Category: Uncategorized

A day out on the east coast began with a very quiet seawatch at Flamborough.  A few Manx Shearwaters and some distant passing Puffins were the only birds of any note.  Moving on to Bempton Cliffs, we had to park in the overflow car park’s overflow.  The cliffs nearly gave way under the weight of people.  The only close Puffins were tucked up on their nests, but there’s always something to photograph.

Tree Sparrow

Fulmar

Fulmar

Razorbill

Bank holiday home improvement. The Gannets like weed…

… but the Kittiwakes prefer grass

Kittiwake

The Puffins were tucked up tight

Karen thinks that the Yorkshire Paradise is a cocktail in a Harrogate restaurant, but for me it’s the Strid on a glorious May morning. The only disappointment was the lack of Wood Warblers.

A Mandarin demands food at the popular feeding station

A Spotted Flycatcher poses. Normally I struggle for them here

The Pied Flycatchers were less cooperative than usual

Four Gooslings try and shelter from the sun under mum

Mrs. Mandarin takes the family for a swim

Getting up before five in the morning and still being chided for being late, followed by six or more hours of staring at the sea aren’t really the actions of a sane person.

For those of you who feel you have missed out, get up early tomorrow morning and look at these pictures over the course of a few hours.

Whimbrel

Bar-tailed Godwit

Dark Phase Arctic Skuas

A Whimbrel on the green

Spot the Poms. You may need to view full size, zoom in and then use your imagination.

The lambs are back in the field behind us. This one was very talkative. (Taken with my phone, so the quality’s even worse than normal.)

A moth trap last night yielded hardly anything: only eight macro moths in total.

Mind you two of them were new to the house list, Frosted Green and a very worn Oak-tree Pug, and a Mullein was the first moth we have seen, having had a larva a few years ago.

Mullein

Frosted Green

On the way down south from Harrogate, the lure of the Lincolnshire Bluethroat was too much.  It kept us waiting for nearly an hour, but eventually turned up and put on a show.

A superb afternoon up in the Yorkshire Dales, starting off at Strid Woods (no summer migrants yet, but the usual Goosander, Dipper and Grey Wagtail performed well).  Then further north for both Red and Black Grouse.  Red performed very well indeed.

The Strid

Red Grouse

Red Grouse