August 2013 archive

Aug 31 2013

Summary August 2013

Summary August 2013

Garden

The weather was a bit mixed for the first couple of weeks of August with some good dry days, some uncertain days and some plain wet ones. The combination of sun and rain has done wonders for the garden and it is easy to see why some birders turn to insects at this time of year as the bees and butterflies have been abundant. There does some to be a, somewhat erratic, return of birds to the garden and some days we see quite a bit. On other days the cast of characters is reduced. But we have started to see juvenile Blackbirds and both adult and juvenile Goldfinches in modest numbers. We have had a Greenfinch coming to eat the black sunflower seeds that I have started putting out again. Indeed even the Blue Tits seem to prefer them. I have head a few Starlings and briefly seen a Dunnock. A Coal Tit has returned to the feeders as well so things are starting to look up in the garden bird department – at least by the middle of the month.
By the end of the month things were mixed again and the garden birds seem to come and go. We did see a Sparrowhawk flying over the garden in settling on a neighbour’s shed.
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Aug 23 2013

Visit to Hoylake for High Tide : 23rd August 2013

Visit to Hoylake for High Tide : 23rd August 2013

We left Burton Mere Wetlands with enough time to get up to Hoylake. As we arrived there were already a few birders on the prom and the birds were already quite a way in – indeed, much closer than they had been earlier in the year when we were last here. We parked up and got the scopes out. The first thing you noticed was that the birds were quite different from those that had been there in Spring. This time there were mind-boggling numbers of Ringed Plovers ; the official count was 1,100. There were also great numbers of Dunlin; again the official count was around 2,500/ But these were not the only birds present in significant numbers. Continue reading

Aug 23 2013

Visit to Burton Mere Wetlands : 23rd August 2013

Visit to Burton Mere Wetlands : 23rd August 2013

I discovered that there was to be a fairly high tide on the Wirral and fancied a trip to the prom at Hoylake to see what birds were to be found there as the tide came in. The tide was due to come in around noon so we stopped off at Burton Mere Wetlands for and hour or two to see what was there. Among the Canada Geese there was a single Barnacle Goose – a not uncommon occurrence there –  and there wer numbers of Lapwing and Black-tailed Godwit. there were also a few Teal starting to collect and also Gadwall and Mallard. As we sat in the reception hide there we saw a Kingfisher fly in and sit on a stick right in front of the hide. One of the RSPB chaps there said that it had been doing this for a few days but we really didn’t expect to see it. It stayed for a minute or so and then flew off but only as far as the Sand Martin bank where it sat for quite a long time giving good – if slightly distant  – views.

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Aug 20 2013

Visit to Aston Rowant NNR, Oxfordshire : 20th August 2013

Visit to Aston Rowant NNR, Oxfordshire : 20th August 2013

Red Kite, Aston Rowant

Red Kite, Aston Rowant

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Aug 08 2013

Visit to Filey Dams : 8th August 2013

Visit to Filey Dams : 8th August 2013

On the morning of the 8th we had got up early and had a walk along Flamborough Cliffs before retuning to the Bempton Cliffs but since we were in the area there was one last place we wanted to visit and that was the one recommended to us at Spurn, the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust site at Filey Dams Wetlands , a freshwater marsh curiously situated in the middle of a bunch of newish housing estates. We had been told that it was fantastic for waders but it seemed a little unlikely at first as we drove around suburban housing estate streets looking for the entrance. We did eventually find it and parked up. There are a couple of hides and we started off at the left side hide, the so-called “Main Hide. Here there were a few Gadwall and a Mallard and a pair of Greylag Geese but not a lot else. We stayed for a while but eventually we decided to take the path to the right hand side to get to the “East Pool Hide” where things improved.

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Aug 08 2013

Visit to RSPB Bempton Cliffs : 8th August 2013

Visit to RSPB Bempton Cliffs : 8th August 2013

On the morning of the 8th we got up early and had a walk along Flamborough Cliffs before retuning to the RSPB site at Bempton Cliffs where I meant to take my 500mm lens and leave my scope behind. It was far too hot to carry both so I decided that it would be interesting to take some pictures with my long lens so I could compare it to the digiscoped photos I had taken the day before at the same spot. I also wanted to try again to see Fulmars and Skuas. In the former case we were lucky getting really good views of two Fulmars, one coming straight at us and veering away only when it was nearly above us.
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Aug 08 2013

Visit to Flamborough Cliffs: 8th August 2013

Visit to Flamborough Cliffs: 8th August 2013

We stayed at the North Star Hotel in Flamborough on the night of the 7th and rose early on the morning of the 8th for an early breakfast and an early (for us) walk along Flamborough Cliffs on an incredibly hot and sunny morning. In fact the temperatures were more like mid-day that 9am but it was beautifully still morning with only the noise of a farmer hay-making to break the sound of silence and birds. As we walked out of the hotel we immediately saw a flock of House Sparrows that were nesting in the roof space of the hotel and feeding in the corn field opposite. As we got to the cliffs a mixed bunch of Swallows and House Martins swooped around and the sound of Kittiwakes could be heard even before the cliffs were in sight. As we walked along the cliff path we saw a pair of birds fly above us and engage in a furious aerial battle – it turned out to be two Peregrines having a fight about something and going at it talon to talon until they disappeared into the distance still fighting.
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Aug 07 2013

Visit to RSPB Bempton Cliffs : 7th August 2013

Visit to RSPB Bempton Cliffs : 7th August 2013

On the second day of our visit to Yorkshire we spent the morning at Spurn before driving up to Flamborough where we were staying at the North Star Hotel. We checked in, had a quick sandwich and a drink and headed off to the RSPB site at Bempton Cliffs where we hoped to see some of the nesting sea birds we had not seen at South Stack on Anglesey – principally Gannets and Kittiwakes, the latter of which seemed to have left the cliffs at South Stack already when we visited in the middle of July. We also hoped to see Fulmars and possibly Skuas as they had been reported to be around quite a bit the last few days. Anyway, we had some hits and some misses.

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Aug 07 2013

Visit to Spurn Head : 7th August 2013

Visit to Spurn Head : 7th August 2013

On the second day of our visit to Yorkshire we actually got to the coast and we started off by visiting the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust reserve at Spurn Head. Everyone has heard of Spurn Head so we were really looking forward to this trip. We drove down the spit past the pub and cafe (where there is free parking) and down to the visitor centre where there is parking included in the entitlement to drive down to the bottom of the spit (they charge £4). It is worth paying because it is quite a walk down to the end of the spit but it is worth going. We did make a bit of a mistake, however, but more of that below.
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Aug 06 2013

Visit to North Cave Wetlands : 6th August 2013

Visit to North Cave Wetlands : 6th August 2013

Our visit to the Yorkshire coast involved a bit of a stay over in Hull so that we could have enough tome to fit in visits to the RSPB site at Blacktoft Sands and the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust site North Cave Wetlands. This is a continuously developing site with a number of bodies of water and scrapes and fields on either side of a long lane that also has a few hides and some “blinds” along one side of the path. There is sometimes a mobile cafe but it had closed for the day and moved off the site by the time we got there. It seems that the lady who provides the service starts very early in the morning ! At the end of the path you can see the gravel and sand pits that are used for extraction and on one side is a spanking new hide that looks over about a 200 degree view of the surrounding bodies of water. This is quite impressive and very comfortable but we didn’t see a great deal from here except lots of Greylag Geese, Ravens and Great and Lesser Back-Backed and Black-headed Gulls. However when we visited other parts of the site, there were some good birds for us to discover. Continue reading