We headed out this morning to Hatfield Moor for the long-tailed skua, thinking we would have a steady day and then go home for a nice lunch - wrong !! We were greeted by birders as soon as we walked onto Packards saying that the skua hadn't been seen for a couple of hours. As the area was still some distance away we were reluctant to walk it for nothing, so we sat down and just admired the view. Karen looked at the pager to see what else was about and jumped up, come on, we're heading for Goole she says, there's a black stork but its in flight. We were soon back in the car with Karen speeding towards Rawcliffe Bridge, the sightings on the pager were coming thick and fast and we just seemed to be a couple of miles behind this bird. The last sighting was just off Thorne Moors so we headed back through Goole at jet speed. At least we were heading in the right direction and who knows, we could be lucky. Our first stop was down the windfarm road but we couldn't seem to clear buildings and trees. Simon thought he had it flying really low, but we couldn't pick it up again. Decided to head off and try a different road that could get us closer, so we dashed off to the Old Peatworks road, that would give us a panoramic view of the moors. We were not disappointed after clear directions were put on the pager, we soon had the stork in our sights. After flying the length of Thorne Moors it soon gained height after being mobbed by buzzards and crows. We watched it fly along Crowle Moors and beyond. A fabulous bird and another one added to Karen's growing UK list. We did then head home, but only for a quick sausage butty as there was a skua that needed seeing !
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