Dove Stones..Feb 25th ...

 

                                               Under all the snow , spring is with us

Withernsea

 Always nice to find a Med Gull and when its a second winter even better...also a single adult male Twite on the coastal path and a female Marsh Harrier heading north. 70 + Tree Sparrows , 5 Yellowhammer and again loads of Red throated Diver on the sea....

East Coast Kilnsea Wetlands /Beacon Ponds ,

                                                        Dark -bellied Brent Geese

                                                     Herring Gull argenteus

                                                             Common Gull canus

                                                           Incoming Dark - bellied Brent Geese

                                                                      Sanderling

                                                              2nd winter  Herring Gull argenteus

                                                              Dark - bellied Brent Goose

400 + Widgeon , 30 Black -tailed Godwit , 300 Dunlin , 10 Shoveler , 1 Short eared Owl , 25 Sanderling  , 350 Dark bellied Brent Geese , 1 leucistic Brent sp , 6 Gadwall , 4 Little Egret , 50 + Ringed Plover , 180 Redshank , 50 Curlew , 25 Little Grebe ,a massive move of Red throated Diver on the sea with small flocks of 10's a 9 , 6 , 8 heading south , at least 150 + , 3 Great crested Grebe , 160 Pink footed Geese north , Oycks 20 + and a few Mipits and Skylarks heading north.......

Starlings......

Good to hear Starlings in full song today...a good sign spring is nearly with us,,

 

Glossy Ibis 2

 

Glossy Ibis and 5 Little Egret  in a horse paddock at Chapple Six marshes near Mablethorpe. 20 Whoopers , 8 Brent Geese , 100 + Widgeon , 10 Gadwall , 1 Marsh Harrier , and a few Red throated Diver.....

Glossy Ibis....

 

Great Stone of Fourstones

 

Turnstones

 

Haunting image of young dead Seal

 The beach and north Sea  in winter can be a hard place to survive for young and old  seal pups

.......

Purple Sandpiper

 

Adult male Snow Bunting feathers

Found these today on the coastal path near Withernsea  . A raptor victim prob Sparrowhawk or maybe Merlin ...Plenty of Red throated Divers on the sea (40 + ) Fulmar , Kittiwake  and 3 Harbour Porpoise ...great day to be out.....
 

Goldcrest feeding on ground

 

Juv Cuckoo Feathers

Juv Cuckoo

                                                                     Juv Fem Kestrel

                                                         Golden Plover and Red Grouse

  These feathers found in an area of thick heather  at the top of  top  Walshaw Dean res , the other day have caused much debate , from Woodcock to Kestrel , Kestrel to Snipe and even Pheasant . When I found them I was thinking they were probably Woodcock , but after much searching , I am now thinking Juv Cuckoo ...(I am happy to be proved wrong)also Kes

Mussleburgh.....

White Winged Scoter x 1

Surf Scoter x 2 (m and f) 

Velvet Scoter x 100 +

Common Scoter x 10 + 

Long tailed Duck x 50 + 

Ring billed Gull x 1 adult

Med Gull x 1 adult winter

Slavonian Grebe x  17 + 5

Twite x 4 

Bar tailed Godwit x 140 + 

Turnstone x 90 + 

Hooded Crow x 1

Rock Pipit x 35 +

Peregrine x 2 (m and f)

Black Grouse x 3

Guinness x 10 +

  A great weekend with some great rares , but to be honest the spectacle of  Velvet Scoter , Long -tailed Duck and Slav Grebe on the Firth of Forth will stay long in the memory ...many thanks to Gary , Andy , Nick and Adi for some great laughs ...we all needed it..cheers  

 

Lincolnshire coast

                                                4 Velvet Scoter and 5 Long tailed Duck

                                                 9 of 18 Snow Buntings

                                                       Coots and Shag

                                                  7 of 8 Russian White fronted Geese

                                                                   Purple Sandpiper

                                                             Common Gull

                                                                   LEO

                                                            Purple Sandpiper

                                                                Stonechat

                                                             Sanderlings

                                                                 Stonechat

                                                             Turnstone

Spurn Bird Obs

White fronted Geese 

It was funny to hear the Spurn locals saying there was nothing about.....

