Off down to Cornwall tomorrow with a days seawatching pencilled in for Sunday at Porthgwarra. Nothing locally recently but had a productive visit to egypt with 9 lifers.

Was going to call you but thats a waste of time now. Anyway ,

1. at least that means there will be something at Flamborough tomorrow, and
2. can we all crash at yours when you go away, throwing me tent in the back just in case?

Have a good trip anyway, hope you find something good. I'll get me coat.

Well, the Key is under the birdtable and so long as you dont put muddy footprints across the carpet your welcome. Dont find anything too good.

Seriously considering burgling James’ house now.

There won't be any electrical goods, as they don't have electric in Nafferton yet

Pretty disappointing day on the East Coast, did Flamborough, Bempton , Filey and Wykeham. So many places were deathly quiet, New Fall and the Old tip at Filey especially where there was hardly a bird to be seen. Have spoken to a number of birders who had made the trip out anticipating something after the northerlies and all surprised at the lack of birds.

Spent a good half hour in the same place at the end of Filey Brigg allowing waders to get used and come close. A knot in summer uniform was about 30ft away and slowly moving towards me. Then a couple of loud teenage girls and their mums start to move past me. They were wearing lurid greens and pinks, what does it do? Nowt. They get to 12ft from it, it does nowt, they then start waving their spades at it, pointing it out, still it does nothing. The knot was eventually shifted by a large wave going over the end of the Brigg. So followed their lead and got really close, next time someone whines about a photographer trying to get too close tell 'em birds are thick! Will stick a picture or two on when I get chance but that just about sums up today.

But it was a nice day...

North Sea, Humber Mouth to Foulholme Sands, 0620-0720, aboard MS Pride of Hull

22 knots, visibility 800m, drizzle, bins only, standing up

1 Kittiwake
9 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
4 Herring Gulls
1 Great Black-backed Gull
2 Gannets (1 adult, 1 4CY)
2 Cormorants
2 Tired Arms
1 Total Waste of Time

Graham

I've not had a decent days birding in months, with one thing or another. I know there's not much about this time of year, but since I've got this weekend off I was gonna try and make a day of it. Probably just call in at North Cave this afternoon, then I was thinking of braving the crowds of pensioners and trying Blacktoft Sands tomorrow. Any other/better suggestions?
My yearlist is lagging, so consider pretty much anything a target bird. I was after some less usual waders probably, or garganey would be nice (how about Tophill for these?)

Thanks in advance for any help.

Go to Blacktoft after 6, you'll have it to yourself

This secret may be out. Five cars still there on Monday at 6PM, and most stayed the evening. That's crowded by my standards.

Or walk the north bank of the Humber around Faxfleet - although the birds are distant there can be very large congregations of waders at Trent Falls viewed from Faxlfleet Ness. http://www.streetmap.co.uk/newmap.sr...=newsearch.srf If you've only ever been to Blacktoft viewing from here gives a really different perspective on the area.

And although a long drive round, Alkborough Flats is also wild and empty and worth a visit. (although being in Lincs it should not be advocated on this thread)

Also, Wheldrake and the LDV are never, ever busy. I've had the place to myslef on sunny Bank Holiday Mondays. Don't know what's about at the moment but that's half the fun?

Graham

Anyone know if James is camping?

I don't think I have ever seen a crowd of people at Tophill, apart from when a semi-rare bird turns up. Could also offer the chance of Garganey, although can be very few birds this time of year. Good for Grass Snake so not all bad.

I can picture it now...

He'll find this of use then

They look pretty good Jim. How near do they focus?
Still the birds may compensate... He's seawatching tomorrow, lets see how many pruple heron's he gets this time ;)

Jammy bugger

12:17 10/08/08 Cory's Shearwater Cornwall Porthgwarra
one past the Seawatch Southwest Watchpoint today with 3 Balearic Shearwater, 105 Manx Shearwater, 15 Storm Petrel, Great Skua and 2 Arctic Skua

A quick visit to Fairburn this morning. The five Red-crested Pochards showing from the bridge along cut lane.

On the new flashes the moulting Black-necked Grebe was still present but it can go missing. A very grotty looking bird, rapidly losing its summer dress.

An Arctic Tern was present amongst the Common Terns feeding over the flashes.

Spent the early morning at Blacktoft, (very early) Little Stints, Green Sandpiper, Ruff, Black Tailed Godwits, Spotted Shanks, Yellow Wag....by mid am "coach loads of visitors". However nice to see birds on the move......

I had a cracking morning at the mammal trapping session at Filey Dams. The organisers were very informative and friendly adding to the experience.

The traps had a very high capture rate, with the majority containing Wood Mice. Four more docile Bank Voles and a Single Common Shrew were also captured, along with the highlight, a Water Shrew! A brilliant, well spent morning.

