Hoodies!

We spent last weekend at our second home at Barmston beach, and, despite the poor weather, enjoyed some interesting birding.

One morning,  Lee had a walk across the beach and spotted some crows coming into land which looked very different from the usual ones we see there.

As he approached, he could see that they were hooded crows, and there was a pair of them.

You can see from the pictures that, instead of being black all over like our familiar carrion crows, they have grey backs.

In the above picture, you can see one of the hooded crows with some oystercatchers.  Hooded crows are commonly found in Scotland, but they rarely come down as far as this. This made it a really exciting spot!  They hung around for a while and then flew off when some horses approached.

We also saw a manx shearwater over the sea the following day, but didn’t manage to get a photograph as it was quite distant.

We paid another visit to Bempton, and saw this beautiful chaffinch.

Plus a super long-tailed tit – always a pleasure to see.

Even in the colder weather, we love being at our seaside home, and are often surprised by the birds that turn up there.

Next time we’ll bring some more birds to you from nearby Hornsea Mere, where we met an exciting bird we’d not seen before!

 

More babies!

We made another visit to Bempton Cliffs and Flamborough over the weekend, and were delighted to find that many of the nesting seabirds now have chicks.

These adorable kittiwake chicks were everywhere!

Kittiwakes typically lay 2 eggs, and their young, as you can see above, are grey and black.  Like many of the seabirds here, their nests are balanced quite precariously on the cliffs, and you often wonder how they don’t fall off!

Several of the gannets also had chicks – hope you can spot some of them in the above and below photographs.  They lay only one egg, which is incubated under their large webbed feet.  They stay on the cliff side for around 13 weeks, after which they jump off the cliffs and into the sea below.

The young birds take around 4 years to get their full adult plumage of white with black outer wings.

We couldn’t have a visit to Bempton without including a couple of pictures of puffins!

We saw quite a few of them around the cliffs – their orange feet made them stand out from the other birds.

We didn’t get a glimpse of any young puffins, or pufflings as they are known, as they are usually kept well hidden within the burrows and holes in the cliffs.  After the young have fledged, they will make the leap into the sea, usually at night to avoid being predated.

They will then spend the winter out at sea, before returning to the cliffs in spring to begin all over again.

Wading in

You might have noticed we’ve been spending quite a bit of time at the coast recently!  We’ve spotted some interesting wading birds on the East Yorkshire coast, and thought we’d share them with you for our blog this week.

We’ve been delighted to watch a family of ringed plovers hatch their young, and watch the parents anxiously protecting their chicks.

This pair successfully raised three chicks.  As you can see, they are really well camouflaged on the beach, and it was only when they moved that we were able to spot them.

The ringed plover is a widespread wading bird, breeding on sandy and shingle beaches.  It can be found throughout the year, and nests in a shallow scrape in sand or stones.  We were surprised at how exposed their nest seemed to be: had we not spotted it, it would have been easily trodden on.

They feed on the ground, picking up small insects and worms.

Another common wading bird we found on the beach is the dunlin:

On one of our many walks across the beach, we found a number of wading birds feeding in a puddle which had formed on the sand.

They can typically be found in groups, probing in the mud along the shore, where they pick up insects, worms and molluscs.

If you get a chance to visit our coastline, have a look out for these charming birds!

On the beach

We spent the weekend at Barmston Beach, near Bridlington, and these delightful little birds turned up!

Turnstones are so called because that’s exactly what they do: turn stones over on the beach in search for food.

We were having one of our regular walks across the beach and spotted them running around near the shoreline.  They actually let us get quite close without flying off, so Lee managed to get some decent pictures of them.

Turnstones can be quite tame, as we discovered in Bridlington harbour car park, where we found one or two running around picking up what they could find.

They are common winter visitors from Canada, and some of the immature birds also spend the summer on our shores.  In flight they have a distinctive black and white stripe.

They are often seen in groups, and tend to prefer rocky and stony shores.  They can also sometimes be found inland on passage.

