Went to Barmston and South Landing this morning (had unexpected morning/ early afternoon off as lectures cancelled. Nada at Barmston, the light westerlies meant that my sum total after 40 mins was gulls plus 1 Blackbird in off and 5 Common Scoter past and a distant cormorant and a distant group of 15 duck sp. (probably wigeon). No Auks. Went to South Landing as i thought it would be the best chance of getting anything in this weather. Had a massive Great Northern Diver drift past slowly over an...

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Was at the bf meet at Barmston yesterday- had a cracking time, early seawatch was most productive with Red-breasted Merganser for the year, Long-tailed Duck, Common Scoter, Wigeon, Teal, Red and Black-throated Diver and loads of Little Auks (day total 350-400). Had a possible Snow Bunting whilst seawatching. A wande u the coas a little produced a few buntings and pipits all common plus a few waders. Endless Little Auks streamed past. We decided to move up to South Landing on Flamboro for a chance...

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Went birding last monday at Filey and saw some nice birds- Black Redstart as a lifer, Long-tailed Duck for the year taking me to 200 birds in Yorks for the year. Also got some good views in the Country Park of a few Brent Geese. Sexy! On the Tuesday was ringing on Filey top scrub and the first thing we caught was a Sparrowhawk (and 1/4 of a Starling). I was told to process it by my tutor and managed to do so without getting bitten or clawed. Unfortunately i couldnt manage to get a wing length on...

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Had a corking afternoon today down at Wheldrake Ings including two patch ticks and my patch bogey bird was amongst them!! Was a chilly afternoon and there were plenty of tits including an extremely buffy coloured pair of Willow Tits. A bit further along the path i thought i was gonna stumble on more as i heard 'peu peu' but no, it was a pair of Bullfinches (saw 5 in all today, a good count). There were several hundred Greylags and Canada Geese around the reserve along with hundreds of Wigeon and...

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Casual trip to London produced such veritable wonders as Ruddy Duck and Tufted Duck plus Cormorant and my first british Yellow-legged Gull. Ive been waiting for this moment for at least 30 seconds. Woo.

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