Kilnsea Wetlands

January 17, 2016

I had a nice morning on Kilnsea Wetlands and Beacon Ponds yesterday.

The target bird was the reported Slavonian grebe and I thought that the cold weather might have induced some movement with possibly more interesting wildfowl a possibility.

I arrived before dawn to clear skies and small dusting of hail and the temperature hovered around zero.

Nothing of interest around the car park so I made my way to the hide. From there I could see the grebe at the east end so made my way to the screen.

It swam into the bay and showed well but the light was poor hence iso 2500 and no detail.

It was pretty uneventful around Beacon Ponds save for some nice photo opportunities of birds in flight.

All in all a nice morning out in the cold fresh air.

Slavonian Grebe unedited taken at iso 2500

Citrine Wagtail at Spurn

October 05, 2015

I went to Spurn yesterday with high expectations after one of the best weeks for rare and scarce migrants in recent years and hot on the heels of a pied wheatear, citrine wagtail and olive-backed pipit only the day before.

I set off early and arrived at about 6.45 and parked up surprisingly close to the warren. i began my trek down to middle camp really in hope of seeing the pied wheatear.

After a couple of false starts with northern wheatears it soon became apparent that the pied had moved.

With no sign of the citrine wagtail I thought I would head further down on to the point looking for the OBP on the way.

A nice stonechat and a few gold crests were the highlights as I got to the potato field.

It was at about this point when the citrine wagtail was re-located on canal scrape! With a 2 mile yomp ahead of me I set off back up the peninsula and also in the hope that I hadn't left it too late to beat the incoming tide.

I crossed the breach with minutes to spare and then came the news that the citrine wagtail had been flushed by someone with a yapping dog!

I carried on and eventually got back to the car to hear news that the wagtail was on the humber shore so I headed for cliff farm and caught up with a couple of yellow browed warblers, and a nice fly-by great white egret.The wagtail by this time was re-located on the borrow pit so I headed there and before I arrived it re-located again back on to canal scrape!

After a mad dash and a scrum in the hide I managed to gets some shots that I was happy with so headed back to cliff farm.

It was here news of an arctic warbler trapped in the church field led to another mass gathering. It never really showed during the time I was there but very nice all the same.

After that it was about time to head for home another cracking day at Spurn.

Spurn Migrants

September 15, 2015

I've been fortunate enough to get down to Spurn on the last 3 days and it is fair to say that migration id in full swing with any number of common migrants prevalent on each visit.

Saturday was a bit disappointing as the east wind and rain failed to deliver especially as this was preceeded by a nagging southerly wind keeping everything hunkered down.

The best bird from a photographic perspective was a pied flycatcher at sammy's Point, the only other bird of note for me was the Yellow-browed warbler.

Sunday was an altogether different affair.Calm winds and clear skies.I started off at the Crown and Anchor and walked south along the river bank.It was obvious that there was a significant movement occurring as meadow pipits passed overhead, swallows moved over the humber and grey wagtails were evident overhead and along the shoreline.First grounded migrant was a redstart followed by willow warblers and wheatears.

I walked past canal bushes and there were a number of new birds including gold crests more redstarts and whinchats on the grasses by the humber.

I stopped off at the gate and as the tide ebbed I thought I would try for some wader flight shots.redshank, dunlin, knot as well as the odd whimbrel and curlew (one carrying a crab) kept me busy.Some whinchats landed nearby and posed nicely and then one profiteer in the name of a sparrow hawk dropped in not 20 yards away and I reeled off a series of shots as it carried an unfortunate whinchat away.

I retraced my steps and had another encounter with the (or another ) sparrow hawk. Nothing more of note until I reached the churchyard where a pied flycatcher and yellow browed warbler showed quite well.

I had another trip on Monday morning and there was more fog (but no wind) I headed for the gate and as soon as I got out of the car an osprey drifted slowly south.Not a lot around the canal and churchyard save for the odd redstart and pied flycatcher.Even rain on the back of an easterly wind didn't make a big difference.

A golden plover posed nicely just south of Cliff Farm.

I had a walk up to Sammy's Point and spent most of the afternoon there.Three redstarts, a pied flycatcher a spotted flycatcher and a couple of willow warblers and wheatears provided photographic opportunities at least.

Back to Kilnsea for a distant red-backed shrike and finished up watching a redstart, pied flycatcher and spotted flycatcher in Cliff Farm.

All in all avery nice few days, hopefully the winds and rain might bring something new for the weekend.