A sunny day at Bempton Cliffs, sprained ankles and Auks, Gulls & Gannets aplenty!

Ok, I'm going to start this piece with a top tip for the over 50s -

If you must walk the entire length of Spurn Point and back again, don't expect to be able to leap in and out of a campervan like a nimble young gazelle. I tried it and sprained my ankle the day after my last post!

I've been hobbling about ever since and although thankfully the ankle is now on the mend this has severely restricted my movements of late. After a trip to A & E to check that nothing was broken the advice I was given was gentle exercise of said ankle and walk on it as best I can -  so what did I do? Well I had planned a trip out to the RSPB reserve Bempton Cliffs before I damaged myself and even though my own son astutely pointed out that a stroll along the top of the highest cliffs on the Yorkshire was probably not the brightest of ideas for an invalid I did it anyway. It was maybe stretching the medical advice a tad but I get madder with age and I was desperate to get out in the campervan again ......driving if comfortable to do so was also recommended as good exercise so that was all the excuse I needed!

Suffice to say I struggled and my ankle was killing me after just a few hundred yards but I did mange some reasonable shots of passing Gannets, Auks and Gulls. It really is a wildlife photographer's paradise but I was disappointed not to get more Puffins ... they've suffered recently due to some bad weather events in the North Sea and I do hope these comical creatures recover well and have a good breeding season.

Here's the place then. This is a view looking South towards Flamborough Head.

 

Gannet

 

Stacks of Gannets about and some smashing fly past birds at quite close range. This one turned out pretty good!

Kittiwake..... drifting by

There's always been a healthy population of Kittiwakes at Bempton and whilst I'm sure they've declined in numbers over the years along with the rest of the seabirds they certainly seemed to be in abundance on the day I visited. Lovely and gentle looking gulls, rarely seen inland they spend the entire Winter in the Atlantic, they breed on rocky coasts right around the UK and you can tell them from other gulls from their inky black wing tips and of course their distinctive cry from whence they get their name.

 

 

Common Gull ...'lazin on a sunny afternoon'

I've said before on this blog that gulls are 'tricky' little things to ID at the best of times, so maybe I can excuse myself for thinking I'd got a nice Kittiwake yawning in the sun, but just as I was processing this pic I realised it was in fact a Common or 'Mew' Gull ... nice all the same. Bloody hell I've only been birding 35 years and still making basic observation errors! Or maybe I'm just going senile, what the hell, it made a nice picture!

 Yes it was a lovely sunny day and don't we just deserve this flash of Summer the weather gods have served up for us lately ..lets hope its the real deal and not merely an aperitif! Flowers always look 10 times better in the sun and I was amazed at how many Pink Campions were adorning the cliff edges and surrounding fields ... common they may be but anything that turns the normally bleak landscape of Bempton pink deserves an extra large pic in my blog!



Pink Campions

Onto the Auks then and of course at this time of the year the cliffs are thronging with Guillemots, Puffins and Razorbills and their whirring wings and frantic activity certainly bring in the visitors ... the car park at Bempton was full and the birds here attract more visitors than York City football club!

Really tricky to get good shots of auks in flight because their wings beat so fast and unless one has an ultra fast camera they usually come out as a bit of a blur but here's a reasonable Puffin passing by.

 

Puffin .. fly past

Oo er, ouch ... is that a razor Bill?

 

This is really what all the squawking is about of course ..... here's a couple of Razorbills caught on cam. May they all be doing a lot more of it regardless of who's watching (like they care!) ... Auk numbers have declined rapidly over the last few decades, mainly due to marine degradation and subsequent loss of sand eels so all power to the various Wildlife Trust's (and Yorkshire is up there and leading the way) for pursuing the creation of marine conservation areas.

Here's another couple of fine Razorbill specimens, one in flight and one standing proud on the cliff edge.

Razorbill ...fly past

 

Lone Razorbill standing proud

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Somehow I failed to get a single decent shot of a Guillemot on the day but there'll be another time over the next couple of months or so and I hear that certain spots around Flamborough Head are actually better for getting close up views of Puffins so I'll be beating up there soon for that lucky mouthful of sand eels shot!

Meanwhile here's a parting shot of another beautiful bird on the decline around our shores .. its an ocean going Fulmar, neither an auk or a gull, its a 'tubenose' and a relative of the mystical Albatross.

