Spurn Point

A weekend at Spurn Point with my daughter Katherine produced some amazing migration with large numbers of migrants passing through.  Thousands of Meadow Pipits, House Martins and Linnets flew low over the Numpties vigmiz point in an almost continuous stream.  In the bushes were dozens of Reed Buntings and Tree Sparrows and many other species.  Then out at sea we saw Gannets, Common Scoter, Arctic Skuas, Little Gulls, a few Manx Shearwaters and a single Velvet Scoter.  As for scarcer birds we found a Yellow-browed Warbler and a Ring Ouzel.  Unfortunately we did not manage to connect with the Rustic Bunting which was found just before we left for home.

The following photos only give a flavour of what we saw.  The quality is not great and several photos were taken in poor light and while it was raining.

Pink-footed Geese - A flock of 29 arriving on Kilnsea wetlands.

Redshank - Over 500 roosted at Kilnsea Wetlands at high tide.

Redshank 

Knot - Several were roosting at Kilnsea Wetlands.

Ruff  

Wheatear - One of several seen.

Common Snipe 

Ringed Plover, Dunlin and Sanderling close to the breach at high tideand in very poor light.

Arctic Skua - The only close one seen.

Ringed Plover and Dunlin - Flying past the seawatching hide.

Other birds seen at Spurn Point immediately before we got there or within a day or so after we left included Red-rumped Swallow, Red-breasted Flycatcher and Booted Warbler.  An amazing place!!

Corn Bunting

My latest U3A bird watching meeting was at Lodge Hill.  Here we managed to see 2-3 Wheatears, a Whinchat, 3 Stonechats, a few Yellowhammers, 2 Ravens, a Sparrowhawk and quite a few other commoner species.  This Corn Bunting was obliging in that it let me move around to a position of good light without flying off.  A nice bird to get these days as they are few and far between in Bucks.

Corn Bunting

One other bird that we failed to see was a bird calling from along a hedgerow to the SE of Lodge Hill.  It sounded very much like a Wryneck but despite a look in the area it could not be located.  Unfortunately time was rather limited.  So the one that got away!

Recent Visits to Little Marlow GP

Since returning from holiday I have made a couple of visit to my local lake.  The first was an evening visit where I was fortunate to find a Wood Warbler.  Unfortunately the view was rather brief and there was no chance of a photograph.  However the Yellow-legged Gull below was more obliging.

Yellow-legged Gull  - An adult.

My second visit was a morning walk where I went around the lake.  Lots of Chiffchaffs calling and a possible distant Flycatcher which I could not relocate.  A Barnacle Goose was a bit of a surprise but no doubt a feral bird. It may even be the bird that spent some time here last year.  Nevertheless it was a smart bird in immaculate plumage.

Barnacle Goose