Thursday October 8

Our last full day dawned sunny for once. A light westerly, but I still decided to spend my last morning exploring the fields around the cottage.

Two hours later I was somewhat regretting the decision as very little noteworthy had come to my attention. In fact the best sighting was made as Lyn and I prepared to head for Scarborough for the non-birding part of the day, when a flock of 60 Pink-footed Geese flew noisily south.

Earlier I did at least manage to finally nail a photograph of one of the many Tree Sparrows which inhabit the hedgerows around here.

Tree Sparrow (if only it was at Morton Bagot)

Other than that the bright sunshine was at least good for photography, and I was quite pleased with one of the local Robin singing in the garden.

My next post should be from back at Morton Bagot.

I can hardly wait.

Wednesday October 7

Unsure as to when the rain would start, but quite certain the fog/mist was sticking around, I headed back to Hawsker Bottoms. Here, I was pleased to discover that the ringer, John McEachen, was catching birds at the sewage works.

I greeted him with the news that I had seen a Yellow-browed Warbler and Ring Ouzels on Monday. He told me he had been coming every day, except Monday. Oh dear. I noticed that two or three Blackcaps were still present, and also a few Song Thrushes.

The fog seemed to lift a bit so I headed for the coastal path. The only bird of note was a fly-over Curlew, and after 15 minutes I returned to the sewage works. At this point I realised I could hear a Yellow-browed, but after a dozen minutes there was no sign of it. I headed for John to tell him the bird was still here, only to discover he had been playing a tape of Yellow-browed!

However, it was still present. John had seen it, and a few minutes later I had too. The view was typically brief, so I headed further up the hill to search for more migrants. John headed for his nets, and a few minutes later he was giving me the thumbs up. He had caught it.

The Yellow-browed Warbler

It was the first he had ever caught here, although I think it was only quite recently that he had started ringing here.

I wandered back to the coast to seawatch, just as the mist rolled back in.

The sea is down there somewhere

There was nothing for it but to return to the sewage works. John now had tapes blasting out birdsong to the extent that I had to stop listening for birds and just assume everything was tape. Just before I left, John had one more surprise up his sleeve (or to be more accurate in a little canvas bag), a Treecreeper.

Treecreeper

An excellent sight.

The rain duly set in at lunchtime, and birding ended for the day.

Tuesday October 6

Another non-birding day. It rained all morning while we waited for our friends Pete and Barb to arrive from Newcastle. They did so at lunchtime, so we ate here and then headed for Whitby.

I did sneak off briefly looking for anything ornithological.

The Turnstone, one of three, was actually a year-tick. I will be interested to see where the Herring Gull was ringed.

It is now the following morning, outside the fog is thick and the forecast is for heavy rain all day. Obviously its a birding day.

Monday October 5

I spent the morning dithering. The rain looked imminent, but failed to arrive until 10.00 am. Until then I had made a couple of half-hearted forays into the immediate surroundings, finding nothing better than a fly-over Snipe.

When the rain did arrive, accompanied by a stiff south-easterly, birding was rendered impossible, so we hunkered down until lunch. After about 13.30 the weather showed signs of improving and so I gritted my teeth and headed for Hawsker Bottoms.

As I approached the little sewage works just above the Cleveland Way, a Ring Ouzel called from the surrounding bushes. Very promising. I saw it as it flew out, and then heard a second bird. Also piling out were four Song Thrushes, two Blackbirds, and two Blackcaps. Clearly migrants had arrived.

I then headed to the top of the cliff and sea-watched for 30 minutes. This only produced half a dozen Red-throated Divers and 40 Gannets. I was about to give up when I spotted flock of 55 geese heading south. They turned out to be Barnacle Geese.

I eventually headed back to the sewage works, and at last found a bird I had been hoping for, a Yellow-browed Warbler. It posed beautifully for several seconds and I really should have got a decent shot of it, but I was momentarily distracted by a second bird in the same elder bush, which turned out to be a Blue Tit, and as I returned to the Yellow-browed and pressed the shutter, it turned and exited. Drat. I did get a shot but it shows none of the diagnostic features and I'm too ashamed to show it.

I hung around for forty minutes, and eventually a tit-flock reappeared. With them was the Yellow-browed Warbler and several crests, one of which sounded like a Firecrest. Unfortunately I failed to see it to confirm my suspicions, while the Yellow-browed Warbler kept on evading my lens. Once they all returned to the Hawsker Bottoms jungle, I decided to head home.

