey and i lost it in the direction of Killingholme Haven.
If only i had remembered to put my memory card back in my camera,i would have had some decent shots!.
After all the excitement of the 'Fish Eagle',i then settled down to look at the waders and wildfowl.
This included a whopping count of 36 Ruff,with 4 very dapper males,almost in full summer plumage and a very good count of 45 Icelandic Black-tailed Godwits.
The latter looked to be nearly all 2nd calendar year birds,so fingers crossed they may summer here,providing the site doesn't totally dry out.
Also here were a single female Wheatear,2 Common Buzzard,2 Redshank,2 Dunlin and 2 whimbrel.
I then walked around to Winter's to see what was present around the site.
Overhead 8 Swift,1 Sand Martin,4 Swallow and 5 House Martin fed on the considerable amount of insect prey.
A singing male Willow Warbler,2 singing male Lesser Whitethroat,3 singing male Whitethroat and 2 singing male Cetti's Warbler all sang out their songs in the hope of attracting a mate.
More scanning over the marshes had me finding another raptor first for the year in the form of a 2nd calendar year Hobby which was catching St.Marks Flies,a habit i have often seen the species do,when sufficient odonata prey isn't available.
The bird gave some nice scope views,before drifting off high west.
Another enjoyable couple of visits to this cracking patch and i look forward to my next visit.
With the prospect of a decent day's weather today,we headed out for North Yorkshire and Helmsley to complete what looked like a really enjoyable circular walk taking in Helmsley and then Rievaulx and the lovely abbey,before looping back to Helmsley.
As we set out it was quickly apparent that the weather forecast was completely wrong again,with thick fog in places,but thankfully as we approached Helmsley it had thinned out.
After getting our boots on we set off and the first half of the walk was under cloud,but took in some lovely scenery and woodland.
We eventually arrived at the lovely site of Rievaulx Abbey and stopped in the cafe for a well earned drink and cake.
After our refreshment stop,the weather thankfully began to break,with a few blue spots beginning to break through the cloud and by the time we made it to Rievaulx Terrace it was breaking out into sunny periods.
The views from Rievaulx Terrace are breathtaking,with some stunning views of the surrounding countryside and the best views of the Abbey also.
As well as the beautiful countryside views,the Wildflowers here were superb and included good numbers of the lovely Early purple Orchids,Bluebells,Primrose,Ramsons,Sweet Woodruff and Red Campion amongst others.
After enjoying the superb views from the terrace we made the final leg of the walk back to Helmsley seeing the outward legs views in a totally different light now with some lovely and welcome warm sunshine.
After arriving back at the car we decided to drive the short journey over to Duncombe Park and visit the International Bird Of Prey Centre.
The 12 pound each entry fee may seem a bit pricey here,but the views of some of the Birds Of Prey on show are amazing and if you couple that with a flying display,it is well worth the entry fee alone.
We had the privilage of seeing Grey Buzzard Eagle,2 Turkey Vulture,Lanner Falcon,Eurasian Eagle Owl and Stellar's Sea Eagle putting on some amazing flying displays,just fantastic.
After enjoying this brilliant flying show and the raptors at Duncombe park,we drove back to Helmsley for some lovely lunch before heading home after a really superb day out!.
Rievaulx Bridge.
Rievaulx Abbey.
Early Purple Orchid,Rievaulx Terrace.
Outstanding Views Of The Abbey From Rievaulx Terrace.
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