Thursday 26 March 2020

The Coast

As you might be aware we are now on a lock down in the UK for at least three weeks, I am working from home so it's garden birding for me for the foreseeable future. This post is from a day out we took a while back before everything changed.

We took a day out to the coast to try out our new car (not new new but hopefully one that doesn't eat money in repairs!) and give it a good run. The East coast is one of our favourite places - Filey, Bridlington, Scarborough.......

An early stop at the Holbeck car park in Scarborough on the off chance of a Mediterranean Gull, we didn't see any but the sun was shining and we had a walk down to the sea anyway.






It's a long way down


And a longer way back up....phew!!


On to Brid, the weather by now was a little mixed, cloud, sun, wind and it was pretty quiet everywhere. The tide was coming in and Turnstones were up on the walls around the harbour and I managed to spot two Purple Sandpipers on the beach.

Purple Sandpipers


Taking a bath with some Turnstones!


Turnstones




I saw a Cormorant on the marker, looked away for a few seconds and it had been replaced by a Gull!



There were Gulls everywhere of course, i'm still working through IDing them!



Herring Gulls








Black-headed Gull




Lots of Redshank were in the harbour







We found quite a few shells along the tideline and a few dead fish, some kind of Flounder perhaps?



A plant root I think?


Then my husband found this fossil - we've never found one before so it created a bit of excitement!





In the walls along the jetty's lots of snails were hiding.





This was the scene on the way home


I think nearly everyone who checks in on the blog is probably affected by Covid-19, I hope you're all staying safe and continue to do so. 

7 comments:

  1. Glad you had this great getaway before the lockdown, Pam. You refer to garden birding for a while to come. Are you not allowed to even walk the streets in your neighbourhood? I think we are all wondering how long this is all going to last.

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    1. You can go out once a day for exercise - walk, run, cycle but you are supposed to stay 2m apart from anyone else - not easy to do and my husband who is a key worker and is out working has seen many people not following this so far. There is a park near to me , which if I go out early enough would be ok I think but my usual local (busy) birding spots are out for now. I'd just rather not take any unnecessary risks and luckily I do have my garden to get out in to :)

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  2. What a lovely day out. It was good to see the sea, I haven't been near a coast for a long time... 2 years I think!

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  3. Thank you for the lovely photos of the sea, they are the nearest I'll get to it for a while. Great to find the gryphaea fossil on your walk. Glad you got out to the sea before all the restrictions and that you can work from home for now:)

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    1. Thanks Rosie, I think for most of us we'll be getting to know our 'backyards' an awful lot better than we did!

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  4. So glad you got out before the lockdown and had to chance to visit the sea. Great sightings and I love the Gryphaea fossil - a great find. Continue to stay safe and take care Pam.

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    1. Thank you :) Honestly the excitement over the fossil was ridiculous! You too!

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