Flamborough Auks

A few auks from the northern side of Flamborough Head at the weekend while co-leading wildlife boat trips out of North Landing; yep, the sea really was flat calm and tropical ....

Tern, a prize

Anyone who's glanced at these pages with any regularity over recent years will know how much I love the Brigg, the rocky intertidal peninsula forming the northern limit of Filey Bay, and venue of countless wonderful, memorable wildlife experiences since we moved here some six years ago. And so it was again the other evening, when as the high tide receded, I abandoned a quiet seawatch in favour of checking the Brigg end for waders.

Not a great deal on offer but for a few smart summer-plumaged Dunlin and Redshank (and 18 snoozing young Grey Seals), but while I was out there, this beautiful Arctic Tern chose to land on a rock, literally alongside me. It was another one of those unique experiences only the Brigg can provide, and for the next twenty minutes, we sat looking at each other, at point blank range, in the evening sunshine as the waves crashed a few metres away.

I see Arctic Terns as they pass by every year here (and if I wanted to get close to them, I'd get a boat to the Farnes and wear suitable headgear), but for a single bird to drop in next to me on a deserted Brigg, en route along its record-breaking migration, completely unflustered, was just magical.

Nidderdale Curlews

One of my target species surveying in Nidderdale this season, Eurasian Curlews were thankfully hard to avoid in certain habitats - giving a potentially dangerous anecdotal impression of abundance for a rapidly-declining species.