Attachment 154162 Attachment 154163 Attachment 154166

Photos of Wood Mouse, Water Shrew and Bank Vole.

Wheldrake, 1130-1415, showers

1 Garganey, 4 Green Sandpipers, c.30 Mistle Thrushes, c.100 Lapwing, 1 Kingfisher, 1 Wigeon, 2 Shovelor

Families of Reed Warblers and Willow Warblers showing well. Lots of Teal and Mallard. No other waders except a lone Redshank.

No water on yet, river quite high but not nearly as high as the Wharfe at Tadcaster which looked close to bursting by the A64.

Eagle at Wike later, but that was golf.

Graham

Good day today really. Started early at Watton Pits and Tophill Low, was at North Cave for lunch, then on to Crowle Moor and the evening at Blacktoft. I had planned to maybe try Potteric instead of Crowle but dropped that idea thinking I wouldn't have time. I wish I had now, I reckon I could've got past 100 species. As it stands my day's total was 84.

A fair bit at Tophill inc. Spotted flycatcher, kingfisher, Little Gull, Sand Martins, Treecreeper, Blackcap, Reed and Willow Warbler, Green Sandpiper. At North Cave saw Little Egret and Common Sand, as well as the usual. Not a lot at Crowle but saw Hobby on the journey. At Blacktoft got Black-tailed Godwit, Little Stint, Spotted Shank, Ruff, Knot, Greenshank, more Green Sand, Sanderling, Snipe, Water Rail, Reed and Sedge Warbler, Bearded Tit, Marsh Harrier and Barn Owl.

Birdguides has 1 Wood Sand and 3 Green Sand at 1715? Ingsbirder / LDVBirder, was that either of you? Would be surprised if I'd missed a Wood Sand - if so two others in the hide missed it too. Could have dropped in later, of course.

Graham

Saw a red kite soaring above the woods near shipton by beningborough. Wonder if its a young kite on the move.

mark.

That's cool :t:

Hi all

My father is coming down for a visit next week ( we live just east of Hull ), one activity we want to try and do is a 12 hour bird race around East Yorkshire.

I was wondering what suggestions you could come up with for sites ?

I was thinking of starting at Bempton and working my way down - hopefully ending at Blacktoft about 6pm.

Here's the itinery I've thought of so far ;

- Bempton
- Hornsea Mere
- Spurn
- Paull ( I live 2m away so can pop in for food )
- North Cave wetlands
- Blacktoft Sands

Any other suggestions - any spots that would yield results ?

Our record is 74 in Norfolk - I'd love to try and get close to that in E Yorks.

Thanks

Mal Skelton

Flamborough!

I think 74 is probably a realistically obtainable, and probably surpassable total for a day in E. Yorks.

I'm not sure I'd do Spurn, but it's up to you. I just think if you are on a timer, it usually takes me a long while to get there and the journey time could be wasted birding time. I don't know how many species you'd get at Spurn I'm no expert on the area. I only usually visit once a year in Winter.

After my day yesterday, I'd maybe recommend Tophill Low. Good for any common water birds you're missing, and surprisingly good for passerines too.

North Cave was quite quiet yesterday, as it usually is this time of year. Probably still worth a breif visit since it's on the way.

You need some more woodland. I am sure there is some near North Cave... someone will PM you I am sure

yeah, a visit to the Wolds would be handy. Millington Wood or North Cliffe Wood would be useful for eg Red Kite, Buzzard, Marsh Tit, Treecreeper, GSW, Green Woodpecker. Or you might strike lucky and get all those at Tophill Low's small woods (you wont get them all at Hornsea Mere's wood), or a couple of them near North Cave if you're lucky.

I'd be tempted to miss out Spurn too - you'll get all the waders elsewhere and should get all the possible seabirds and regular migrants elsewhere. So unless there is a crop of good scarcities on the day, go inland from Hornsea Mere to Tophill Low for a quick look, then over to North Cliffe/Millington, then down to North Cave.

I'd probably miss Spurn too - you don't want to spend all of your 12 hours driving! ;)

Tophill Low - probably essential to have an hour or two there. And probably a fairly productive place to spend the quieter time around the middle of the day.

I reckon a carefully planned day could net 90-100 species in August. Should be able to get 75 without breathing the sea air!

You need to make sure you bag the easily overlooked birds - Grey and Red-legged Partridge, Stock Dove, Grey Wagtail, Bullfinch, Tree Sparrow, Corn Bunting etc. There's probably 20+ species like that which could easily go missing...

Yes. You'll see all the same seabirds plus easier to see stuff passing by, e.g. terns or the odd skua. Plus you could scout around south landing to get some of the woodland stuff ticked off early...

