Day to Remember (28/07/2010)

I had a very enjoyable and memorable a week ago on Wednesday just gone. I had planned to go to North Yorkshire to look for Honey Buzzards at Wykham Forest which is a popular and well known location to look for the species. I went with two friends but we sadly dipped the Honey Buzzards but we got fantastic views of a Goshawk having a go at a Buzzard! On the way to our next port of call (Filey) I received a text from county recorder and friend Mark to alert me there was a Whiskered Tern on Salthome RSPB, this is a nature reserve only 30minutes drive from my house and I often go there to bird watch. I was gutted and panicky that I would miss the bird but I tried to forget about it and I had a nice days birding in Yorkshire as from Filey we went on to Bempton Cliffs RSPB where I had good views of the many sea birds, I also heard my first ever Quail but sadly didn’t even get close to seeing it despite the bird being literally 20-40 feet away in the crop!

However one of the more memorable events was about to come as we made our way for the 2 hour journey back to Salthome RSPB, I got some texts of Mark to reassure me the bird was still there. I was about 50 minutes of Salthome when I received a text again from Mark and he informed me that I was a “lucky boy” as next to the Whiskered Tern a White-rumped Sandpiper had just appeared! We finally got there and I obtained very good views of the White-rumped Sandpiper, even though the light was bad I didn’t really notice it when I was watching the bird as I got pretty fantastic views even with a bit of zoom on my eyepiece. It was nice to see the bird wandering around feeding and to also get a comparison with Dunlin and other waders present. I was so busy watching the White-rumped Sandpiper I didn’t even notice the Little Stint that was reported, however it is possible it might not have been there when I was there. I also god good views of the Whiskered Tern and on a handful of occasions saw the Whiskered Tern and the White-rumped Sandpiper in the same scope view! Both were lifers and therefore also year ticks.

Happy days these birding days!

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Also I have photos that my friends took of the Whiskered Tern and the White-rumped Sandpiper on my blog.

Until next time, Foghorn (nickname) out!