Scarlet Pimpernel

They seek him here

They seek him there

Those Frenches seek him everywhere

Is he in Heaven?

Or is he in Hell?

That demned illusive Pimpernel.

Odds fish m'dear!

Flamborough Head

Yesterday I suddenly realised that I hadn't seen any seabirds this year and as Flamborough is just 40 minutes away I drove there whilst the weather was acceptable. I didn't see anything unexpected but it was nice to watch large numbers of Kittiwakes, Gannets, Puffins, Razorbills and Guillemots go about their business.

Lots of Gannets were flying past, both north and south with quite a number of juveniles amongst the flocks. Kittiwakes were the most numerous with better numbers of juveniles fledging than in the previous few years when the breeding season was a massive failure. Below is a picture of Kittiwakes nesting on one of the cliffs.

Whilst watching these a single Fulmar flew past as did a pair of noisy Sandwich Terns. Good numbers of House Martins and Swifts were feeding in the air and a couple of Skylarks were in aerial song. On the rocks below the cliffs were large numbers of gulls; Herring Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Great Black-backed Gull and a single Black-headed Gull along with a few Oystercatchers and a lone Redshank.

I took a walk around some of the farmland adjacent to the cliffs where I came across a Pied Wagtail, a Wren, a male Reed Bunting, 2 Meadow Pipits and a Coot on a farm pond. This farmland is being managed for wildlife and there were loads of nice flowers in the field margins including piles of Kidney Vetch, pictured below.

Lapwing Chick

I went back to Swinemoor this morning to see if the Wood Sandpipers were still present. It seems that the calm weather gave them the opportunity to leave! However, amongst the grass a single Lapwing chick was lurking; the first I've seen this year. The Lapwings on Swinemoor always seem to raise a few chicks despite the problems they face with trampling from horses, fluctuating water levels, dogs and marauding crows.

Plenty of adult Lapwings were on the common today, along with 2 Shelduck, 3 Redshank and a Dunlin in breeding plumage. On the river Hull a Sedge Warbler was singing along with a large number of Reed Warblers, one of which was unusually easy to see. Other migrants were large numbers of Swifts and Swallows, Willow Warblers, Lesser Whitethroats and a distant Cuckoo.

I managed to find the orchid I was told about, but some idiot seems to have picked three of the four stems, leaving just a single flower. It seems like a Green-winged Orchid Orchis morio to me, but I'm not sure.

Swinemoor and Eske

Another walk to both Swinemoor and Eske turned up some more interesting things. On Swinemoor, Shelduck, Lapwings, Redshank, Snipe and Little Ringed Plover were all still present as were plenty of other common migrants.

The still weather meant that lots of birds were out catching insects and this meant that 100s of Swifts were hawking around. At some places they were hunting around my feet, giving me fantastic close-up views. On the lake the usual suspects were there, along with the female Goldeneye. In the reeds Reed and Sedge Warblers were noisily singing, but probably the most interesting species was a calling Treecreeper, just the second time I've seen one here and in exactly the same place as the last time.

On the way back the Little Owl was outside its roosting hole and watching me as I was watching it!

A number of interesting plants are out in flower now and I took some photos of a very bright flowering broom Sarothamnus scoparius.

More Spring migration

Yesterday morning I went to Swinemoor Common again hoping for some more spring migrants. Once again I wasn't disappointed despite the rapidly disappearing water - not much more than a few puddles left now.

The first bird of interest was a male Wheatear next to the Beverley-Barmston drain, a different bird than the two I saw previously as it was much more brightly marked. As I approached what is left of the wet areas I heard the screeching of a Swift - the first of the year! It was quickly joined by 3 more and a group of 10 House Martins. 3-4 Swallows were also flying around.

I found a good place to sit and scan the common; this turned out to be a good idea as a number of birds were moving through. 5 Shelduck were present today along with about 20 Lapwings - many of them on nests now. A group of about 300 Golden Plovers dropped in and began to bathe themselves and a Little Ringed Plover came in very close. This bird seemed to be a first year bird as it still hasn't reached full adult plumage. However, two more Little Ringed Plovers further away seemed so happy with Swinemoor that they began copulating! Two Redshank were foraging in the wet grass and whilst watching them the same two Wheatears in the same place as Saturday made an appearance as did the male Yellow Wagtail.

Two drumming Snipe were very noisily displaying - Swinemoor is a very good place to watch male Snipe perform an aerial battle.

I decided to look around the scrubby areas of the common finding 7 Willow Warblers, a Lesser Whitethroat and plenty of common birds: Starling, Blackbird, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Linnet, Pied Wagtail, Collared Dove, Meadow Pipit, Skylark etc. The scrubby areas of Swinemoor are a good place to look for plants and I took some photos of some interesting ones:

Water Crowfoot

At the southernmost end of Swinemoor is a very damp and spongy area of grass which attracts Whimbrel every year and yesterday a group of 9 were feeding amongst the Starlings and a male Yellowhammer sat calling in a small bush.

Walking back to the car a few Reed Buntings were noisily calling, two Long-tailed Tits were feeding in a tree and the Lapwings were busily chasing Carrion Crows away from their nests. The last birds to add to the list before returning to the car were 2 first summer Lesser Black-backed Gulls and a giant Mistle Thrush.