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I saw a Cormorant on the marker, looked away for a few seconds and it had been replaced by a Gull!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

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