I had a nice day out in East Yorkshire yesterday.
The morning dawned bright and I headed out to my favourite place-the Spurn peninsula.
Nothing too dramatic about the ride out although a skein of pink footed geese against the morning sunrise was a nice start.
I headed for the beach at Kilnsea to start with in the hope of some passage wildfowl or sea birds but there was very little on offer.
My next port of call was the Warren and apart from a few finches, again it was very quiet.
News of a snow bunting on the foreshore near the tank blocks crackled over the airwaves, so I headed for the canal banking. On the way I was fortunate enough to have a very brief encounter with a flock of 10 bearded tits before they took flight and headed south.
The snow bunting was typically oblivious to anyones presence so allowed for some nice photos in the early morning light.
It became apparent that there was not a lot about so I headed for the churchyard in the hope of getting a view of the recently arrived Western Bonelli’s Warbler. however it was not to be.
The Church Field can be good at this time of year and yesterday was no exception. Lesser redpolls feeding on seeds and joined by a brambling were a nice autumnal treat.
I had a drive up to Sammy’s Point but again it was very quite. A family of grey partridge were looking resplendent in the sunshine and a common buzzard sat briefly by the side of a dyke.
At around lunchtime, with news of a Western Bonelli’s Warbler at Flamborough, my resolve finally broke and I made my way north.
An hour and a half later I was watching a neat rarity from the Mediterranean (only my third ever-but strangely my second this week following very brief views of the one at Spurn on Tuesday).
It was on a circuit around the pines on a lovely south facing section of the footpath network around south landing. The combination of shelter from the wind and heat from the sun made for the most pleasant of viewing conditions.
Bearded Tit
Bearded Tit
Bearded Tit
Bearded Tit
Bearded Tit
Bearded Tit
Bearded Tit
Snow Bunting
Snow Bunting
Snow Bunting
Snow Bunting
Snow Bunting
Lesser Redpoll
Lesser Redpoll
Lesser Redpoll
Brambling
Brambling
Grey Partridge
Grey Partridge
Grey Partridge
Grey Partridge
Western Bonelli’s Warbler
Western Bonelli’s Warbler
Western Bonelli’s Warbler
Western Bonelli’s Warbler
Western Bonelli’s Warbler