All quiet on the eastern front...

Thursday 21st July: in search of a yellow-legged gull at North Cave

AMENDED VERSION!

Lazily, I drove down to Crossland hide, got out of the car and chatted with a birder about cameras. Eventually I went in the hide and set up to watch the silt lagoon. Time taken to find my YLG approx. 20 seconds. However I leapt too quickly to the wrong conclusion...Then the bird sat down on the mud for half an hour, hiding his legs and making me wait to get some photos. Eventually he stood up.

Common Gull Common Gull Common Gull As Nigel Stewart has kindly pointed out, this looks much more like a common gull and I'm sure he's right. Fooled by those yellow legs! Thanks Nigel. And more from him later!

An RAF trainer flew over. Spitfire type plane Guess what happened.

Nothing! Common Gull Common Blue Damselfly Common blue damselfly. A couple of commas were about. Comma Two began to chase furiously until they shot up into a tree. I managed to catch them 'in cop' as Matthew Oates delicately describes it! Comma

Red Admiral Red Admiral Teasel Teazel

Saturday 23rd July: Tophill Low and Bempton

A few butterflies were seen but nothing unusual. Gatekeeper, large white, green-veined whites gathering to gather minerals from a wet patch. Gatekeeper Large White Green-veined Whites Meadow browns and small skippers were relatively plentiful.

Meadow Brown Small Skipper A reed warbler entertained me at North Marsh along with a few young moorhens. Reed Warbler Moorhen I assumed wrongly this was a common hawker [but I do find dragonflies very tricky!] Nigel also explained that this is a Southern Hawker. Migrant Hawker I left for Bempton. Decided to try to photograph fulmars and juvenile kittiwakes. The latter were few and far between. Here are the fulmars. Fulmar Fulmar Gannet Fulmar Fulmar Fulmar Kittiwake juv Kittiwake

As I walked the cliff top to Staple Newk a skylark flew quite close.

Skylark Skylark Finally the obligatory gannet. I find the immatures quite attractive. Gannet Gannet Gannet Gannet