an invitation

 last month i was given an invitation to join a walk at cromwell bottom nr to answer questions on my time there in the 80's/90's 

well yesterday the walk was great with allan and stuart, at times i was more intrested in birding watching my first sand martins of the year plus willow warbler the best for me were 3 blackcaps singing stunning birds 

also had a guided tour of north cut which is the old tip and some great work done on the habitat i also enjoyed seeing lots of familys out with kids anything that involves getting people to even just have a walk in nature can only be a good thing 

easter weekend at seahouses

 a bog standard campsite (springhall farm) just 30mins walk from seahouses 

set off friday lunchtime due to the van needing a new back box, awful drive up the A1 taking 5 1/2 hours but worth it just for the views from the site of the farnes and bamburgh castle, evening spent in the awning due to rain but nice and warm 

saturday

lazy morning and then headed to seahouses via shoreston hall onto the beach, this part of the world has the best beaches, vast clean sand its a beautiful coastline 

a couple of stonechats in the dunes, sandwich terns over the sea were my first ever in march, the rocks approaching seahouses had curlew,turnstone,dunlin and redshank.

the usual eiders in the harbour were fun to watch as was the long tailed duck which ive not seen since our trip around scotland 2 years ago. colette found a grey plover on the sand at the outer harbour wall.

look around seahouses we found a place selling scotch pies warm not bad but the puff pastry top was odd 

headed back to the campsite around 1ish via the same route but i wanted to have more of a walk so headed up the road to monks house a place ive read about for years mostly through bill oddies books, monks pond was very active with gulls but also gadwall and tufted duck great little place.headed back via some footpaths and lanes lots of yellowhammers singing and loads of chiffchaffs and chaffinches 

more yellowhammers back at camp and a sparrowhawk over

sunday 

holy isle 

we have been before but chose to explore the village rather than follow the crowds to the castle, sat for a while looking over ST Cuthberts isle

colette found a red throated diver close inshore very nice. visted the lindisfarne mead shop drank mead bought mead its a nice drink! and after a nice few hours we had a brew in the van then headed to berwick. tried and failed to get something to eat, so back to seahouses for fish and chips from neptunes not brilliant but not bad just a normal fish and chips had better.

then we chose to head home due to rain on monday morning which would make putting everything away a nightmare, it was warm in the sun and all the dew had dried off, so on the road for 1730 and back home for 2100 for more mead! 

monks pool 

monks house 

whooper swans in the fog

whilst waiting at the top of free school lane for my brother to pick me up for the trip to selby for mothers day  heard whooper swans calling sounded to be heading west but given the fog not seen 

cumbria

 we always go away for colettes birthday, so this year we headed to allonby in cumbria 

lovely airbnb across from the beach 

the wirral

after what seems likes weeks of crap weather saturday was looking good......so friday night we choose to go somewhere different New Brighton! 

great little area, lots of free parking, big beaches, and great views over liverpool.

then onto hoylake again free parking with veiws of hilbre island and the welsh coast.

last stop parkgate made a brew in the van and set up the scope i bought in june but its the first time used it away from mytholmroyd!!!! a Vanguard 82ed a , heavy but that gives me a sense of solidness performed well given the afternoon light, as we watched a female marsh harrier sat on a post for an hour 

nice day out finished off with a KFC from cheshire oaks tasty 

 

best self found birds

 nationally 

yellow breasted bunting fair isle august 1989 

oriental pratincole blakney point 4th june 1993 

broad billed sandpiper at hicksons flash fairburn ings 12th may 1996 (first for west yorkshire)

night heron thorne moors june 1996 (first for thorne moors)

raddes warbler beacon lane kilnsea october 2005 

home calderdale 

its where i spend most time birding so not a surprise ive found a few decent birds, with most being seen at elland gravel pits which i went nearly daily from 1987 to 2000, despite it now being called cromwell bottom it will always be EGP to me!! sadly the place is now too overgrown 

anyway i think the rarest bird ive found is

grey headed wagtail june 1990 Elland Gravel Pits 

i was watching the spotted sandpiper from near the banking that separates the 2 lagoons when i saw a wagtail flying towards me it looked to have some yellow so i thought grey wagtail, as it got closer it was an overall yellow/green colour with a dark head,it landed on the lagoon but was not seen again 

i carried on my walk puzzled by the wagtail, i had seen yellow wagtail before in the uk  but never with a dark head 

that evening on returning home i phoned tony gough(bradford recorder and friend) to tell him of my find 

he said it sounds like a blue headed wagtail, i was happy with that conformation and recorded it as such 

the next day after work i cycled to EGP, i headed to the lagoons parked my bike by the canal lock and walked down the dip to the lagoon where i saw tony gough mick cunningham and tony cunningham, i asked 'spotted sand?' the reply was 'no' a bit bemused i asked what you looking at? tony said 'your wagtail....its grey headed wagtail'

for a 17 year old birder it was validation 

now was it coincedence that the last time i saw tony gough was on tresco at the turks head we enjoyed a few pints before the boat back to st marys that would be 1998 and we talked about the wagtail 'a cracking find lad" 

and mick cunningham the last time i saw him was on beacon lane kilnsea we had a good chat and we ended up finding a radde's wabler 

migrants

 spent alot of time walking recentley with the hope of finding some migrants its been hardwork but very rewarding few weeks 

redstart 1 pinnicle lane

spotted flycatcher great jumps farm

lesser whitethroat 1 hawksclough

whitethroat withens clough res

balckcap withens clough res 

wheatear 9 various sites 

also 

merlin 1 male 

little owl 1

good numbers of finches around daisy bank 

goldfinch 100+

linnet 20

siskin 40+

bullfinch 9 great jumps 

yep a good few weeks