Fulmar






















Spring catch up - some recent images from around York

You maybe wouldn't know it but Spring has finally sprung and although as I write this after a weekend of mainly wet weather, we've had a few sunny days up in Yorkshire haven't we? Yes we have .... about 7 so far I reckon! Oh well, here's to another hit and miss English summer but hey we should be used to it by now and whilst many might continue to agonise over global weather phenomena, I'm just glad to be alive to experience another Spring, to see flowers sprouting, trees budding and birds singing and making merry once again.

Here's the first of 2 posts featuring some choice Spring pics from my recent wanderings, not that I've wandered any further than good old Yorkshire!



Peacock Butterfly

This Peacock Butterfly perched on a Hazel Catkin was taken a couple of weeks ago at Askham Bog on the kind of day when the sun really did shine and we all expected to be short trousers and t shirts until the football season starts again!

















No butterflies on this Willow Blossom at Wheldrake Ings a few weeks ago but striking nonetheless with that windswept blue sky as a backdrop.

Back in April I dropped into the Heslington East site on the university campus here in York and got lucky with a passing Common Tern, it never came quite near enough for a really good shot but I like seeing birds slightly out of context and this migrant floating around the lake next to 100s of oblivious students certainly fits that bill.












Pair of Redshanks getting it on at York Uni!

Not so much 'out of context',  more surprising and encouraging were this pair of Redshanks caught mating on the same site ...... not that students at York Uni need much in the way of sex ed!



















Amazingly there were 25 plus Wheatears recorded on this same site on the same day, I saw 6, but in most years I'm happy just to see 1 or 2 in the York area. Not sure why this has been such a bumper year for these handsome harbingers of Spring or even if its been the same story elsewhere in the UK but I'm sure someone will tell me. Maybe the strong winds from the South in April just funnelled and concentrated them through these parts more than usual?

This striking male (pics right & below) was one of 16 counted in just one ploughed field on Langwith Stray, just a couple of miles outside of York. As with many migrating bird species its usually the males that form the vanguard in order to make an early start on establishing a territory.

 

Back on Askham Bog, although its been a slow old process but the flowers are beginning to bloom now and at last the trees are leafy green again, I'll be doing a special post on some of the unique plant and insect life on the bog at some point later in the season but here's a few pics from last month of typical 'bog birds' enjoying the Spring!



Displaying Wren



Reed Bunting in full breeding plumage

 Displaying Sparrowhawks  ... look at the size difference! (female is the big one)

Singing Robin

Enjoy the Spring, its out there somewhere! 

 

 

 

Spurn Point - first trip out in the campervan!

 Always best to try and remain topical with this blogging malarkey, especially when one's fallen shamelessly behind with posting! No excuses, no drama, just minor life events conspiring to prevent me from sitting down and putting finger to keyboard. Not least of which has been a rather prolonged and somewhat agonizing search and purchase for a campervan ...  but hey its done now and I think I've chosen well ..... here's my vehicle, safely berthed at home after its first trip out.

Its ace! A nicely converted 2.0TD 2001 Ford Transit campervan with everything I need onboard for life on the road ..... space to cook, sit and sleep in, fridge, awning; man its even got central heating! All for £4500 .. job done!








So no excuses now, I can go anywhere, travel in style and put the tent in storage. No excuses for my slack blogposts either, although I continue to busy at the w/e with my recruiting for the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, weekdays I can be off and abroad to my heart's content. I've got lots to catch up on and post so I'm going 'flash post' and 'blitz pic' you with some recent Spring highlights starting with my most recent trip out to Spurn Point just this week. I've posted from this wonderful place before - http://timbobagginsabroad.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/migration-magic-autumn-passage-on.html so I'll not dwell here on its qualities but one of the things that always frustrates about Spurn is that a) its such a devil of a place to get to and b) there's always something better that's been seen the day after you've been! So of course the thing to do is go there and stay there for a few days ... in a campervan!

Tis what I did, and if hadn't been for the weather turning sour I would have stayed another day but hey it was a blast and it was so great to get there at 6.30pm, walk halfway up the point, experience dusk and then be able to go back to my van for a sleep in readiness to do it all again in the morning!



