Flamborough revisited!

Headed to Flamborough today with Mrs Kiz & the in-laws after a morning doing my BBS survey, with the highlight being a corn bunting in full song! Just a qick post with a few images which I was quite pleased with!

A few from my BBS survey this morning

Anyone know what these may be from?

                                                                      and these?

A day by the sea - Flamborough South Landing

Myself and Mrs Kiz decided to head to the coast this weekend to enjoy the sun, walking from South Landing at Flamborough to North Landing and back, a 5 mile round trip but well worth it!

Some stunning views along the way and birds too!

First up were masses of House Martins, good to see after poor numbers seen inland, and a few Swallows too.

                                                           House Martin (Delichon urbicum)

Had some very close flypasts which is always fantastic to see and this is my first non blurry shot of a House Martin, ever!

As we tramped on I came across a bird I wasnt expecting to see, one I haven't seen since visiting Scotland in 2011, 3 common Eiders, my favourite sea duck and the heaviest duck in the UK!

  Common Eider (Somateria mollissima)

A good movement of Manx Shearwater was underway heading south not far out so had my best ever views in the scope. There were also quite a few Gannets and Kittiwakes flying around.

This is the first non white butterfly i've seen this year, really shows how late the season is and how its having a bad affect on our butterfly populations.

                                                                             Painted Lady

  Flamborough Lighthouse - Trinity House

Arriving near North Landing I finally connected with the birds i'd hoped to see, Guillemots, Razorbills and last but by no means least, the Puffin!

                                                         Auks - Guillemots, Razorbill & Puffin

                                                                     Guillemots & Razorbill

The Guillemots are the birds with the slender long bills & more brown appearance, there is a Razorbill in the first image on the right hand side at the front of a group of 5 birds, more black in appearance with a more stunted thick bill and a white stripe on the bill.  See if you can find one in the second image!

And the birds everyone loves to see... the Puffin!

                                                                          Puffin (Fratercula)

Stopped off for lunch at Headlands Restaurant for a bite to eat, which was very nice! 
A quick look at some more Auks before a quick march back to the car, time was 
running out on the ticket! 

On the way back I had a quick look in some woodland and managed to find this beauty, 
my first self found Spotted Flycatcher! 

                                                    Spotted Flycatcher (Muscicapa striata)

                                                                                        
A very enjoyable day combining a nice walk with good birding in the sunshine! 

Blog update - in the breeding season

Just a quick note to explain why the blog has not been updated. Its currently breeding season which means I shouldnt post details of certain 'schedule 1' birds as they are protected. I've decided instead of risking slipping up in one of my reports to wind in the blog until the season is over (late July) and until then i'll keep it brief and just post some photos from my recent trips. Hope you stay with the blog, it will get better soon I promise!

                                                                       Pied Flycatcher

                                                                           Ditto

                                                                       Ditto

                                                              Great Spotted Woodpecker

                                                                           Nuthatch

                                                                             Dipper

                                                                          Tawny Owl

                                                                               Siskin

                                                                          Grey Wagtail

Easter Birding

Birding on a glorious Easter Monday, what could be better? Well the wind chill for one, and the clouds that spoilt the start to the day & set in for the rest of the morning! It was a balmy 1c when I set off but the wind chill made it feel much worse. I've not been birding in the LDV for about a month now, way too long and I was surprised at just how much the area has changed again with water levels dropping drastically.

Duffield Carrs

Plenty of birds about at Duffield Carrs today including healthy numbers of Wigeon, Teal, Tufted Duck & Lapwing. Counts of species in less number were as follows: 3 Little Grebe, 10 Mute Swan, 1 Curlew, 2 Canada Geese, 1 Pied Wagtail, 1 male Reed Bunting, 15 Coot, 10 Shoveler (good numbers for a species which has been scarce on the Carrs recently, two were displaying right in front of the hide - fantastic!), 2 Pochard, 4 Moorhen, 1Cormorant, 1 Great Crested Grebe, 3 Pintail & a single Stock Dove. I also noted 5 Goldeneye, 3 males & two females, the males were displaying drawing their heads back almost touching the water then throwing them forward rapidly, it was great to watch!  Circa 300 Dunlin flew through disturbed by something - no doubt dog walkers on the bank as there was a constant stream of these today and none of the dogs were on a lead!

 Coot (Fulica)

 Tufted Duck (Aythya fuligula)

 Shoveler (Anas clypeata)

Shoveler displaying

Moving on to the Garganey hide which is now open (thanks to Natural England for getting this sorted so quickly) I heard 2 Skylark singing over the fields & flushed 2 Red Legged Partridge along the way. From here I soon picked up the drake Scaup and the Aythya Hybrid which has been frequenting the area. Also here were 3 Gadwall & 2 Greylags and other species noted above.

Red-Legged Partridge (Alectoris rufa) Phone-Scoped

On the new feeders at North Duffield Carrs were 4 Tree Sparrow, 2 Great Tit, 1 Blue Tit, 1 Robin & 3 Chaffinch.

I finished up at Bubwith Bridge which was stacked out with ducks mostly wigeon & teal but also big numbers of Pintail with 53 counted which is my personal highest count in the area. 2 Grey Herons were seen here and another over on Duffield Ings which looked brown/grey, wondered if this was a 1st winter bird?

Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea)

I was also afforded excellent views of the two Egyptian Geese which have been around for some time but usually distant and scanning the same field picked up two Oystercaters. A Kestrel flying over Duffield Ings were about as exciting as it got for this side of the bridge.

 Egyptian Geese (Alopochen aegyptiacus) Phone-Scoped

Great to get out again in this ever changing fantastic area. See you next time!