Buff-breasted Sandpiper and Osprey

At Read's Island yesterday morning over the high tide Wayne picked out a Buff-breasted Sandpiper amongst a 500 - 600 strong very nervous mixed flock of Dunlin and Ringed Plover. The flock attempted numerous attempts to land on the south shore just to the west of Read's Island to roost over high tide but were very flighty and eventually left. The flock did fly past fairly close a couple of times allowing scope views of the Buff-breast in flight with the silvery white under wing seen well. As the tide fell the bird was eventually seen again at very long range feeding on the mud just to the west of the island amongst vegetation. Eventually heat haze and strong winds made it impossible to see the bird and no photos were possible.  In with the flock was a striking albino Ringed Plover which Wayne did managed to photo - albeit poor!

Albino Ringed Plover

  Yesterday afternoon we also managed to finally see an adult Osprey which has hung around for a few days catching fish out of a local fishing lake.

Yellow Meadow Ants and Martins

Down your ear, in your hair - flying Ants everywhere! A family walk within the grounds of  Normanby Park on Sunday afternoon, gave witness to a mass arising of yellow meadow Ants rising from mounds randomly spaced out at 3 metre intervals in the lawns and pathways surrounding the Hall. The weather was hot and humid perfect for triggering a late summer Ant swarm.

Flocks of Gulls hung high above the Hall Estate feasting on the airborne ants. Down on the ground, a Peacock joined Pied Wagtails to feast on the bounty of ants emerging from the nests close to the hall building. The Ant nests seemed to be everywhere at ground level, and at a higher level, a Spotted flycatcher hawked hapless insects from a Beech tree to the side of the hall. But it was the Swallows and Martins which attracted the most interest. Numbering perhaps a hundred birds, a flock of young Swallows and House Martins encircled the building swooping low around the hall catching the rising mass of ants at will. Many of the birds landed in small groups on the Georgian building details such as window and ledges. The building seemed not just a magnate to them, but to their prey as well. The Yellow Meadow ant is a common Ant species over the the British Isles, and yet it is only when the mass of Small Ant hills in summer appear that we really get to notice them

Juvenile House Martins and Swallows.

House Martins catching Ants close to the wall

Worker ants pushing a Queen from the nest

Semi-palmated Sandpiper - Alkborough

I wish I could say I took these photos of Lincolnshire's only 2nd record of a Semi-palmated Sandpiper but I didn't - they were taken by the finder Neil Drinkall.  When we finally caught up with the bird it was blowing a gale and pouring with rain!

Flamborough Head

With winds from the East yesterday and strong northerly today we had a trip into Yorkshire to see a few vagrants from the continent. The only photos we took were of the Wryneck and these are distant - the sun was just too bright, the wind too strong and the birds a little distant but we saw the following in just one field; Icterine Warbler, Red-Backed Shrike, Wryneck, Pied Flycatcher, Redstart and Whinchat. Out to sea we saw 5 Arctic Skuars, 4 Manx Shearwaters and 1 Great Skuar.  Our only miss of the day was an Ortolan Bunting - others standing next to us saw an Ortolan Bunting sitting next to a House Sparrow, we saw a female House Sparrow sitting next to a juvenile House Sparrow - make of that what you will!  An added bonus was a juvenile White-winged Black Tern on Hornsea Mere which we caught on the way home.

Baird's Sandpiper - Lound

A little twitch yesterday to see a Baird's Sandpiper just outside the Scunthorpe recording area in Lound, Notts.  Good but distant views result in not very good photos but you can still see what it is.

Alkborough Flats

Always nice to find fledglings of any sort but particularly nice to find a Yellowhammer - Spoonbill very distant hence fuzzy shot but does show colour rings.

Ringed Spoonbill with Little Egrets

Yellowhammer chick