Wykeham Forest and the Raptor view point was our first stop of the day with Goshawk in mind. We arrived at about 9am to an empty car park, we got our gear together to the call of Crossbills overhead and eventually settling in the nearby trees, a great start. Setting off then to the nearby raptor viewpoint, a short walk. We were soon joined by more Crossbill, giving off there distinctive calls, along with the Crossbills were Siskins, although the Crossbill were nice to see we were here for raptors, so we started watching the skies.
We soon picked up some raptors over the far ridge, these turned out to be Common Buzzards, along with them however were a couple of Goshawk, bingo. It was more of the same for the next hour with no ground breaking views of Goshawk all staying distant, the Crossbills however were different.
After an hour or so we moved off and headed towards the coast, for the reported Snow Buntings and Shorelarks. We stopped off at Filey Country Park first, in rain and wind, in the search of the Slavonian Grebe. Viewing from the Brigg we picked up Great Northern and Red Throated Divers, Gannets off shore, and a dark looking Rock Pipit at our feet, we eventually picked out the Slavonian Grebe, it was closer in shore than we expected. On the Country Park field were Oystercatchers, Redshanks, Turnstone, and Black tailed Godwits.
Our last port of call was Thornwick Bay Caravan Park, near Thornwick pools, after blots of walking we finally found the field were the Snow Buntings were, very distant, you could make out they were Snow Buntings, but too far to make out any Shorelarks, a pair of Stonechat on the way back to the car was a nice sight
No photos today due to weather but here a short video of a Male Crossbill, press THIS
Todays Bird List : Bat tailed Godwit, Blackbird, Black headed Gull, Buzzard, Crow, Chaffinch, Common Crossbill, Common Scoter, Coot, Cormorant, Fulmar, Gannet, Goshawk, Great Crested Grebe, Great Northern Diver, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Great Tit, Herring Gull, Jackdaw, Magpie, Mallard, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Pheasant, Red Kite, Redshank, Shag, Siskin, Slavonian Grebe, Snow Bunting, Song Thrush, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Stonechat, Teal, Turnstone, Woodpigeon (39)
Huddsbirder 