There has been nothing to
write about from the patch over the last few weeks so a welcome break on a trip
to East and North Yorkshire with the Steve Ashton sunshine tours was a much
needed spirit lifter. I picked Alan (Ashdown) up early on Sunday morning and we
had a couple of hours at Grove Ferry before meeting Steve at his place, as we
were departing Grove Alan caught sight of a second calendar male Montagu’s
Harrier as flew past the Ramp and we watched as it flew up river before being
lost behind the tree line behind Hersden Industrial Estate, a great start
already. We then picked Tim (Gutsell) up
and met the second part of the crew at Brenley Corner at the start of the M2,
with Pete (Hemmings), driver, Steve (Ray) and Mike (Gould) before setting of
for ‘the North’. First port of call on arrival was Bempton Cliffs where after
passing through the visitor centre we encountered a very large group of Tree
Sparrows around the feeders and nesting in boxes on the centre as well as under
the roof tiles, it was then down to the cliff where we had spectacular views of
Gannets, Guillemots and Razorbills with a supporting cast of Puffin, Kittiwake
and Fulmar to name but few.
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| Tree Sparrow Bempton Cliffs |
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| Tree Sparrow Bempton Cliffs |
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| Tree Sparrow Bempton Cliffs |
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| Guillemot Bempton Cliffs |
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| Razorbill Bempton Cliffs |
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| Gannet Bempton Cliffs |
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| Gannet Bempton Cliffs |
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| Gannet Bempton Cliffs |
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| Gannet Bempton Cliffs |
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| Gannet Bempton Cliffs |
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| Gannet Bempton Cliffs |
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| Gannet Bempton Cliffs |
Monday was a pre-booked day with Yorkshire Coast Nature led by Steve Race and Richard Baines across the North York moors looking for Red Grouse and other moorland specialities. Alan and I were up early so we had a wander down to the cliffs at the North Landings and walked the cliff top to Flamborough head. There were no Gannets on the cliffs here but there were a lot more Guillemots and Razorbills plus several Shags and the odd Puffin, scores of Auks were flying past low over the sea and small groups of Gannet were passing by. On the Moors although we did see the Grouse none were ever close enough for great photography and Golden Plovers were always distant but we did get Spotted Flycatchers, Common Redstart, Lapwing, Curlew, Mistle Thrush and Ring Ouzel throughout the morning and, as we were just about to leave an area we had seen but not got close to whinchats, Tim spotted one just in front of the car. Fortunately for me, I was in the front passenger seat and was just a few yards away from it so was able to run of a few half decent record shots (sorry Mike). The day ended in woodland after our evening meal at the Falcon Inn where I earned the nickname of ‘two puddings’ as I couldn’t decide between Roulade and Warm Fudge Cake so plumped for both! Here we added Tree Pipit and at least five Nightjars, two flying close past us.
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| Whinchat male North Yorkshire Moors |
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| Red Grouse North Yorkshire Moors |
Next day (Tuesday) the decision
to retrace yesterday’s route was taken so we headed back to the moors to take a
leisurely look around the moors and hopefully get a closer Red Grouse or two.
In the evening it was back to Bempton for some more Auks and Gannets.
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| Gannet Bempton Cliffs |
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| Gannet Bempton Cliffs |
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| Gannet Bempton Cliffs |
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| Gannet Bempton Cliffs |
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| Gannet Bempton Cliffs |
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| Gannet Bempton Cliffs |
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| Kittiwake Bempton Cliffs |
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| Kittiwake Bempton Cliffs |
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| Pied Wagtail Bempton Cliffs |
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| Puffin Bempton Cliffs |
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| Red Grouse North York Moors |
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| Red Grouse North York Moors |
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| Red Grouse North York Moors |
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| Red Grouse North York Moors |
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| Red Grouse chick North York Moors |
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| Red Grouse chick North York Moors |
Wednesday saw most of us
heading for Bempton before breakfast then back again afterwards although the
cloud had rolled in from the sea and there was a little light drizzle but that
did not deter from the very close seabirds and the extraordinarily tame Tree
Sparrows, the faces of these little cutties seeming less white in the face than
the few left in Kent.
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| Fulmar Bempton Cliffs |
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| Fulmar Bempton Cliffs |
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| Gannet Bempton Cliffs |
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| Gannet Bempton Cliffs |
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| Gannet Bempton Cliffs |
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| Gannet Bempton Cliffs |
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| Gannet Bempton Cliffs |
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| Guillemot Bempton Cliffs |
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| Guillemot Bempton Cliffs |
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| Guillemot Bempton Cliffs |
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| Puffin Bempton Cliffs |
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| Puffin Bempton Cliffs |
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| Puffin Bempton Cliffs |
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| Puffin Bempton Cliffs |
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| Razorbill Bempton Cliffs |
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| Razorbill Bempton Cliffs |
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| Razorbill Bempton Cliffs |
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| Razorbill Bempton Cliffs |
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| Tree Sparrow Bempton Cliffs |
Thursday was time to return
home so again, after a trip to Bempton cliffs before breakfast it was time to
pile into the cars with a stop at Lakenheath Fen in Suffolk where the adult
male red-footed Falcon had been in residence but had sadly departed before we
arrived although it was nice to see the F14 Tomcat jets flying in and out of
RAF Lakenheath whilst we were there.
I would like to say a big thank you to Steve Ashton for arranging the trip and for allowing me to join the Jolly Boys, a thanks to Steve Race and Richard Baines at Yorkshire Coast Nature for the Moors tour and to Alan, Tim, Steve R, Mike and Peter for the great company. An excellent trip with Great people, great birds, great food and some great beer, Theakstons Terrier being a personal favourite.
Visiting the Patch again on
Saturday morning was no different to any other weekend of late and after a full
circuit of boredom I suggested to Chiddy a visit to see if the Bee-eater was
still at Stoneless Pegwell Bay and, although Mark had already seen it yesterday
(Friday) he thought it was worthwhile. We had spent a good hour wandering
Stonelees and the Country Park at Pegwell without any luck and bumped into ‘Chip
Shop’ Chris (Deyer) and stopped for a chat and during our colloquy a familiar
shape buzzed past my head and there was the Bee-eater in it full resplendent explosion
of colour on a bush in front of us. The next hour and half was spent following the
bird around Stonelees and the Country Park before a phone call of Chris Gibbard
had us tearing up the A299 Thanet Way to Brenley Corner to see a superb looking
Black Kite that had been found the day before. This is only my fourth Black
Kite for Kent after one at Collard’s on 25th May 1992 when the
Red-footed Falcon influx was there, the Seaton bird on 20th May 2006
and a bird I found at Collard’s on 7th June 2008 despite the fact
that Black Kite is reported almost annually in the Stour Valley.
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| Bee-eater Stonelees Pegwell Bay |
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| Bee-eater Stonelees Pegwell Bay |
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| Black Kite Brenley Corner near Faversham |
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| Black Kite Brenley Corner near Faversham |