Grey Plover (summer plumage)

Normally you can drive all the way down to the Lighthouse at Spurn but with the track down to the point being closed at the moment (due to running repairs caused by erosion) it puts off all but the most determined from walking the 3 miles down to the tip, so at that time in the evening I had the reserve almost to myself. I was thus almost alone on this magical spit of land and rewarded with some super fly pasts of mainly Grey Plover and Dunlin coming into roost plus a super close Pererine Falcon hunting for the former mentioned waders. No pic of the falcon sadly (it was too quick and I was too enthralled) but as dusk gathered I got a reasonable pic (above) of one of the many Grey Plovers now in glorious Summer plumage.

A couple of Little Terns flew over late on, a new bird for me this year, to compliment sightings of both Arctic and Common Terns; there were several Whitethroats calling from the Buckthorn bushes and a late passage of maybe 100+ Barn Swallows plus singing Sedge and Reed Warblers just outside the van all bode well for the morning, as did this migrant Wheatear that I watched in off the sea and land on a notice board at dusk.

 

Thursday morning alarm set at 04.45 and I awoke in situ at Spurn after a super comfy night's sleep in the van ... this is the life!

 

I walked the full length of point there and back (with several detours this must have been 10 miles!) but I was rewarded by my first UK Red Rumped Swallow, in amongst what must have been 1000 plus Barn Swallows migrating up the coastline. One or two Sand Martins and House Martins in there too .... Spurn really is the best for watching visible migration! I was a bit unsure whether to claim the Red Rumped after calling in at the observatory office and finding out that no other watchers had seen one but after some research I noticed that one was recorded off the Lincolnshire coast on the same day and in the same time frame, so I'm 'avin it!

 



Whitethroat

Apart from the obvious Swallow migration going on there a huge amount going on but I did have 4 Swifts beating down the headland and a Marsh Harrier heading northwards. In the bushes there was at least 1 singing Lesser Whitethroat along with at least 25 Common Whitethroats that seem to have arrived en mass on our shores over the past few days. Here's my best of the day as far as that particular species goes .....

Wheatear (male)


 

This male Wheatear was showing well and I especially liked his choice of perching posts! Have to say though they were few and far between at Spurn, strange that, especially given the huge numbers recorded around the York area recently.

Pied Flycatcher

Skulking around in the middle bit of Spurn near to the Chalk Bank hide I flushed out a nice male Pied Flycatcher and got a reasonable shot before it disappeared into the bushes again.

A bit further along I flushed out another iconic Spurn migrant from the chalk bank - a Short Eared Owl. Both are declining massively as breeding birds in the UK so any glimpse as they pass on their way to less disturbed places are to be savoured!






Short Eared Owl
 

Whinchat

The great thing about Spring passage, especially in May, is that although you might not get the huge numbers of migrating birds as you do in Autumn, you do get to see birds in their Sunday best breeding plumage. I spotted a nice male Whinchat down by the coastguard station that was looking absolutely resplendent as it hopped about on the harbour wall. (pic right)

Most of the waders I saw were also looking good, especially the Bar Tailed Godwits and Turnstones. Several passing Whimbrel about too and whilst its a stretch to view them as colourful and attractive, their annual passing through these parts en route to more Northerly latitudes to breed is always eagerly anticipated.

Bar Tailed Godwit

Whimbrel

Turnstone

..........and, common they may be, but you can't fail to be impressed by massed ranks of Oystercatchers all looking smart and eager to breed!

Oystercatchers

Magical Spurn Point .... I may squeeze in another trip out before the end of May but if not I'm looking forward to spending some quality time there in the Autumn when the place comes into its own as the premier birding hotspot in the UK for watching migrating  birds.









 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

Algarve birdwatching break part 2


Here we go then, part 2 of my recent trip to the Algarve and after spending a very productive few days on the East side part I picked up my mate Mark and we headed off to the wild West!



Sacred Ibis

First port of call was a hotel in Alvor ...hurragh! Comfy bed, catch up & banter, shower and breakfast in the morning after 4 days rough camping was very welcome for my body and spirits! The Western side of the Algarve is much more rugged than the East with high cliffs and pounding Atlantic seas but around Alvor the landscape is still estuarine and 'saltmarshy' and although wader numbers and species were noticeably less, a morning birdwatch around the area produced some good birds including Caspian Tern, Siskin, Quail, Whimbrel, Curlew Sandpiper and a rather surprising Sacred Ibis .... more of an African bird a few have wandered Northwards and established themselves around Iberian landmass.


