So the last 2 weeks have seen plenty of great birds hitting the country and particularly the east cost l decided to nip off work early a couple of times, once on the 7th and then the 13th October and with only a few hours I headed to the closest good habitat on the east coast to me. So I picked Great Yarmouth and the cemetery which is a great place for a migrant or two to drop into . I was quickly standing and watching a tree full of Goldcrests , heard a firecrest in there but couldn't pick it up unfortunately . As I walked further round it seemed every tree had a shed load of Goldcrest and as I stood trying to pick something else out I bumped into local birder Tommy ( top bloke!) We got gassin and were soon watching a Yellow browed warbler , & soon 2! We made our way to the north section and as we did I picked up Yet more Goldcrests.
As we continued round and other then a lot of Robins, chiff chaffs and yet more Goldcrests nothing more of interest was seen .
My second trip on Thursday last week , it was noticeabe for there being less Goldcrests but an influx of more Robins . I was joined by Drew as walked round ( nice to catch up with yeh again fella) and we were soon watching a cracking male Brambling which dropped into treetop above us. Then in the south section we both watched as a Woodcock was flushed and flew across our view - Stonking bird in my opinion !
Drew picked out a flying Med Gull and we both heard a calling Grey wagtail. Nothing more of note although a nice Marsh Harrier hunting along acle straight and a large flock of Golden Plover
Now to something a little different . Yorkie ring me this Saturday evening telling me he was going to twitch the Siberian Accentor up in East Yorkshire and wondered if I fancied joining him? Of course the thought of spending a day with yeh best mate and seeing a cracking rare bird among other migrant birds doesn't take much thinking about but it was the time he wanted to leave that made me stop and think again...... 2.45am!!!! I mean I've walked home from a night out at that time a few times ( few years back mind) but get up and leave off for a near 4 hour drive ? Madness or a fantastic idea?! I went with with fantastic idea and after speaking to my understanding wife I agreed and was soon in bed and alarm set.
We set of at 2.45 and had the road to our self virtually until we got towards Humber bridge when traffic picked up a bit. Plenty of birding chat was had in the 4 hour journey and even a bit of footy ( at least the hammers had won the day before to give me something to talk about ! ) and as we left Hull behind us and saw Easington sign posted we celebrated by breaking into song with a burst of "7 nation army " , and before we knew it we was at Easington, East Yorkshire around 6.30am.
We were quickly standing line waiting for the bird to appear as the sun Came up. As we watched a Spotted flycatcher there was a call out to say it's showing. We all gathered at the fence to it, Siberian Accentor!(british bird 270) Cracking little bird too. It was worth all the 4hours of driving in the dark for sure. We gave it 30minutes and watched as the bird went about finding food , sometimes feeding really close to the fence line where we were all gathered. We stayed and chatted to the birders around us and decided to check out Spurn itself.
http://youtu.be/AsFy316nTgA
As we arrived we jammed in on a Dusky warbler which had been trapped and about to be released. Superb little bird and after watching it fly off and hankered down into some bushes. we walked round to the Crown pub car park. Nothing of note there but a Raddes was on show along the bank so we nipped over there quick sharp and was rewarded with great views. Spent a nice bit of time with this busy little bird but unlike most Raddes ive heard about this one showed occasionally well. Raddes Warbler was my 273rd british bird.While there a small flock Bearded Tits flew overhead. I then noticed something resting on the shoreline , a Female Redstart. We stayed for a while and enjoyed watching the Brent geese dropping in and the huge flocks Golden Plover going over head and had some food and We decided to leave off and head to Ackborough for the Swamp hen. As we passed through Kilnsea we picked up 17x Tundra Bean geese at rest in the fields.
As we arrived (10.30am) it decided to rain heavily but we put on the water proofs ( I lent Yorkie my West Ham united hat much to my pleasure) and walked down to view the Square pool area it had been regularly showing at. The rain continued for a bloody hour and then steadily improved . We joined another birder who was wet through and had been waiting there since 8.30am but no sign of it . We gave it till 2pm in which time 7 birders came and went and another dozen arrived . We wished the Cambridgeshire birder ( sorry never caught yeh name) good luck and set off home .
