Monthly Archives: March 2017

A visit to the Yorkshire Coasts Seabird Colony at Bempton Cliffs on what turned out to be a very very windy day bit of an early visit in the year for me but I was hoping for a Short Eared Owl that had been here for a while now, but with today’s wind I didn’t have any luck.

I started my visit near the visitor centre around the bird feeders out of the wind and found plenty of Tree Sparrows and Greenfinch. Along with these were Blackbird, Dunnock, Chaffinch and Robins

The Seabirds were now returning to the cliffs for another breeding season with the Gannets now gathering in good numbers, along with Kittiwakes, Auks I struggled to find at this time of year with me only finding one Guillemot out on the sea, there were plenty of Rock Dove/Feral Pigeons and a scattering of Fulmars

Birds at Bempton ; Blackbird, Blue Tit, Crow, Chaffinch, Common Gull, Dunnock, Fulmar, Gannet, Greenfinch, Guillemot, Herring Gull, Jackdaw, Kittiwake, Magpie, Robin, Rock Dove/Feral Pigeon, Tree Sparrow

I got call of Shorelarks at Crook Ness near Burniston Scarborough so after my time here I headed the way stopping firstly at Holbeck Car Park for Mediterranean Gull, got some great views of one bird without getting out of the car, there were also Black headed Gulls

Crook Ness is a bit hard to find so if your going, hit Burniston on the coastal road from Scarborough turn right at the mini roundabout and then turn right again down a side road next to the Three Jolly Sailors pub called Rock Lane this joins into a road called Field Lane keep going on this road turn right near the farm and you should come to a small car park

Crook Ness MAP . Walking along the cliff path it was long before I found 4 Shorelarks in the stubble field on the right of the path, they were very flighty and didn’t like me too close, so I let them settle again and they were joined by another 8 birds giving me excellent views on still a very windy day. Down on the beach and rock pools Oystercatchers and Redshanks  and a single Cormorant off shore

Birds at Crook Ness ; Crow, Common Gull, Cormorant, Herring Gull, Oystercatcher, Redshank, Shorelark

Gannets

Mediterranean Gull

Spring weather and longer daylight hours had me reaching for my binoculars on a evening meander around the Calder Wetlands site near Pugneys CP near Wakefield (see My Maps Link), it was only for an hour but always good to be out.

Parked up near the Swan and Cygnet Pub and could hear the call of Wigeon as I was getting my gear together, Cormorant overhead as I made my way on site. Two lakes spilt in half by a pathway, I decided on heading that way as I could view both from there. Little Grebes were calling and soon picked up with the larger Great Crested Grebes, also Coot, Tufted Duck and a few very nice Goldeneye (♂/♀) were close by.

A Green Woodpecker was heard along with a Redshank (which I saw later), and caught sight of a couple of Oystercatchers hiding in amongst the bushes, still couldn’t find the birds I was looking for. Mute Swan and Reed Buntings drew my attention, there was also a few gulls about Herring, Common and Black headed.

I decided on looking thru a few more Tufted Ducks when I finally caught sight of the Long tailed Duck close by and right next to it was the Male Scaup, they both took some finding and my hour was nearly up.

Decided on a quick look at Pugneys only thing of note were 18 Pied Wagtails along the shore line and grass bank

Birds: Blackbird, Canada Goose, Crow,Common Gull, Coot, Cormorant, Goldeneye, Great Crested Grebe, Green Woodpecker, Herring Gull, Lesser Black backed Gull, Little Grebe, Long tailed Duck, Magpie, Mallard, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Redshank, Reed Bunting, Robin, Scaup, Starling, Tufted Duck, Wigeon

Mute Swan