A day at the seaside

Well half a day actually due to an unfortunate incident on the way. A rear end shunt forced me to pull over and the unfortunate driver of the other vehicle could only watch as his cars front end disintegrated in front of his eyes! I was lucky I could drive off, he had to be towed.
So I arrived at Flamborough on Sunday about midday and bumped into David Aitken, warden for Bempton, in the car park who informed me the Citrine Wagtail was still showing on the beach. Hurriedly I went the 200 yards or so to the beach to find the wagtail had been flushed up the beach by a Woodcock fresh in off the sea!
After half an hour of searching I spotted the Citrine back where it had apparently been found earlier in the day. It showed really well in good light.

Whilst talking to David he informed me that the Rough Legged Buzzard was showing well near Grindale just outside Bridlington about 5 miles away. So off I went and promptly found the group of birdwatchers and photographers by the side of the road. I found a gap in the hedge and the beautiful bird was feeding on a strategically placed hare by the edge of the field. It fed for about 10 minuets then flew to the hedge were it preened until I left.

It's a bit like getting a hole in one!

No I haven't taken up golf and got lucky but did end up near a golf club on Friday and getting very lucky. Hunley Hall to be exact in Cleveland for the Mega rare Eastern Crowned Warbler (ECW)

News came through on Thursday afternoon that the UK's third record had been found in a plantation near the golf club. So guess what, I set my alarm for 3.30 am the following morning and arrived on site at 6.30. No tooth brush required this time as I could easily get there and back in a day.

I stood with several others where the bird was last seen the evening before, but after two hours I decided to go where the bird was first located about a quarter of a mile away. Still no sign of it there so I walked back just to be told it had been seen where I had just come from! Panic and I ended up running yes running. It was an odd sensation with my eyeballs jigging up and down in a way I had not felt since 1982. Once I had got my breath back and established I wasn't having a heart attack I ventured into the plantation to be met by 150 other folk all fighting for a position to catch a glimpse of the ECW high up in the tree canopy.

The next two hours were extremely frustrating as the bird hopped around from tree to tree and often went missing for long periods. However just as I was about to leave it appeared out of a low level bush and click click I had the photograph below which shows all the ID features of this truly Mega rare bird.

So it was off to the 19th hole for a celebration coffee and chip butty thanks to Hunley Hall Golf Club who allowed me in despite muddy boots and an unshaven look.