East Coast

A week ago we spent Saturday visiting Scarborough, Filey and Bridlington, the weather wasn't the best (which seems to be a running theme with all my posts at the moment!). It was a little damp and foggy too, though it hampered viewing at times it wasn't too bad.

First off we took a scenic route on the way over and scanned the fields as we drove, spotting Curlew, Gulls, Deer, Rabbits, Hares and several Rookeries. Surprisingly I didn't spot a single Buzzard until we were on our way home late in the afternoon.

In Scarborough we drove along the front but the fog prevented good views of the cliffs so no sign of the Peregrines or any gulls. Onto the Holbeck car park, which is good for Mediterranean Gulls, not a sign of any gull in the car park at all so we took a walk a down towards the sea. A Robin was singing somewhere in the fog and a Woodpigeon watched us from a bench. Lower down it wasn't quite as foggy, a couple of Oystercatchers were on the path and on one of the rocks there were a few Cormorants.

Out at sea a couple of flocks of Gulls were riding the waves, checking them carefully one of the group were the Mediterranean Gulls, we watched them a little while and then walked back up to the car park. I've got to say i've not walked this path before and it was a killer, I didn't realise quite how steep it was, phew!

We drove down to Filey and went to Filey Dams, a great little reserve pretty much in the middle of a housing estate. Tree Sparrows were flying about the car park. There were a lot of gulls on the reserve and we spent a while picking through them - Common, Herring, Black-headed and a couple of Great black-backed Gulls. There were also Pochard, Tufted Duck, Mallard, a Mute Swan, Wigeon and a pair of Canada Geese, the female looked like a Greylag hybrid?

Wren

Onto Brid where we parked up on Marine Drive so we could walk down the front. The tide was in which was good for the birds, right off we saw Turnstones and Purple Sandpipers and a sleeping Cormorant.

Turnstones 

Purple Sandpiper

Turnstone

Quick detour into the town for a pasty and a drink before getting an ice cream - rum & raisin to eat in the rain on the beach! More Purple Sandpipers were along the edges of the beach we ended up seeing quite a few.

A flock of Redshank were running about by the waves and a lone Oystercatcher had it's head tucked under it's wing. A Shag was sat on one of the bouys out at sea. On the beach itself we collected a few shells, there were a lot of mussels, some were still closed and we saw a Crow repeatedly dropping one from a height onto the beach to try and crack it! We saw a couple of lobsters, one missing half it's body.

Turnstone

Redshank

Turnstone

Crows

Redshank

There were quite a few Gulls in various plumage - Herring and Great black-backed (I think!).

Someone stole the seafront