Welcome to my birding blog - first launched 12th March 2012...
10th September 2018
The Day of the Pom
I went back! - September 10th - a Pomarine Skua special
Just had to have another look and I fancied getting closer to the bird when it might be lounging on the beach. No sign initially as I climbed onto the old gun emplacement to scan the area. Eventually I spotted a small huddle of birders who appeared to be watching three bait diggers out on the mud. Back at Tiggy I put the scope up and realised the pom was just sitting there happily with birders to one side and the bucket men on the other. I set off with camera and bins. Scope seemed unnecessary.
In the end I spent the day with the skua. Had to go back for another battery and I almost filled 2 32GB memory cards. An unforgettable day with an utterly confiding bird. One particular moment will live with me forever, I think. I was on the rocky shore with Paul Hackett and we were heading for the breakwater with the dunes behind me. Pom was having a fly round over the main beach area. The bird headed back low down, went behind the dune then swooped straight towards me passing my side just above head height then screamed high into the sky to circuit the breakwater masts. Forget the photography! This was so exciting...
I'll let the pictures tell the story with the occasional comment as I go along. A couple of other birds do creep in but it was very much the day of the pom!
View as I approached - iphone photo
Session One - Redcar end of the beach with various local birders including Peter Garbutt and Don Page. Getting lift-off for such a heavy fuselage as a pomarine skua can be very tiring...
And after all that, Pom sat down again.
Session Two: flight and a brief miscellany of other birds. Pom stood up and was away before we blinked!
Sea rocket cakile maritima
Sanderlings
Wheatear
Session Three: back to Tiggy for a coffee, scone, memory card and camera battery! Then down onto the sand left hand end of the beach. Pom came back, landed, settled down and waited for admirers. Unperturbed on a beach devoid of people and dogs apart from our little group of four birders. We were joined by Paul Hackett a well-known togger.
Final session - squatting on rocks and stuff along the rocky stretch that's at right angles to the breakwater. Pom on the rocks and a final farewell.
Coming in low...
Little is known in avian circles of the nesting story of a pom. Theories abound as to why this bird lingers at South Gare. Wing damage, a damaged foot meaning it can't put full weight on it and so on. In truth the bird is guarding an egg. What's more a pom egg continues to grow after it's been laid. Really big and brown. This is a world exclusive of a pom sitting on its grotesque egg.
Sorry! My little joke by the way!
I started taking bird photography seriously for one main reason: I wanted to photograph birds in flight. Bifs some people call them. And that is how I'll bring my Saga of the Pom to a conclusion: a few nice bifs.
Bird of the Year for me.
[Provisionally.....you never what may come in the next few months!]
233 UK 2018
4th September 2018 ff
Red-necked coot's foot!
As the Greeks would have it. Phalaropus lobatus at Blacktoft - 4th September. Some concern at the lack of water at each of the lagoons I visited [Marshland, Townend and Singleton] as before long they will be too dry to function properly. Rain needed urgently and some big tides.
A few of us saw the spotted crake - albeit briefly. It was right at the back of Singleton lagoon, just to the right of the really big island. Also seen: water rail, ringed plover and green sandpiper plus lots of ruff and godwits. Here's a few of those.
There were lots of these in flower. I find yellow daisies difficult to identify with confidence. This could be hawkweed oxtongue but I'm not sure. Still they look good in September sunshine.
Bempton Cliffs: another Intimate Encounter
I can't recall how many of these special birds there have been this year. It must be six or seven. The wryneck at Bempton on Thursday 6/9 was quite special. The bird eventually came too close for my big lens to focus! Here it is.
Many of us then went to old Fall to try for the Arctic warbler. No luck there: lots of willow warblers, one maybe a couple of pied flycatchers. This bird generated much interest although it was impossible to get a clear view. After much consideration I do think it is a...
...warbler!!!
233 UK 2018
20th August 2018 ff
Thrice lucky at Fairburn!
I saw my first ever cattle egret at Fairburn Ings a good number of years ago and I've seen a few elsewhere since including Tophill Low, Marshside and Burton Marsh. Last year I saw one at Fairburn again so this year's bird is my third at Fairburn. Spoonbill Flash this time - August 20th
Initially the bird played hide and seek among some highland cattle.