We spoke of how it would have been the icing on the cake to have got the swamp hen but it's a harsh reality that birding doesn't always give u what you want when u want it . We put in 3 & 1/2 hours through some bloody awful weather at times and only a fly over Common Buzzard and Little egret to show for it but what we had seen earlier in the day was one of the mega ticks of my birdwatching list and a couple of crackers joining it too in the notebook .
We arrived home at 5.45pm tired but happy.....no tell a lie we we're more then happy we were BUZZIN! !
Anyways,Cheers for driving Yorkie and thanks for the planning of the day out. Can't wait to see the next mega hit and hopefully it will be in Norfolk and not mean setting off at " silly hours o'clock!"
 |
| silly o'clock |
We set of at 2.45 and had the road to our self virtually until we got towards Humber bridge when traffic picked up a bit. Plenty of birding chat was had in the 4 hour journey and even a bit of footy ( at least the hammers had won the day before to give me something to talk about ! ) and as we left Hull behind us and saw Easington sign posted we celebrated by breaking into song with a burst of "7 nation army " , and before we knew it we was at Easington, East Yorkshire around 6.30am.
We were quickly standing line waiting for the bird to appear as the sun Came up. As we watched a Spotted flycatcher there was a call out to say it's showing. We all gathered at the fence to it, Siberian Accentor!(british bird 270) Cracking little bird too. It was worth all the 4hours of driving in the dark for sure. We gave it 30minutes and watched as the bird went about finding food , sometimes feeding really close to the fence line where we were all gathered. We stayed and chatted to the birders around us and decided to check out Spurn itself.
 |
| Siberian Accentor .no 270! |
http://youtu.be/AsFy316nTgA
 |
| 2 x very happy Birders |
As we arrived we jammed in on a Dusky warbler which had been trapped and about to be released. Superb little bird and after watching it fly off and hankered down into some bushes. we walked round to the Crown pub car park. Nothing of note there but a Raddes was on show along the bank so we nipped over there quick sharp and was rewarded with great views. Spent a nice bit of time with this busy little bird but unlike most Raddes ive heard about this one showed occasionally well. Raddes Warbler was my 273rd british bird.While there a small flock Bearded Tits flew overhead. I then noticed something resting on the shoreline , a Female Redstart. We stayed for a while and enjoyed watching the Brent geese dropping in and the huge flocks Golden Plover going over head and had some food and We decided to leave off and head to Ackborough for the Swamp hen. As we passed through Kilnsea we picked up 17x Tundra Bean geese at rest in the fields.
 |
| Dusky Warbler |
 |
| Tundra Bean Geese |
As we arrived (10.30am) it decided to rain heavily but we put on the water proofs ( I lent Yorkie my West Ham united hat much to my pleasure) and walked down to view the Square pool area it had been regularly showing at. The rain continued for a bloody hour and then steadily improved . We joined another birder who was wet through and had been waiting there since 8.30am but no sign of it . We gave it till 2pm in which time 7 birders came and went and another dozen arrived . We wished the Cambridgeshire birder ( sorry never caught yeh name) good luck and set off home .
We spoke of how it would have been the icing on the cake to have got the swamp hen but it's a harsh reality that birding doesn't always give u what you want when u want it . We put in 3 & 1/2 hours through some bloody awful weather at times and only a fly over Common Buzzard and Little egret to show for it but what we had seen earlier in the day was one of the mega ticks of my birdwatching list and a couple of crackers joining it too in the notebook .
We arrived home at 5.45pm tired but happy.....no tell a lie we we're more then happy we were BUZZIN! !
Anyways,Cheers for driving Yorkie and thanks for the planning of the day out. Can't wait to see the next mega hit and hopefully it will be in Norfolk and not mean setting off at " silly hours o'clock!"
Happy birding
Shaky ⚒
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