Caspian Tern

 

What no Quail pics?!! Hah, that'll be the day ... I've never seen a Quail in the wild yet, just as well their call is so distinctive! Plenty of Yellow Wagtails around too ... all of the blue headed Iberian race of course and gorgeous as they are it was a talking point that in more than 25 years of foreign birding trips we'd never seen one of our own British race on our travels ... I wonder where they pass through most often?

Yellow Wagtail (Iberian race)

After Alvor we headed further West and spent a few days around the Cape St Vincent area, the weather took a huge turn for the worst with rain and poor visibility for much of the time but that didn't seem to deter a small flock of Bee-eaters dropping in (on the campsite we were on at Sagres) and also several Alpine Swifts amongst the Commons that dropped down after a cloudburst. 



Campsite at Sagres ... during a rare sunny interlude!

Cape St Vincent was a little too touristy for my liking with far too many people making too much noise and taking the same old pictures of the high cliffs there, but with little in the way of birds to see I ended up taking the same!

 

I did get lucky at a spot further up the coast (3rd of the pics above) with a fast flying male Ring Ouzel beating its way North along the cliff side, so fast I didn't even get the bins on it never mind the camera! Good bird to have. We also had a couple of Great Skuas, stacks of offshore Gannets, Short Toed Eagle, several Auduoins Gulls, Rock Buntings, a single Black Redstart and rather surprisingly 2 Green Woodpeckers flushed from the cliff side all in the same general vicinity, so not a bad haul for a blustery day!

 

Heading back Eastwards towards Faro we stopped off at the Salgados wetlands nr Pera where we had a dashing Hobby chasing waders, 3 Purple Herons in off the sea and our first Reed Warblers an area of good marshland habitat that is sadly threatened by the development of yet another holiday complex. Its an important and unique area on this stretch of coast for breeding and migratory birds such as Flamingoes, Glossy Ibis, Purple Swamp Hen, Ferruginous Duck and Little Bittern, and attracts good numbers of eco tourists anyway without the need for more hotels, especially at a time when hotel occupancy in Portugal is at an all time low ... sheer madness! Both the RSPB and the SPEA (Portugal's equivalent) are campaigning hard to stop this folly and anyone can do their bit by signing the online petition here ....Save Salgados from the Developers

 

Sadly the weather closed in again whilst we were there and I didn't have much chance to get any good bird pics but I did manage a bit of the local flora, and managed to id most ....



Hottentot Fig



Sandstock

 

Cistanche

Unidentified .... working on it!

 

 

 

Bit of a nightmare end to the holiday, especially for Mark .... on returning to the car we were dismayed to see that it had been broken into and Mark's travel docs, passport and cash all gone, along with my rucksack! Caused all sorts of chaos for us both but thankfully all but the cash was found by the local police and we can laugh about it now!

 

Here's the promised list of all bird species seen .... quite impressive for 9 days!

BIRD SPECIES, ALGARVE: MARCH 21ST – 29TH 2013 : TOTAL SPECIES = 149

Red-legged Partridge Common Quail Common Pheasant Canada Goose Mute Swan Common Shelduck Gadwall Mallard Shoveler Teal Red-crested Pochard Black Scoter Little Grebe Great Crested Grebe Greater Flamingo White Stork Eurasian Spoonbill Sacred Ibis Purple Heron Grey Heron Little Egret Northern Gannet Great Cormorant Shag Lesser Kestrel Common Kestrel Eurasian Hobby Peregrine Falcon Black Kite Black-winged Kite

Short-toed Eagle Western Marsh Harrier Hen Harrier Montague's Harrier Eurasian Sparrowhawk Eurasian Buzzard Purple Gallinule Common Moorhen Common Coot Eurasian Stone Curlew Eurasian Oystercatcher Black-winged Stilt Grey Plover Ringed Plover Little Ringed Plover Kentish Plover Common Snipe Bar-tailed Godwit Black-tailed Godwit Whimbrel Curlew Spotted Redshank Common Redshank Common Greenshank Green Sandpiper Common Sandpiper Ruddy Turnstone Red Knot Sanderling Little Stint

Curlew Sandpiper Dunlin Ruff Common Gull Audouins Gull Black Headed Gull Lesser Black backed Gull Yellow Legged / Herring Gull Mediterranean Gull Caspian Tern Sandwich Tern Great Skua Rock / Feral Pigeon Wood Pigeon Collared Dove Great Spotted Cuckoo Common Cuckoo Little Owl Tawny Owl Alpine Swift Common Swift Pallid Swift Common Kingfisher European Bee-eater Hoopoe Great Spotted Woodpecker Green Woodpecker Great Grey Shrike