I know I normally show even my worst photos, but I have to draw the line somewhere.

Oh, go on then!

Literally an arse-end view of a Yellow-browed Warbler

Sunday October 4

Still on holiday, but there was action at Morton Bagot. This morning Dave rang to say a cream-crown Marsh Harrier had just flown over him at Netherstead. Dave's first at Morton Bagot. I was genuinely pleased for him, although when he commented that it was a pity I hadn't been there because I would have had a great chance of a good photograph I thought he was pushing it a bit!

As it happened I was having rather a good morning myself. Today had been designated a non-birding day so I outflanked my companions by going out for an hour before anyone was up. It was a cloudy morning with just a hint of a southerly breeze. My first five Redwings of the autumn flew over, a good sign. Shortly afterwards I spotted an adult Peregrine perched on a telegraph pole, and then a tiny falcon dashed over, tilting briefly at panicking Starlings, a female Merlin. I had barely gathered my thoughts when a familiar call had me searching the sky, eventually spotting five Crossbills heading north high overhead.

I returned to the cottage pleased with this haul, and then found a Coal Tit which perched in full view showing off its steel grey mantle and sharply defined white cheeks and nape.

Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me to record any of this, but it was put to use to record Lyn and her friends as part of their anniversary celebration weekend.

Jan & Carol, with Lyn in the middle.

We then set off for Whitby. I was being very good, and left the binoculars behind. I still had my camera though.

Whinchat

Starlings bathing in a pond at the Abbey

Back on message, the Abbey

My lens also found two Wheatears, and a Meadow Pipit at the abbey, and a Kittiwake at the docks in Whitby itself. Lyn, Jan, and Carol found lots of jewellery, porcelain etc, which they bought, and we all found an excellent fish and chip restaurant.

The afternoon was over all too quickly, and we bade farewell to our friends as they returned home. I noticed the wind was starting to blow south-easterly, so absented myself once more. This paid off within ten minutes as a half forgotten "tew" call followed by a faint "trrtrrtrr"was fortunately repeated causing me to realise a Lapland Bunting was flying over.  I got onto it and was thrilled to see it drop into a distant field. I was less pleased to discover that the field in question contained dense pasture, and all I managed to kick up were a few Meadow Pipits.

Not a bad non-birding day though.

Hawsker

Well here we are, on our holidays. Our location is a small village just south of Whitby, and we are sharing a cottage with two of Lyn's long-standing friends.

So today Lyn, Jan, and Carol have gone off on a search for bargains (last I heard they were in Middlesborough), while I set about exploring my new patch.

Having studied Google Earth over the last few weeks I decided my best bet was a place called Hawsker Bottoms. The other thing to come under close scrutiny was the weather forecast. Being on the east coast I was hoping for easterlies and rain (Lyn didn't share this wish), and this morning it seemed that the weather was holding its breath. No wind at all and complete cloud cover.

So I spent the late morning exploring Hawsker Bottoms, not as rude as it sounds. I was actually a little disappointed. The ravine leading down to the sea was certainly well vegetated, just too well vegetated. It was an impenetrable jungle of large trees and hawthorn. A ringer had been there all morning, and told me he had caught very little. Hardly any birds called, and my best small bird was a fly-over Siskin.

Never mind, at least the sea couldn't hide. It was like a mill pond, so the Gannets, Guillemots, and gulls were all far off shore. At least six Red-throated Divers flew south as I watched from the coastal path. My best discovery came from here as I heard geese calling and looked up to see four Barnacle Geese heading north. One or two Porpoises showed themselves occasionally well off shore.

Barnacle Geese

I returned to base for a cup of tea, and then set out on a marathon exploration of the fields around the cottage. No scarcities were found, but there were big differences from Morton Bagot. Tree Sparrows were regularly seen in small groups, the largest about 14. I counted 62 Collared Doves, 427 Starlings, 188 Lapwings, 146 Linnets, 260 Herring Gulls, and 140 Black-headed Gulls.

So a steady start, but if the wind goes easterly up here I may be in with a chance of a find.

Thursday October 1

A late start and a quick look at the flashes produced 46 Meadow Pipits, three House Martins, a Swallow, and a Siskin moving south.

On the flashes were 67 Teal, two Green Sandpipers, seven Mute Swans, and 42 visible Snipe.

There are nine Snipe hiding in this shot.

The hedgerows mustered a couple of Chiffchaffs, a Goldcrest, and a dozen Yellowhammers.

So much for easterlies at Morton Bagot!