A busy day!

Barry and I set off from York for Saltholme on a drizzly morning but the skies looked brighter in the north so we hoped for the best. In fact it turned out in the end to be a really nice and very productive day. First we called at the viewscreen by the fire station pool looking for the water pipits I saw recently. We couldn't locate any so we decided to spend a while in the Phil Stead hide as the reserve didn't open until 10am. The pool was so barren I stepped outside and returned to the fire station pools. Three or four birders had arrived. I was pleased to be the one who found a water pipit!

So part one of the plan complete we headed for Haverton Hill [yet again! - 3rd time] to see the elusive ibis. Glossy Ibis Here he is on the fire station pool - however this is from last year. We never saw it and we missed the garganey that was reported later that day. But we did spot a house martin - particularly pleasing. After a couple of hours and not wanting to waste the day we returned to the visitor centre to regroup and have a coffee. I even succeeded in buying a kit-kat.

Off to Skinningrove to see if we could find dippers on Kilton Beck. We pulled in about 200m after turning off the A174. We didn't see any dippers but the stream looks a suitable habitat. There was quite a lot of water running that afternoon. Here's one I prepared earlier - from Bolton Abbey.

Dipper Next we called at Scaling Dam. A wood duck had been reported but there was no sign. However a little ringed plover gave good views near the hide. The bar headed goose we saw nearby on Roxby Moor farm on 11.02.2012 was still present.

Little Ringed Plover Now where? Well, shorelarks had just come up on the pager in Filey at the Old Tip. So we decided to go for them. I refound the site fairly easily [after one false turn] and we soon encountered a group of birders. A helpful lady explained it was at the end of the field in a tree. Not wishing to look stupid or to disagree, Barry said: 'Oh, yes. Very good.' Bins stuck on our faces we soon realised the birders were not looking for shorelarks at all but had a very good view of a great grey shrike. Barry was picking up year ticks like nobody's business! Here's my 2012 shrike from Wroot:

Great Grey Shrike He was on the other side of the river!

The nice lady explained that there were also some shorelarks up on the tilled field. So we set off. For the second time that day I found them much to the delight of one young man and of one slightly older man as they had both just seen a lifer! This was turning out to be a classic day!

Shore Lark!!

Spot the shore lark!! [Photo taken at Theddlethorpe Lincs]

Time was drawing on and we had covered a fair few miles already. I headed home. However the pager mentioned cranes at Sherburn. Very tempting, as they would not be far off the A64...

After a minor mistake I got us to Ruston Carr bridge. Barry soon had a barn owl, a short-eared owl and a couple of cranes!!

We headed home. Barry later reported we had seen 65 species of bird - about 8 ticks for Barry and two for me.

188 for the year. So far................