So that was Friday, Saturday, Sunday (24th, 25th, 26th) - a weird but birdy few days, blurred by a cold but not without its highlights. Strong north-westerlies were enough to persuade me to hit the coast for seawatching, and on Friday morning it was my intention (as ever when hitting the coast for a day's birding) to drive straight over pre-dawn - but not before sorting the mrs out for work after a 5.45 alarm call (yep, that's how we roll in these parts).
Feeling crappy enough to try for a bit more sleep won out, however, but was ultimately unsuccessful, and so after a few bits of office work I arrived at Filey for middayish. A quick sniff around the windswept scrub (no Northern Bullfinches or the like, sadly) preceded a four-plus-hour seawatch from my favourite spot just beneath the lip of the end of Carr Naze in an encouragingly howling north-westerly.
Not as much on the move as I'd hoped, although 83 Little Gulls offshore, single Sooty and Manx, nice wildfowl variety and a few Twite in the Linnet flock were good back-up for a personally unprecedented 13 (!) Mediterranean Gulls, all adults, all south. Crazy, and apparently Flamborough likewise enjoyed record counts.
Overnighting at Flamborough and some downtime with the folks preceded a distinctly dulled-around-the-edges Saturday, but I followed through with my plan - drive south along the coast to Skipsea for first light, thus being able to seawatch in comfort from a warm car....
Which was a very good move. Even though it kind of felt like cheating, there's no way I'd have withstood it otherwise, and I had a really enjoyable morning from the end of the road (literally) - a Little Auk close in and south just after dawn, Velvet Scoter, Sooty Shearwater, Long-tailed Duck, 21 Little Gulls, a pale-morph Pom Skua, plenty of wildfowl and more Twite on the clifftop was a quality haul, and most of it was close inshore.
Med Gulls (and dolphins)
Overnighting again in Flamborough, today was a work day on the Humber, and another very early start to begin surveying on the riverbank at Paull for first light at 0640hrs.
Skipsea yesterday morning....
Nothing too unusual in the bone-chilling winds, but an unexpected and quality movement of passerines, heading along the river and into the north-westerly - most notably Fieldfares, which number 460 in the first three hours.
Now? Up in a few hours for another week's guiding at Spurn... wish us luck!
... and Paull this morning
... and Paull this morning
