I'll try and cut straight to it (got to pack, then up at an ungodly hour to drive to Spurn, and guiding there all week)... so, the forecast for today looked very promising, with a northerly / north-north-easterly airflow and a high pressure more than clipping Scandinavia as the day progressed; otherwise windy, showery with sunny intervals. Mid-October? Game on (hopefully).....
LEO!
I drove to the coast in the dark and made it to Filey well before dawn, with enough light to make out if there'd been a major arrival or not; anticlimactically, there hadn't, but for good numbers of Blackbirds on the edge of the Top Scrub. Carr Naze was bereft of landbirds but for a few hardy Meadow Pipits, but I slowly checked all possible nooks and crannies just in case.
Two Mealy Redpolls dropped in by the pond (but not long enough to pose for pics), four Twite arrived later, Starlings were arriving in flocks, a few Bramblings, Chaffinches and Skylarks were doing likewise; just a trickle at best, however, and not a thrush in sight....
Never mind - the sea looked instantly busy, with flocks of ducks on the move, streams of Kittiwakes and plenty more out there; but for a break for lunch and to check the bushes after several hours, pretty much the whole day was taken up with the action over the waves. The first of no fewer than four Short-eared Owls arrived in off the sea soon after, and it's always such a thrill to watch them battling in from hours navigating over the ocean.
Next up, a dark, lolloping shape low over the water and struggling towards the tip of Carr Naze - a Long-eared Owl - its first sight of land this side of the North Sea, and exactly where I was positioned. Closer it came, a picture of determination against a wind trying to drive it further south, and we locked eyes for a good few seconds as it approached, spiralled over the edge of the cliffs, and made its way silently inland. What a bird, and what a joy to witness its successful arrival.
Short-eared Owl, arriving from a long way out...
The hours flew by, and the highlights were many - Sabine's Gull, Little Auk, two each of Pomarine and Long-tailed Skuas, Black-throated Diver, lots of Little Gulls, excellent wildfowl passage and more - but despite the high quality seabird action, ultimately, the owls stole the show.
More of the Long-eared Owl
Eiders heading north
