Dartford Waffler

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16 Aug

Deceptive weather equals few birds

When I looked out of the window this morning the sunshine and blue(ish) skies tempted me out for a walk. Sunshine has been a rather scarce commodity this summer so I thought, “let’s get out before it starts raining again”. Unfortunately things weren’t quite as good as they seemed. On arriving at Tickton and walking […]

02 Aug

An afternoon on the beach

What to do when the sea is calm and seawatching from Flamborough Head is pretty much a waste of time? Head to the beach at Bridlington, that’s what!
Unfortunately, the northerly winds that made seawatching at Flamborough on monday so good were not repeated today making it a pretty unrewarding past-time. In a couple of hours […]

24 Jul

Flamborough Head

Yesterday I suddenly realised that I hadn’t seen any seabirds this year and as Flamborough is just 40 minutes away I drove there whilst the weather was acceptable. I didn’t see anything unexpected but it was nice to watch large numbers of Kittiwakes, Gannets, Puffins, Razorbills and Guillemots go about their business.
Lots of Gannets were […]

14 Jul

Rainham Marsh

On my way back home to Beverley I decided to take a look at the RSPB’s new reserve at Ranham in East London after reading about it in May’s edition of Birds; the fact that a Spoonbil had been hanging around there for a few days helped sway the decision.
I assumed (wrongly) that the reserve […]

08 Jul

Finally, something worth mentioning

Weeks of dismal weather has meant that I have not been out too often, and when I have been out there has been little of interest. However, last monday I got out for a walk up to Eske. The flooding from the rain the previous monday was still very bad and much of the surrounding […]

14 Apr

BBQ at Dungeness

Yesterday I went to Dungeness with my wife and younger sister for a barbeque on the beach. Although this wasn’t a birding trip at all, it is difficult to sit on the beach at Dunge in spring and not see something.
From 1-6pm only a few birds were seen but all afternoon two Cormorants were performing […]

10 Apr

Hornsea Mere

This afternoon I went, with my wife, to Hornsea Mere to feed the ducks - hardly the cutting edge of ornithology but enjoyable anyway. We took some bread and proceeded to be mobbed by a gang of about 20 Mute Swans with a few Canada Geese trying to get into the act. It was quite […]

05 Apr

Nice lunch, nice walk

After a nice lunch in the pub, my wife and I decided to make the most of the warm, sunny weather by going for a walk to the lake at Eske/Pulfin Fen. The warmth had made most of the birds rather lazy at this time of day, but a few Skylarks were singing away, making […]

20 Mar

Doves in a blizzard

Outside my flat in Beverley today I was watching a male Collared Dove chase around a female when he decided to mate with her. My celebration of this as a sign of spring was muted somewhat by a sudden blizzard of snow and then hail. Needless to say that this event also put an end […]

13 Mar

Red Kite at Tickton

Some warm, spring-like weather meant that staying in front of a computer all day would have been a travesty, even though my dissertation work was begging me for some attention. So, a walk to Eske/Pulfin fen was decided upon!
Just a few hundred metres along the path, a large raptor appeared. At first I assumed it […]

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