Swinemoor in Winter

I have just got round to editing some photos from a couple of weeks ago.

Conditions looked favourable to get the last hour of light shooting into the sunset on Swinemoor near Beverley.

There were continuous flocks of lapwings, dunlin and golden plover all flying in formation and creating some interesting shapes and contrasts against the ever changing sky.

Wind from a North-Westerly direction certainly had some bight in it as the last of the rays disappeared behind the horizon.

The minster also made for a nice backdrop.

Owling With Laughter

I’ve just got round to processing some images from the weeked and what a weekend it was!

We arrived at Kilnsea on Friday night just in time to see a magnificent sunset over the Humber and a little later the night sky was lit up like daylight under s beautiful silvery moon.

I just had enough time to set up our trail camera before it got dark and we were treat to some nice photos and video of a badger helping itself to the peanuts we’d put out for it.

I was up early on Saturday morning and the moon looked just as magnificent over the Humber.

First stop was Skeffling but I didnt fancy it-the Humber seemed too calm so I made my way back to Kilnsea wetlands and Long Bank Marsh. By now the moon was fading but not before I managed a few shots of Shovellers with the moon as the backdrop.

Long Bank was relatively quiet save from common wildfowl and waders-a distant barn owl, short eared owl and mediterranean gull made up the numbers.

The morning was as Spring like as they come-skylarks led the chorus ably supported by curlew and redshank-punctuated only by the sound of a distant gas gun on nearby fields.

I headed back for some breakfast and we had a wander on the beach then back via Hilderness field and Kilnsea Wetlands. nothing of note but just great to be out.

I had a walk up to Sammy’s Point in the afternoon as saw a single short-eared owl that posed nicely in good light. A buzzard, sparrowhawk and kestrel added to the raptor count.

A stoat added to the mammal count.

I headed back to the Wetlands and a barn owl was hunting nearby in nice light.

As the sun dropped it made for a nice sunset and flocking waders and ducks contrasted nicely with orange hues reflecting of the flooded field.

At last light a short eared owl appeared but didnt hang around.

Sunday morning dawned clear with a hnt of wispy cloud-perfect conditions for a nice sunrise. I was in position at 6.15 a full three-quarters of an hour before sunrise. There was plenty to keep me occupied including the barn owl, a short eared owl and whooper swans on Kilnsea Wetlands. A fox made a very brief appearance. Long Bank Marsh was very quiet so I headed for some breakfast at around 8.30.

I spent an hour photographing some common birds around our feeder. We saw our first butterfly of the year-a comma enjoying yet more late winter sunshine.

The final sighting in what was an action packed weekend was a fleeting glimpse of a pallid harrier-the same one re-appearing after an 8 day absence.

What a weekend in the wildlife Mecca that is Spurn.

February Fill Dyke

February Fill Dyke -A rural appellation for the month of February, when rain or melting snow fills dykes with water, says Wikipedia.

That has certainly been the case of late and the dykes are literally fulll as are the fields and everywhere underfoot is somewhere between soggy and boggy.

It would appear that has had no detrimental effect on the birds, in fact in the case of Long Bank Marsh, it has come into its own this winter, it seems the more water the better it gets.

So my plan was to hear there early on Saturday morning and as the forecasted mist didnt materialise the light was quite good.

The morning got off to a good start with a barn owl then got even better when I saw the overwintering whimbrel amongs curlews and redshank.

There were plenty of wildfowl, mainly wigeon with the odd shoveller, teal, gadwall and mallard.

There werent as many different species of wader as I thought there would be and I’m pretty sure that was to do with the size of the tide. Neap tides barely touch the floodbank especially when held back by the wind and that seemed to be the case.

An unusal call had me scrambling about trying to locate a wader above as it flew in, I eventually managed a couple of flight shots and it settled on the edge of a pool at the west end. It was a spotted redshank-another wafer species overwintering in the UK when really it should be somewhere in Africa.

I packed up aroung half nine and made my way back to the caravan.

We had a nice walk around Kilnsea which was made even better when we went through Church Field. We stopped to chat to Jacob Spinks and literally 10 steps after we set off again he shouted us back as he has clocked the juvenile pallid harrier over North Field. Only fleeting views but very nice all the same. We carried on and headed towards the clifftop a single stonechat was the only bird of note.

We wandered back along the road and were treat to prolonged views of a barn owl as it hunted at midday.

After a spot of lunch I headed out to Skeffling in the hope of connecting with the Pallid Harrier.

I parked on the top of the bank and looked west.I immediately saw a harrier in the distance so set off hurredly.

I looked through my bins and saw a bright white rump and immediately thought ‘hen harrier’ it then made its was purposefully in a north easterly direction, giving good views of oits underwing, the ‘four fingers’ of its wingtip confirmed my thoughts=pallid harrier!

Not as rare as they used to be but this finely marked individual was the undoubted highlight of anothe cracking weekend at Spurn.

Sunday morning dawned grey and wet but I had an hour in the hide again on Long Bank Marsh with nothing different from the previous day.