With East Yorkshire having a mad migrant day on Saturday I hatched a plan to attack it on Sunday. I knew it was forecast to have a clear night and the wind was against us but the draw of Brown Shrike, Collared Flycatcher, two Woodchat Shrikes, two Wryneck and several other more common spring migrants was too much.
We could have waited for news and then gone but I’m an early bird so we set off early and had almost made it through Lincolnshire into Yorkshire before the negative news started coming in. No sign of Brown Shrike, No sign of Collared Flycatcher, No sign of Woodchat Shrikes, etc, etc.
So plan B was quickly hatched and we made it a simple day out at Bempton Cliffs.
We added just Puffin to the year list for our trouble but enjoyed a lovely day out at what is an outstanding reserve alive with 1000’s of Gannet, Razorbill, Guillemot and Kittiwake along with several Puffin, Shag and Fulmar. The place is alive with Tree Sparrow and we had a day flying Barn Owl entertain us for a while too to make it a really special few hours before we started the reverse journey south.
On the way home we stopped in at Blacktoft Sands on the Humber to show Jimmy to reserve. We had lovely views of at least ten Marsh Harrier but Monty seemed to be having an away day with several reports of a female several miles north of the reserve.
I added Black Tern at Wilstone last week so the year list now stands at 245Brown Shrike remains on my dipped list and had become a bit of a bogey bird and is joined now by Collared Flycatcher on the went for and failed list.
Brian Anderson
Essex Birder using the blog as a diary of my trips around the country chasing birds. Enjoying the places it takes me and the people I meet along the way. Great to spend time with my Dad and brother as we chase our year lists and grow our life list in the process.
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