We also saw sanderlings on the shore but didn’t get a picture this time – they move so quickly!  And this beautiful oystercatcher:

Unfortunately they didn’t let us get so close, but they are really beautiful birds with their distinctive red beaks and black and white plumage.

Next time you’re at the seaside, keep a look out for some of our lovely coastal birds!

Holiday magic (on site, on cliffs, on moors)

Puffin and kittiwakes, Bempton Cliffs

This past week we’ve been on holiday just outside Bridlington on the East Yorkshire coast, so we’re bringing lots of different birds we’ve seen around the coast and at the RSPB Bempton Cliffs reserve.  If you’ve never been, it’s really worth visiting: you’ll experience the sights, sounds and smells (!) of nesting seabirds along the dramatic coastline.

Of course, the bird we really wanted to see was the puffin!  Having visited in March last year and seeing quite a few of them on the cliffs, we were surprised that we only managed to spot a couple inland among the many gannets, guillemots, kittiwakes, razorbills and others.  They were quite difficult to spot too, and the pictures are taken quite far from where they were on the cliffs.

Puffin, Bempton Cliffs

Gannet, Bempton Cliffs

The gannets kept us entertained with collecting nesting materials, fighting and getting friendly with each other.  Apparently some of the pairs had already laid eggs, although we didn’t get a glimpse.

Gannets, Bempton Cliffs

Guillemot and razorbill (below), Bempton Cliffs

This picture shows the guillemot and razorbill next to each other.  As you can see, the razorbill has a bill like a knife, hence its name.  They lay eggs which pivot so they don’t roll off the cliffs, where they’re very precariously balanced.

Guillemots, Bempton Cliffs

Occasionally a guillemot will show a white ‘spectacle’ round its eye: this is a bridled guillemot, which you can see in the above picture, on the second guillemot from the left on the upper ledge.

Razorbill, Bempton Cliffs

Other birds we saw were the kittiwakes, which are a type of gull with a yellow bill, sadly in decline recently.

Kittiwake, Bempton Cliffs

Peregrine falcon, Bempton Cliffs

As we scoured the cliff edges, we spotted a peregrine falcon sitting on the grass by the cliff edge.  Our fastest bird of prey, they are very impressive, and we were very pleased to spot one on the horizon, although it was quite far away.

Tree sparrow, Bempton

Back near to the visitor centre, there were many tree sparrows taking advantage of the food in the feeders.  Quite different from their cousins the house sparrow, their delightful chattering and pretty brown caps kept us amused for ages.  There was also a couple of large brown rats picking up the food from the ground!

Rat, Bempton

Our visit to Bempton was definitely worthwhile, and it would be interesting to return later in the year when the young have hatched.

We stayed at Barmston beach, close to Bridlington, and were delighted to share the beach with a colony of sand martins, literally flying over our heads, nesting in the cliffs on the beach.

Sand martin, Barmston beach

Sand martins, Barmston Beach

The fields alongside the beach were full of skylarks and meadow pipits, flying up into the sky and descending back to the grassy ground.

Skylark, Barmston

Meadow pipit, Barmston

The coastal birds were really a delight, and we were quite sad to leave.  On our last day we decided to head west before going home to make the most of our holiday, and visited Knaresborough and Ilkley Moor.

Dipper, Knaresborough

We managed to spot a dipper bobbing up and down in the River Nidd in Knaresborough, from the castle grounds high above.  You might just make out a white bib on the edge of the stones – this was as close as we could get to this fast moving bird!  It’s an amazing bird, feeding under water in fast flowing rivers and streams.

Red grouse, Ilkley Moor

Ilkley brought us our first sightings of red grouse – there were quite a few of them in the heathland, making their presence felt flying around noisily!  We also heard and saw a curlew flying overhead, but didn’t get a picture of this one.

Lee found a stonechat, again a first, but it didn’t stick around very long so we didn’t get a very good picture.

Stonechat, Ilkley Moor

All in all we had a fantastic time and saw some amazing birds.  Oh we do like to be beside the seaside!

Sand martins, Barmston

 

Herring gull, Bridlington