Correction!

I said recently that I had had a good day's birding. And then I thought... surely all days out birding are good at the very least? Sometimes they're amazing like Tuesday March 20th was. The weather was warm, the wind was in his cupboard locked away! I don't think of myself as a fair weather birder but those really fine days are to be savoured. It reached 17 degrees at Saltholme. But first I had to make my first thespian appearance of the year in Scarborough.

Backstage in Scarborough

I set off bright and early to try to find a garganey which was, it seemed, on a pool behind the stage at the Open Air Theatre in Scarborough. My first attempt led me uphill to a sad and abandoned part of Northstead Manor Gardens. This did provide a view down onto the theatre's tiered seating and to the stage and what looked like a rather shallow and unpleasant pool of water. I could see a few mallard. I decided to work my way round to get down to somewhere near the miniature railway. Eventually I was rewarded with fabulous close-up views of this drake garganey.Garganey Garganey

I moved on to Skinningrove where Barry and I had been the previous Sunday, hoping to see a wheatear as they had been reported there. No sign and the pipits were not around either. I glimpsed the black redstart on the rocks but didn't pursue it behind the old pier. However the male stonechat popped up and seemed more inclined to pose in the warm calm shelter of Skinningrove harbour. Then to my surprise up popped his partner, a very pretty female stonechat. The day was proving wonderful. I'll try and see what Saltholme has to offer, I thought. Might as well have a fourth attempt at seeing the ibis!!

Stonechat Stonechat

There follows a short diatribe.

A bridge too far?

Clearly the management of the transporter bridge need a bomb under them. You cannot run a transport link on a purely whimsical basis. Last Sunday it was closed for bungee jumping. On Tuesday it was just closed. No explanation.

They don't publish a timetable showing when it's open. They don't clearly display the charges. In fact it's a mess. Now I understand the bit about high winds may force closure. In fact no wind does too. You might as well not waste your time coming from the Whitby direction because your short cut over the transporter bridge may end up as a detour to avoid it. Why? Because whenever I go it's closed. You might as well dismantle it and send it to the USA!

It's only a little bridge. Should parcel up quite easily:

On to Saltholme!

Before I reached Saltholme the pager flashed up a sighting of water pipits on the fire station pools. So I scampered the Tiguan up to the reserve, circuitously avoiding what the locals call 'the Tranny', parked and strolled over to the view screen. One plump water pipit popped his head up obligingly and then gave us a full view on the top of the bank. A bit too distant to photograph, I'm afraid.

En route to the hill I met Saltholme's Shetland sheep, employed at very low rates of pay to keep the grass at ideal lengths for the reserve's meadow pipits and skylarks. They are attractive animals in a range of colour schemes.

Onwards and upwards, I set off for Haverton Hill. A coach load of birders were on site and most were heading towards me, coming back from the hill. Most said hello but looked a bit dour so I assumed they had seen nothing. Perhaps they hadn't. When I got there two birders were looking at something excitedly. They had seen a bittern. Another man explained where the ibis had recently disappeared in the reeds. 'It'll be back out in a minute,' he said. I hoped he was right. In fact I had barely started hoping when the bird - a long way off by the pipeline - walked into view. Watching through the scope suddenly a golden tablecloth seemed to cover the field of view. I transferred to my bins to see a bittern fly across the reedbed and do a fully visible splashdown in front of us. Well. what a day!!!

4 ticks. 170 Wow!

A good day's birding!

To some extent there is a certain irony to this title as Barry Bishop and I spent a couple of hours sitting on a Saltholme bench overlooking Haverton Hole, waiting for a glossy ibis to appear. It never did! The wind blew from the north-east and was pretty lazy, blowing through me quite uncomfortably. Thirty yards away downhill towards the Allotment Pool it seemed another world - warm and pleasant out of the wind. The sun shone most of the time but made little impact on those waiting for the ibis. Other birds provided some interest, notably great crested grebes. Some greylags flew about noisily. Pochard seemed plentiful.

I forgot to mention that prior to going to Saltholme RSPB we went down the Zinc Road to North Gare and stretched our legs encountering the first meadow pipits of the year.

Great Crested Grebes Greylag Geese Eventually like most of the other birders we called it a day and decided to move on. A short cut over the transporter bridge would hasten our arrival in Skinningrove. However the bridge was closed for bungee jumping. We saw one man dangling inertly. Not for us although Barry fancied the view from the top. I must make sure he achieves that ambition...

We set off again and had more success at Skinningrove. Immediately some pipits were seen - both meadow and a few rock pipits too. Rock Pipit Then I spotted more movement and immediately saw both a black redstart and a stonechat, a very smart male, wearing a ring!Stonechat Black Redstart On the walk back I photographed some redshank together with turnstones and also a group of black-headed gulls frolicking in the surf.

By the car park is a wooden sculpture of a fisherman in the prow of an old boat. He makes an imposing figure.

Next we went up to Hummersea but saw little worthy of report. On then to Scaling Dam. Plenty of wildfowl but most interesting were the white-fronted geese still present in fields across fdrom the petrol station.Black-headed Gull Redshanks

We then headed home. As I said, a good day's birding. One year tick for me and a few more for Barry. All told 60 species of birds seen and not an ibis among them!

All quiet at Fairburn Ings

Went down The Cut on a very pleasant afternoon. Kingfisher flew the full length of the channel; goldeneyes, great crested grebes in evidence. Otherwise little seen. Plenty of birdsong as I turned right at the far end and walked a couple of hundred metres along the ridge. Goosander seen too. Very smart pair of bullfinch on feeders at the visitor centre along with lots of tree sparrow and goldfinch.

No sign anywhere of the first spring migrants and I know people are looking. Lin Dike car park was full. Looking forward to a sand martin, a wheatear and a chiffchaff. And maybe a little ringed plover thrown in for good measure!Wheatear I'm afraid this chap was taken in Wales last year. Time will come and the birds will surely come to me...

The year so far:

Yorkshire birds 69

All Britain birds 165

Lifer British list 374 [5 this year]