Hi Mal,

Some of the others seem to have ignored the significant fact that you live just East of Hull, so like me Spurn is probably only a half hour drive from home. It does depend where you are starting from. Flamborough is excellent, but for us it takes almost an hour to get there, longer when holiday-makers are blocking the road in August! There are likely to be fewer of those at Spurn! If you check high tide times first it may even be worth going to Spurn first. Where else in East Yorks could you get good views of Whimbrel, Knot, Dunlin, Grey Plover, Golden Plover & Bar-tailed Godwit without even leaving your car! There are several species of Tern at Spurn and Skuas can often be seen. Of course the later we get through August the greater chance of something interesting after easterly winds at Spurn such as Wryneck & Nightingale, as happened a couple of years' ago. If you didn't want to go to Spurn there is always Stone Creek, also just east of Hull, which has plenty of waders near hide tide, plus Little Egret, Heron, Kingfisher, Barn Owl and there are still plenty of Yellow Wagtails there at the moment.

Perhaps a Plan A & Plan B depending on weather conditions on the particular day would be worth thinking about.

If you're after particular species please send me a PM, as I should be able to give you some ideas, plus directions on how to get there. We regularly visit more than 30 East Yorkshire locations, so there are plenty of options.

Cheers
Michael
East Yorkshire Birdwatching
www.eybirdwatching.co.uk

Hey Michael,
Welcome to BirdForum. I see your posters in lots of East Yorkshire hides! Every time I read the little quote saying "Better than watching Bill Oddie on T.V!" I'm tempted to graffiti it with a little 'What Isn't?', but I promise you I've not done so far, and will continue to refrain from doing so. ;)

All the best,

Yeah, I don't use that comment on the recent posters any more, as we've all come to the same conclusions! If there are still some out there with the old quote, I'll try & get 'em replaced as soon as possible!

Cheers
Michael
www.eybirdwatching.blogspot.com

East Yorkshire Birdrace
 

As time is limited on a birdrace, I wish I'd remembered this earlier. If you are leaving Hull on the A63 & want to take in several species quickly the car park at Brough Haven should be ideal. You may get Golden Plover, Lapwing, Curlew, Black-t Godwit, Teal, Shelduck & possibly Avocet without leaving your car! I have even seen a pair of Bearded Tits next to the car park once, but that was one visit out of 20! They do have Stonechats there in Sept/Oct, but not sure about Aug. Brough's usefulness would depend on tide times, but it is very handy for North Cave Wetlands & depending on your route you should be able to take it in on the way to Blacktoft Sands!

Cheers
Michael
www.eybirdwatching.co.uk
www.eybirdwatching.blogspot.com

This list of species would also be quite achievable at Paull Holme Strays too.

Which area is Brough Haven, the car park to the West of the airfield? I've only visited once or twice, but wasn't sure if there was more to the area. It's interesting you mention Bearded tits there, I've seen them at Faxfleet as well. I guess its not far from Far Ings/Blacktoft as the tit flies.

Ruddy Ducks
 

Not the Glorious Twelfth for them at Potteric yesterday - no Grouse there so they were the target.

Yes, that's Brough Haven car park. If you walk east past the aerospace plant from there you should see several species of duck, plus waders such as Snipe flushed from the Airfield Marsh, especially when a Marsh Harrier flies over! Rarities are seen on the marsh at times, such as Spoonbill, Smew & Spotted Crake (heard only), but you cannot go near the marsh - you must view only from the floodbank. If you carry on eastwards you will eventually reach Welton Waters which should have Kingfisher, Pochard etc & later in the year Goldeneye.

The Stonechats are often on your right in the reedbeds & I have heard Bearded Tits in here on 2 different occasions. The Bearded Tits at Brough Haven stayed long enough for all on the morning class to get good views, plus those on the afternoon session who arrived early. They then flew up vertically & then seemed to head across the river towards Blacktoft.

In the winter if you walk west from Brough Haven along the Humber Bank you may find flocks of grazing Pink-footed Geese near Crabley Creek.

I agree that the list of species is pretty similar to that of Paull, but in a birdrace I think you would probably see them with less loss of time & less walking - unless you decided to walk along the Humber Bank to look into Brough Airfield Marsh!

Cheers
Michael
www.eybirdwatching.blogspot.com
www.eybirdwatching.co.uk

Ah yes, I've done that walk before, to Welton Waters and back. I made the mistake of doing it on a really windy day. I can imagine the airfield being good for snipe and the likes, its covered in long grass, and has the odd little shallow pool, I just always feel a bit conscious using the bins on the airfield! Looks a bit dodgy- there's lots of 'no photography' signs up- I guess it is a security thing. I always thought that airfield looked quite good for Short-eared Owl, have you ever heard of them there?

I suppose if we have a bad winter again we may get Short-eared owls there, but I've not seen any there myself. However, they used to be regular in the similar habitat around Stoney Creek, but they haven't been as numerous round there the last few years, with some years none at all; whereas only a decade ago they were seen every year and often more than one at a time! They do sometimes turn up around Paull Holme Strays though.