Steady as we go!

January 20th: Pugney's Country Park near Wakefield

We were looking for a female smew: a birder told us it had flown off 10 minutes earlier ''but I expect it's still around.'' It wasn't! I was lucky to see this fellow coming towards me and quick reactions got me some shots of what I'm pretty sure is the Kumlien's Iceland gull. Making the most of our continued 'smewlessness' I snapped a couple more gulls: lesser black-backed and common gulls.

Wigeon were grazing on the grass just in front of us. We finished the day at Lemon Royd sewage works where I picked up my first grey wagtail of the year and spent some time trying to photograph the water pipits through the wire mesh fencing. Very tricky as the birds weren't close. Here's one example.

January 21st: Moon and decent birding at Lockwood Beck and Greatham Creek

Wolf blood super moon [or rearrange in any order e.g. Super blood wolf moon] got me up early. Exposure was a problem - I should have used a tripod. Best effort: it's a bit of a wobbly jelly! 7.07 a.m. By 8.47 the moon was very bright and back to normal

Later that morning I headed north towards Lockwood Beck reservoir and sat at the feeder station with a mug of coffee. Siskins entertained.

Treecreepers gave me my first close encounter of 2019. Very nice.

On to Greatham Creek to scan for the spotted redshank in its pale grey winter plumage. Picked up straightaway - it stands out like the proverbial sore thumb.

Imperfect photo but it shows the differences: no white wing-bar on spotted and the common has a white triangle up its back whilst spotted has a longer narrow white oval; bills are different too.

Further on down the left bank of Greatham Creek I found my first grey plover of 2019. In fact I found three. Here's one of them.

A pair of shovelers flew off as I walked back to the road.

January 25th: another Smew Hunt

We went to Kirkholme Point, Hornsea Mere. Pretty windy I almost gave up but a group of birders arrived so I decided to have another go. Thrilled to be the one to find it. I ran back to Tiggy to get the big lens and left Sheila keeping an eye on it in the scope. Diving continuously as you might expect.

Later we saw fulmars on the cliffs at Bempton - other than that there were few birds to be seen.

January 26th: Alkborough Flats and Kilnsea

I decided to go to Alkborough and scan Read's Island too for avocets. None seen. Hundreds of golden plover on the mud. Alkborough held many more waders and lots of waterfowl - mainly teal. Hen harrier seen from hide doorway as I left thanks to a birder who had found it quartering a distant hedgeline. Photo shows a marsh harrier.

Later at Kilnsea I saw Brent geese. Also a brand new hide - much bigger then the old one and only installed last week. However it's made of MDF which seems strange. Will it survive everything the wind and tides can throw at it?

134 UK 2019