4 Russian White fronted Geese ,  300 + Dark bellied Brent Geese , 2 Pale bellied Brent Geese , 130 Greylag Geese , 30 Pink -footed Geese , 4 Pochard , 28 Little Grebes , 2 Goldeneye , 10 + Red throated Diver , 4 Snow Bunting , Barn Owl , Short eared Owl , 13 Ringed Plover , Black and Bar tailed Godwit , 48 Grey Plover , Red breasted Merganser , Turnstone , Dunlin , Sanderling , Curlew , Redshank , 400 + Widgeon , Teal , Woodcock , Snipe , Whooper Swan , 2 Siberian Chiffchaff , 1 Chiffchaff , 40 Yellowhammer , Tree Sparrow , Goldeneye , Lapwing , Golden Plover , Little Egret , Shelduck , Sparrowhawk , Peregrine , Kestrel and Buassard...
 

Lincolnshire coast

                                              3 Shelduck Ringstone  November 2021

A few days on the Lincs coast ,,33 Snow Buntings at Saltfleetby , Short eared Owl , 80 Whoopers Swans , 400 Pinks , 3 Barnacle Geese , Little Egrets , Great Northern Diver , Red Throated Diver , Velvet Scoter , 400 + Common Scoter , 30 Dark bellied Brent Geese , Sanderling , Bar tailed Godwit and plenty Grey Plover............. 

Tenerife

 Great to get away for a week in the sun , only bad news was my trusty Lumix blew up on the way out there . So phone shots only .The first few days were spent between the concrete hotels with the smell of food and sun tan lotion over powering. In the local park I counted 43 Canary Island Chiffchaff P .canariensis distinctive explosive call and quite different from our local birds. 2  Hoopoe were feeding on the track and a small flock of 7 Atlantic Canary Serinus canaria . flew over calling. 11 Blackbirds race  T.cabrerae feeding around the water sprinklers and 2 Kestrels race   F.insularum  were hunting along the roadside.100 + Plain Swifts overhead and plenty of  Gulls to looks through on the beach most seemed to be Asores  Gulls larus atlantis  with a few Lesser Black Backed  and Black headed Gulls  . Cory's / Scopolis  Shearwaters were seen in good numbers most days , most looked to have the extensive white inner primary' s...but tbh it was great to watch them in such abundance.....I did find 2 Berthelot's Pipits  between the hotels and the odd African Blue Tit of the Canarian race teneriffae .

A real bonus was the local population of Monarch Butterfly they were common and seen most days drifting around on a massive 4.5 inc wingspan  superb....African Grass Blue , Long tailed Blue , Bath White , Germain Bronse , , Red Admiral , Small Copper , Clouded Yellow , Painted Lady and Canarian species of Speckled Wood and Large White

   A car for a couple of days and a look round the Island for a few specialities started in the high mountain woods at Las Lajas  looking for Blue Chaffinch which was easily found , a flock of 10 Blue Chaffinch and 6 Atlantic Canary around the water taps. 3 Great Spotted Woodpecker , 2 Bussards , 30 + Ravens , African Blue Tit  and a pair of Sardinian Warblers. Then on to Mirador del  Ingles for Bolles Pigeon and Canarian Kinglet ,with also many Canaries Chaffinch tintillon .(below)

                                                         

The next day the aim  was to find the rare White tailed Pigeon which is found on the northern coast at Mirador  las Grimonas , a parking area next to a busy main road on very steep cliffs  but the easiest place to find the Pigeon...I had only been there for 2 minutes and an adult showed very well flying around showing off its white tail and then landed and scope views were excellent. In the area more Bussards , Plain Swifts , Cory's Sheawaters , Kestrels , Ravens and Atlantic Gulls, Atlantic Canarys and the odd Berthalots Pipit.

  The last Morning was spent at Palm Mar , the first bird here was Southern Grey Shrike Koenigi  and before long another 3 or 4 showed well , Spectacled Warbler , Lesser Short toed Lark , good numbers of Berthelots Pipit , Canary Island Chiffchaff  , Grey Wagtail and Sparrowhawk , 2 Barbary Partridge flew across the road and more birds could be heard calling all around.

                                                    Gallotia golloti

 

Bath White