A few hours to kill on the coast for the first time in a while, and so an afternoon session at Filey beckoned. Sunshine, clear blue skies, and a chilly breeze didn't promise too much, but it is early May, and there's always the summer visitors to enjoy if migration wasn't evident.
Painted Lady
Except, happily, it was. A wander round the northern coastal area provided a nice selection, with a cracking acredula-type Willow Warbler in Long Hedge, lots of hirundines and a few Swifts over the Top Fields, and then three Fieldfare out of the ether and into the Rocket Pole Field;
A dozen or so Painted Ladies later, and the sunny, sheltered dell halfway down Long Lane produced to two brief but quality migrants, in the shape of a Spotted Flycatcher (my first of the year, above) and a Tree Pipit (below - never easy here, easpecially on the deck).
A quick check on the Dams provided Bar-tailed Godwit, Common Sand, hundreds of Sand Martins and a late Pink-footed Goose.
Pink-footed Goose, Dams
so, a quality few hours back on familiar territory.
