Tuesday
10th May 2016 so as I was saying I’ve got to get it all in
by the 18th May, so I’d better get straight to the point this week.
Birding colleagues being away somewhere, Billy
no-mates decided to try and boost the YTD figures ASAP (sounds like some sort
of code!), so armed with a flask of Aunty Marys patent (potent?) coffee, I set
off bright and early for Bempton Cliffs. Apart from a diversion off the M62 to
North Cave (good site – good caravan that does a belly-buster breakfast roll
that will last for the day, which almost made me stop) I duly arrived at the
busy RSPB centre, and headed straight for the cliffs.
I get a very rapid 5 additions
to my list with Guillemots,
Kittiwakes gathering grass for their nests, Razorbills,
Gannets and a small number of Puffins.
Surprisingly I could find no Fulmars, nor Corn
Buntings, so I decided to go to Filey Brigg to try and find the Surf Scoter.
Popped into Filey Dam on the way through, where Tony and I saw 2 Spoonbills in
2011. Locals told us that the resident pair of MALE Mute Swans would never let
them stay and would always chase them off??!!
Only excitement was the 2 eggs on toast at the good
Carr Naze cafe (where a bird sightings book is available for visitors to check
the birding news), and a Skylark with a small grey ring on its right leg. I
have witnessed the regular ringing activity on the headland which the public
are allowed to watch, so this little feller was probably one in their records.
I witnessed a birder at Bempton using his binoculars
for a purpose that I had not seen before, although I knew immediately what he
was doing. (Stop it!!). It reminded me of something David Smallshire had shown
the people on the Exe trip back in February. He had a very small phial of
shells that waders eat, but to see them clearly, he explained that if you look
through binoculars the wrong way round, the binoculars actually act like a
microscope. Try it. Of course at a distance, things do look much smaller.
The birder rather than looking for his
glasses, or manually enlarging the image on his phone, was using his binoculars
to give an enlarged image!!. So there you have it, a pair of binoculars is a
useful app to read your apps!
Wednesday
11 and Thursday 12 Another of our journeys south and a few “dips”,
Mary asks if I heard the Ring Necked Parakeet calling as it flew over at Putney
(No!), but we totted up 20 Red Kites between the M25 and Oxford (Including one
cruising over the car park at Oxford).
Because of the forthcoming event next week, we have
sadly had to cancel the 14 days in Majorca. But if I let my mind wander as I
read Amanda’s daily sightings report whilst she and Noel enjoy the birding
delights of the North east of Majorca, I can almost imagine I am there. (Who am
I kidding.)
I was pleased to hear from Severn Trent at
Tittesworth that they have had 3 sightings of Osprey, and wanted some help and
advice on how to go about putting up nests to try and get some breeding birds.
Gave them what I can at the moment, so that they look at costs etc, and
hopefully we will be able to get a nest up ready for the 2017 season.
So...168 and 4 days to go to “O” day.
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