Woodchat Shrike Eurasian Jay Common Magpie Azure Winged Magpie Common Jackdaw Carrion Crow Raven Common Chough Great Tit Blue Tit Long Tailed Tit Coal Tit Sand Martin Crag Martin Barn Swallow Red Rumped Swallow Crested Lark Eurasian Skylark Woodlark Zitting Cisticola Cetti's Warbler Grasshopper Warbler Willow Warbler Chiff Chaff Sardinian Warbler Subalpine Warbler Reed Warbler Blackcap Wood Warbler Firecrest Nuthatch

European Starling Spotless Starling Ring Ouzel Song Thrush ?Redwing Eurasian Blackbird European Robin Bluethroat Common Nightingale Black Redstart Common Stonechat Northern Wheatear House Sparrow Spanish Sparrow Common Waxbill Dunnock Yellow Wagtail Grey Wagtail White Wagtail Meadow Pipit Chaffinch Greenfinch Linnet Goldfinch Serin Siskin Corn Bunting Yellowhammer Rock Bunting Reed Bunting

 

 

 

 

 

Red-legged Partridge

Common Quail

Common Pheasant

Canada Goose

Mute Swan

Common Shelduck

Gadwall

Mallard

Shoveler

Teal

Red-crested Pochard

Black Scoter

Little Grebe

Great Crested Grebe

Greater Flamingo

White Stork

Eurasian Spoonbill

Sacred Ibis

Purple Heron

Grey Heron

Little Egret

Northern Gannet

Great Cormorant

Shag

Lesser Kestrel

Common Kestrel

Eurasian Hobby

Peregrine Falcon

Black Kite

Black-winged Kite

Short-toed Eagle

Western Marsh Harrier

Hen Harrier

Montague's Harrier

Eurasian Sparrowhawk

Eurasian Buzzard

Purple Gallinule

Common Moorhen

Common Coot

Eurasian Stone Curlew

Eurasian Oystercatcher

Black-winged Stilt

Grey Plover

Ringed Plover

Little Ringed Plover

Kentish Plover

Common Snipe

Bar-tailed Godwit

Black-tailed Godwit

Whimbrel

Curlew

Spotted Redshank

Common Redshank

Common Greenshank

Green Sandpiper

Common Sandpiper

Ruddy Turnstone

Red Knot

Sanderling

Little Stint

Curlew Sandpiper

Dunlin

Ruff

Common Gull

Audouins Gull

Black Headed Gull

Lesser Black backed Gull

Yellow Legged / Herring Gull

Mediterranean Gull

Caspian Tern

Sandwich Tern

Great Skua

Rock / Feral Pigeon

Wood Pigeon

Collared Dove

Great Spotted Cuckoo

Common Cuckoo

Little Owl

Tawny Owl

Alpine Swift

Common Swift

Pallid Swift

Common Kingfisher

European Bee-eater

Hoopoe

Great Spotted Woodpecker

Green Woodpecker

Great Grey Shrike

Woodchat Shrike

Eurasian Jay

Common Magpie

Azure Winged Magpie

Common Jackdaw

Carrion Crow

Raven

Common Chough

Great Tit

Blue Tit

Long Tailed Tit

Coal Tit

Sand Martin

Crag Martin

Barn Swallow

Red Rumped Swallow

Crested Lark

Eurasian Skylark

Woodlark

Zitting Cisticola

Cetti's Warbler

Grasshopper Warbler

Willow Warbler

Chiff Chaff

Sardinian Warbler

Subalpine Warbler

Reed Warbler

Blackcap

Wood Warbler

Firecrest

Nuthatch

European Starling

Spotless Starling

Ring Ouzel

Song Thrush

?Redwing

Eurasian Blackbird

European Robin

Bluethroat

Common Nightingale

Black Redstart

Common Stonechat

Northern Wheatear

House Sparrow

Spanish Sparrow

Common Waxbill

Dunnock

Yellow Wagtail

Grey Wagtail

White Wagtail

Meadow Pipit

Chaffinch

Greenfinch

Linnet

Goldfinch

Serin

Siskin

Corn Bunting

Yellowhammer

Rock Bunting

Reed Bunting