From the tin can hide spoonbills flashed past over Spoonbill Flash as they are eponymously supposed to!
South Gare mixture
September 1st
Sheila and I headed up to Redcar to try and see the pomarine skua that has been hanging around thereabouts. On arrival I spotted the bird out over the dunes towards the low tide reefs. Then it landed on the beach giving great views in the scope. We set off across the sand but by the time we got there it had been 'dogged off' as we feared might happen. Sheila tackled the complex rock scramble to reach the breakwater and we headed down to the far end reassured by people saying the bird had been giving close views.
Here's the story in pictures...
Oystercatchers and bar-tailed godwits down on the beach...demonstrating depth of field of my camera settings!
Kittiwake on the breakwater - quite confiding, a genuine frame filler!
There were roseate terns flying around too.
First views of the pomarine skua were well out on the sea.
The pom was joined by an arctic skua - nice comparison shots. They flew off heading south: the arctic kept going but the pom swung back towards us...
Excitement grew as the bird kept coming closer...
Final views on the water as the wind carried it slowly further out.
A great afternoon's birding!
231 UK 2018
11th August ff
August 11th: Alkborough Flats
Sheila and I drove over the Humber Bridge to Alkborough [August 11th] to try to spot a blue-winged teal. I suspect we would have failed had there been no-one there. The bird in question was fast asleep and showing no recognisable features.
Eventually it began to preen. It was a good way off and, as the hide was overflowing, we were about 30 feet further than those inside and had to scope the bird from the path. Anyway, here it is.
August 18th: North Gare Bushes, Seaton Carew
A trip up to Seaton Carew yesterday [August 17th] resulted in a difficult hunt for the correct site. When Sheila and I eventually found it [400m past the sewage works] everyone else seemed to have had the same problem. Obviously the info was inadequate and misleading. Worse still we never saw the bird although having found the little group of birders that seemed a victory in itself.
I went back early the next morning - at least I knew where to go this time and, to save my legs, the bird had moved 100m closer to the car park. On top of that it showed intermittently and rather distantly but I got a few reasonable photos and the bird remained unaware it was being watched as it pottered in the buckthorn bushes.
A fresh looking willow warbler came close to me. Let's see that bird first.
Here's the western Bonelli's warbler taken in various parts of the buckthorn scrub.
226 UK 2018
4th-9th August 2018
A case of déjà vu!
August 4th - Buffy flies in to Blacktoft
Always distant, I did my best to get some decent images.
August 8th - Back to Blacktoft
I suppose I wanted a better photo of the buff-breasted sandpiper. Did I succeed? Not too sure - but I had a pleasant afternoon. Green sandpipers and yellow wagtails too. You'll know which are which...
The buff-breasted had flown off apparently - which explained why there was plenty of room in Marshland hide. And, it came back!
Eventually something unseen spooked everything and Marshland was quiet. I headed for Townend as I knew it liked to go there too...
The bird decided to come our way and set off on a long walk...
...and then the long walk back...
August 9th - Back to Kilnsea
No sign off the red-backed shrike, just the smell, reminiscent of a roadside snack bar, of food cooking in the new cafe they've built. Seems a strange place for a cafe and it's got a strange name too: The Discovery Centre. It was full of people believing they were doing their bit for nature watching the starlings on the feeder.
Under the Orwellian rules which currently apply I may well be banned frrom YWT land for expressing such opinions. All I will say is that the current situation is very sad and needs to be resolved. YWT must realise that some people are saying sensible things...
Birds. I went back to Kilnsea Wetlands. A wall brown posed on the bank as I approached - strong male sex brand.
An immature med gull was on the second spit.
Dunlins busy feeding.
Eventually went back to the canal zone. David and Chris told me to talk to a Scotsman who was 'on' the shrike. This worked out well although [and I know my hearing is rubbish] I could only understand bits of what he was telling me! Here's the target bird.
The bird dropped out of view so I went to Canal Scrape hide. Swallow still feeding young. Shrike duly appeared.
Snipe in front of hide.
Action in the reeds just to my left. Sedge and reed warblers both looking fresh.
224 UK 2018