This morning I went to investigate a report of Wood Sandpiper from yesterday morning at Swinemoor. Unfortunately the weather was quite rainy, but this rain, over the last few days, has topped up the water levels at Swinemoor quite nicely. What had been reduced to a few small puddles has once again returned to a generously flooded area with patches of open water, shallow margins and damp grassland.

The birds seem to prefer it this way!

Lots of Mallard and 4 Gadwall were feeding in the pools, along with 3 Shelduck. Lapwing numbers seem to have risen again to about 20 and 2 male Snipe were busy drumming away. Scanning across the common, I spotted a Greenshank and almost immediately after a Wood Sandpiper flew a short distance. I decided to walk around the common to get a closer look and at the stone bridge that crosses the Beverley-Barmston drain a Common Sandpiper was feeding!

Plenty of other birds around, with large numbers of Swallows and House Martins swooping around the feet of a group of horses. I was able to get right amongst these horses and the birds continued to swoop around their feet and mine.

Once on the river Hull flood defences I was able to get a better look at the waders and immediately saw a second Wood Sandpiper! A fight between a couple of Lapwings and a Carrion Crow scared the Greenshank away, which flew north. I flushed a couple of Redshank out of the grass and I watched one land in another pool. It landed next to another wader and began to chase it around; it really wasn’t too happy about the company it was keeping. This other wader turned out to be another Wood Sandpiper! I couldn’t imagine that it was another bird so I had a look at where the previous two were and they were still sitting in the same places as before. So, three Wood Sandpipers!

Looking back through my records I saw a single Wood Sandpiper on Swinemoor on the 20th May 2006 and 2 on the 15th May 2005. Obviously this is a regular stopping off point on their migratory route.

On Saturday morning (12/05/07) I went looking for a marsh orchid that had been found by a friend last week. No matter how long I searched for it, I couldn’t find the damned thing! Despite wind and some rain, I did manage to see a few birds. Three Little Ringed Plovers were easily seen as they were chasing each other about and 3 Redshank are still hanging on in what little water remains. Low numbers of Lapwings are still present too, but I think most of the nests have failed by now.

5 Shelduck were rather fidgety, constantly flying around, landing for a few seconds and then flying around again, and an Oystercatcher came to join them in this activity. A nice surprise was a female Wheatear and a male Yellow Wagtail and as I left, a group of House Martins were swept in, in advance of a rain cloud.

I continued along the river Hull to Eske where, after some rain, the sun came out. Although the water level was low, the only waders around were the pair of noisy Oystercatchers, still busily chasing Carrion Crows away from their nest. On the lake 6 Wigeon were present for only a short time, but the lone male Wigeon that has been hanging around remained after the other 6 departed. The female Goldeneye is also still present. Other ducks were Mallard, Tufted Duck and Gadwall. Two adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls seem to have made this place their home for the last few weeks and today they were still present, feeding and resting. Nothing much else of note around, the usual warblers, finches etc, but a Great Spotted Woodpecker put in a brief appearance.

The most interesting sighting today wasn’t a bird at all, but a Terrapin basking on some dead wood in a small sheltered pool. I saw this one, about a year ago in the same place, but this time I had my camera with me and got a reasonable photo

This terrapin is quite big, about a foot long, and no doubt was once someone’s pet Ninja Turtle before it got too big. Plenty of Wall Brown butterflies were to be seen, they’d obviously all just emerged and I got a photo of one of these too.

A brief visit to Swinemoor yesterday revealed that the 2 Little Ringed Plovers were still present, along with 3 Redshank, 2 Oystercatchers and about 10 Lapwings, as well as 2 Shelduck. Lots of Pied Wagtails were present too, but there is now very little water left.

Continuing along the river to Eske windy weather meant that very few birds were present. However, the most amazing sighting was of an adult grey seal in the river Hull, about 1km north of Tickton. It seemed quite distressed, spending much time submerged and when it resurfaced it took three or four deep breaths before submerging again. This location is far inland and to get this far the seal would have had to pass through Hull city centre.

At the lake a rain cloud brought in a number of migrants; a huge cloud of Swifts, House Martins, Swallows and Sand Martins arrived before the rain and stayed after it had gone. Other migrants that blew in were a single Dunlin in breeding plumage, 2 Black-headed Gulls, a Common Tern and a Little Ringed Plover. The resident Oystercatchers were noisily chasing geese around and the lone Canada Goose was still incubating its eggs.

In the lake the normal residents were present along with a male Wigeon and a female Goldeneye both still reluctant to migrate and 2 adult Lesser Balck-backed Gulls. The strength of the wind meant that it was difficult to see many small passerines, although Blackcaps and Willow warblers were in full song. A male Yellow Wagtail continues to frequent the lake shore.

Considering the close proximity of Hornsea Mere which can get huge numbers of Little Gulls, particularly in Autumn, it is something of a surprise that I haven’t seen at least one at Eske before. Well, today as soon as I got up to the lake I saw my first Little Gull for the area, just flying around over the lake dippinginto the water now and again. After a while it began to circle, gaining height until it disappeared.

On the way up to the lake plenty of birds were about. The air was very still, perfect weather for clouds of insects and the birds that feed on them. Hundreds of Starlings were feeding on the mown grass of the Beverley Polo Club as was a pair of Oystercatchers and plenty of Rooks. The clouds of insects obviously appealed to the Swifts as a large group were swooping around at low altitude screaming and gobbling up flies.

Further up a male Yellowhammer was calling from a flowering hawthorn tree, its bright yellow against the green and white of the tree was quite a beautiful sight. Checking out the owl tree revealed a single Little Owl staring back at me, sitting in exactly the same place as a few days ago.

