Week 8: Round-up

Female Peregrine with young Guillemot?

On Tuesday we made our only visit to Allerthorpe. The vegetation had rioted, and although we saw Willow Warblers and Yellowhammers the only photos I'm left with are flowers. The birds we encountered included: Cuckoo, Linnet x dozen, Yellowhammer x 4, Garden Warbler x 4, Willow Warbler x 3, Chiffchaff, Treecreeper etc

Heath Bedstraw?

Climbing Cordyalis

Marsh Cinquefoil

Unusual fenced-off plant?

On Wednesday we went to Sammy's Point first and found a privet bush absolutely crawling with 50+ Red Admirals, 5+ Small Tortoiseshells, a Painted Lady and a Large Skipper. There was a Willow Warbler flitting among the bushes. We saw Oystercatchers and 2 immature Herons across the fields. We then went on to Kilnsea Wetlands. We discovered that every Avocet chick had perished in the previous 7 days. On a more positive note there around 40 Little Tern nests being incubated. If they all fledge it will be a very successful year. The bird of the morning was a Hobby that frightened all the small waders as it powered over the water heading south. Other birds seen included: Sandwich Tern, Mediterranean Gull, Grey Plover, Dunlin, Ringed Plover, Shelduck, Whitethroat, Lesser Whitethroat, Reed Bunting, Skylark, Meadow Pipit etc

Record Shot of Hobby

Grey Plover and Little Terns

Record shot of Grey Plover

Grey Plovers

Herons

Six-Spot Burnet Moth

Ditto

Dunlin

Ditto

Painted Lady

Red Admirals on Privet

Small Tortoiseshell

On Thursday we visited the Great White Cape. Unfortunately, the middle of the day was marred by drizzle, so some of these puffins were taken on a solo visit on Monday afternoon. All the usual suspects were on their shelves. The Puffins were close, but not as close as the previous week. At one point the volume of the Kittiwakes went off the scale. Spinning round I noticed a Herring Gull fluttering in front of a Kittiwake nest. It took a very recently-hatched chick from its nest and presenting it to its own youngster. The Herring Gull chick remained unimpressed, so the parent swallowed it itself, probably to regurgitate it later! The Peregrines seemed to be absent at first, but then I spotted the female plucking a bird like a Guillemot with the male sitting only a few yards away.

Puffin

Ditto

Puffins among the Flowers

Male Peregrine (left) & female mantling prey (right)

Ditto

Starting to Pluck

Ditto

Razorbills

Guillemots

Fulmar

Herring Gull with Kittiwake Chick

Ditto [MJF]

Ditto

Skylark

Ditto

The same with added out-of-focus Meadow Pipit

Shag

Meadow Pipit

On Friday we visited the Yorkshire Wolds again, and were rewarded by a pair of Spotted Flycatchers - the first of the year! The redstart was completely absent. We had wonderful views of an extremely confiding Grey Wagtail in a new little area. The weather wasn't brilliant, so butterfly numbers were down, especially in the morning. however, we did see a Marbled White. We also saw Marsh Tit, Sparrowhawk, Yellowhammer, Tree Sparrow, Treecreeper, Willow & Garden Warblers, Chiffchaff, Blackcap‬, House Martin, Swift, Pied Wagtail.

Drizzle most of morning, but still saw Marbled White, Ringlets, Meadow Brown, Common Blue, Small Heath.
Plants: Thistle [Yorkshire] Broomrape (record numbers), Bee Orchid, Clustered Bellflower, Restharrow, Yellow Rattle,

Spotted Flycatcher [Archive in same location)

Ditto

Male Grey Wagtail

Marsh Tit [Archive in same location]

Mike and Glenys decided to stay behind at Goole the previous week, but their photos arrived too late for last week's blog, so they are now added to this one. They found this youngster which hadn't been predated by a Stoat!