The outing for today was to be up on the Yorkshire Coast around the Bridlington/Bempton areas, my day starting in Bridlington at 8:30pm, it was overcast and drizzle when I arrived, it was low tide too, but the sound of Redshanks and the dancing Herring Gull near the car park made up for the dull start. Looking over the harbour mud I also found Turnstones, Dunlins and a single Sanderling, with the continuous sound of calling Herring Gulls and Great Black backed Gulls, I also found a group of House Sparrows around the Lobster pots.
I finally made my way down to the North beach and the harbour wall, at the harbour wall I spent sometime with the Turnstones and Purple Sandpiper, taking photos and videos, also saw an Oystercatcher down here. Time had flown, my car park ticket of 4 hours was nearly up, time had flown, it was time to move on and up to Bempton Cliffs.
Took about 20mins to get there, I had dinner on arrival, listening to the many Pink footed Geese in one of the approach fields, near the overflow car park. After dinner and checking in to the RSPB hub, where I was told most of the action today was around the centre and dell areas, the Owls (Barn and Short Eared) were mainly around the centre area and the fields nearby.
Little action for me around the dell, only finding Linnet, Goldfinch, Tree Sparrow, Great Tit, Robin and Blackbird, there was also a large flock of Pink footed Geese in the adjacent field to the overflow car park, consisting of a few hundred birds. There quite a few people hanging around in groups with cameras at the ready hoping for sightings of the Short eared Owls, so I decided on a walk down to the cliffs, and wait for the Owls later on, there were a lot of Herring Gulls, the seabird colony had now moved off the cliffs for the winter, and were probably on the sea for the winter, until next spring were they will be filling up the cliffs again, a Kestrel ♂, was on sentry duty on the cliffs, looking around for its next meal.
It wasn’t long before the appearance of Short eared Owls started to happen, I saw three birds in all, they were moving around the reserve a bit, hunting in various fields, the photographers were trying to keep up with them. They eventually gave great views, once they had settled , I saw the appearance of a Peregrine whilst watching one Owl, coming over the top of it and moving straight down over to the cliffs.
The best time I saw the owls was late on, about 3:30 – 4:30pm, most people had gone, they were flying around the open field, near to the visitor centre, giving great views as they hunted.
To top the day off a Barn Owl as I drove off the reserve, not a great day for the species list, but it was a good day out.
Video Vlog of the Day can be seen HERE
Birds for the Day inc Brid : Barn Owl, Blackbird, Black headed Gull, Common Gull, Cormorant, Dunlin, Goldfinch, Great Black backed Gull, Great Tit, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Linnet, Oystercatcher, Peregrine, Pink footed Goose, Purple Sandpiper, Redshank, Redwing, Sanderling, Shag, Short eared Owl, Starling, Tree Sparrow, Turnstone, (24)
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Huddsbirder 