5 pairs of Great-crested Grebes were noisily growling at each other on the lake. 5 Coots, 3 Moorhens, a few Greylag Geese, about 20 Mallard and 16 Tufted Ducks were the only other birds on the lake until a male Gadwall flew over and 2 Cormorants came in to dry their wings. A single Canada Goose is obviously incubating on the island in the lake and as there don’t seem to be any other Canada Geese around I wonder if it will produce hybrid offspring.

Another bird of interest was a Common Sandpiper feeding on the water’s edge, but an Oystercatcher didn’t seem to like it as it chased the sandpiper around. A Pied Wagtail and a male Yellow Wagtail were aslo present on the waterside.

Lots of warblers continue to sing, with Blackcap, Willow Warbler, Whitethroat, Lesser Whitethroat, Sedge Warbler and Reed Warbler all seen.

In a field just beyond the lake about 20 Lapwings were feeding with an Oystercatcher, numerous Jackdaws, Rooks and Carrion Crows and also 4 Whimbrel. Whilst watching these a male Marsh Harrier cruised past and dipped down into some scrub where it obviously caught something as it didn’t come up again for some time.

On the way back a pair of Tree Sparrows were in dispute with a Reed Bunting and two male Chaffinches were in a fight that seemed like it might go until the death of one of the participants. In the end one flew away, minus a few feathers. In the owl tree, the Little Owl had been joined by its mate and further along a male Sparrowhawk was hunting.

Another walk to both Swinemoor and Eske turned up some more interesting things. On Swinemoor, Shelduck, Lapwings, Redshank, Snipe and Little Ringed Plover were all still present as were plenty of other common migrants.

So infused with enthusiasm was I yesterday morning that instead of going home after my Swinemoor visit, I continued north up the river Hull to Eske/Pulfin Fen.

On the way up I didn’t see too much; a distant male Marsh Harrier was being attacked by two Lapwings and a few Swallows were flying around. A single Swift and 2 House Martins also flew past.

At the lake a number of gulls were resting on some exposed rocks, 2 adult graellsii Lesser Black-backed Gulls, 2 1st winter Herring Gulls, 5 2nd winter Greater Black-backed Gulls and a single 1st winter Common Gull. Plenty of Tufted Ducks and Mallard also on the lake as well as two families of Greylag Geese, one with 5 and the other with 6 youngsters. A male Wigeon still lurking around on the island along with nesting Canada Geese and the pair of Oystercatchers seemed intent on fighting to the death about something. Plenty of Great-crested Grebes too but no sign of chicks yet.

I decided to walk up to Leven canal to see if I could find some warblers and I wasn’t disappointed there. 5 Sedge Warblers, 6 Willow Warblers, 1 Chiffchaff, 1 Lesser Whitethroat were all heard and seen along with my first Whitethroat of the year. 5 Swifts were also present and I could hear a very distant Cuckoo. The canal is a nice place and far away from anywhere else for it to be visited by very few people. There is always a lot of wildlife here and yesterday Moorhens, Coots and Mute Swans were busy with nests and lots of flowers were in bloom. Also there were quite a few toads about, and I got a couple of photos of toads in quite contrasting states of fortune.

Back at the lake I decided to walk around to the reedy areas where warblers were everywhere! An amusing sight was two male Blackcaps sitting right next to each other singing like mad. In the reeds I saw my 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th Reed Warblers of the year. Overlooking the lake from a different angle a party of Swallows, House Martins and Sand Martins had arrived but the highlight was a male Garganey sitting amongst some Tufted Ducks. This is the third year in a row I’ve seen Garganey here so its obviously a regular stopping off point.

Other species seen were Redshank, Snipe, Carrion Crow, Jackdaw, Robin, Wren, Goldcrest, lots of Reed Buntings, Yellowhammer, Meadow Pipit, Skylark, Greenfinch, Linnet, Goldfinch, Chaffinch, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long-tailed Tit, Blackbird, Starling, Grey Heron, Dunnock and Rook.

With more time and energy on my hands than I’ve had for a while I couldn’t resist another look at Swinemoor, from 8.30am to 11am. As I drove past part of the common I noticed the first horses have been put on. However, they haven’t made their way over to the birdy areas yet.

Just one Shelduck was present today, but 3 male Snipe were in a mid air drumming battle. Walking along the main drain an Oystercatcher flew overhead and landed at the far end of the common – it didn’t stay long though. About 100 Golden Plover were scattered all over the place and two Little Ringed Plovers were obvious – the third one was probably hiding somewhere. The two Wheatears from the previous two visits were still in exactly the same place and two Redshank remain devoted to their ever shrinking patch of water. Redshank watching paid off again as it did yesterday as a very scruffy looking Whimbrel joined them for a short time.

In the sky 3 Swifts circled around and 2 House Martins headed south, quickly followed by 4 Sand Martins. A number of Swallows were also feeding over the common.

Just a single Willow Warbler was singing today, although with the grey skies and intermittent rain I didn’t feel much like singing either. All the normal common birds were seen along with a Stock Dove and a Dunnock which strangely I don’t see very often here. Also a female House Sparrow turned up right in the middle of the common, which is unusual, they usually stick to the edges where the buildings are.

Not much esle of note around until I was almost back to the car. Alongside the river Hull in the reeds I heard the faint song of a Reed Warbler. I stayed long enough to get a reasonable look but it wasn’t being too obliging. A Sparrowhawk and Song Thrush provided a distraction before getting back to the car.