Thursday, October 26, 2017

Ring Ouzel, Spurn









A distant short-eared owl quartered the triangle early evening. 

A day at Spurn gave us this stunning male ring ouzel. One of Karen's favourite birds. Spent a few hours watching vis mig with blackbirds, starlings, song thrushes, redpolls, siskins, bramblings and fieldfares coming in off. A grey wag and a couple of black redstarts flitted around and a weasel ran along the bank top. 

We stayed at Spurn until well after 5pm, thinking the Hull rush hour traffic would be over .....wrong! We crawled through Hull for best part of an hour in standing traffic. It might be the City of Culture but your road network is absolute shocking. Even the traffic lights are not in synchro and one stayed on green for less than a minute. Hardly surprising it's one of the most polluted roads in the country. Come on Hull, get your act together. 

A couple of hours out and about




Bearded Tits 


Stonechats 



A couple of Whooper Swans flew round, didn't land and continued their journey 

There are fairies under here !

Tuesday, October 24, 2017

Yorkshire Wildlife Trust - Spurn's new visitor centre

Most of you will have seen the new visitor centre, still under construction, at Spurn. We objected to this planning application on both occasions, as did many hundreds of people, yet planning permission was granted. Very strange as it was refused first time round, was re-submitted with no changes, and permission was granted. I will leave you to think about that one. 


The planning application submitted by the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust stated that the building 'would nestle into it's surroundings'. Well does it? Just look at it.....nestle it does not, not in a million years. It's an absolute monstrosity that can be seen for miles around.

Canal Scrape hide is dwarfed in comparison to this building.  How the YWT got planning permission for this, no-one will ever know. I have worked in a planning environment for 20 years and I have been witness to some very bad decisions, and this has to be one of the worst. 


Spurn Bird Migration Festival has had permission refused to use this field for two years on the trot as it is a prime stopping-off site for migrating whimbrel. It is now a field of builders rubble, growing by the day. Now why didn't they take it to the breach along with all the concrete bases they are ripping up from the old obs?  Common sense eh !

Sunday, October 22, 2017

Twite, Kilnsea





With easterly winds forecast for a change, we decided to head to Spurn in the hope that a goodie would turn up.....well, there wasn't a drop of wind all day, and the birders there easily outnumbered the birds. One of those 'why did we bother days that we seem to have alot of recently'. But good company kept us laughing and these twite in the Blue Bell car park were the highlight, until they were flushed and not seen again. 

Saturday, October 21, 2017

Alkborough bits - the good, the bad and the disgraceful





Lots of bearded tits erupting at the moment but good luck picking a still, sunny day. They seem to be very rare this year. And when you do strike lucky, you may incur a guided walk marching along, oblivious to their natural environment. They may as well walk up and down the High Street. And then there's the strollers that can see you obviously looking at a bird yet walk straight up to you and ask 'have you seen anything good?', totally unaware that they have flushed every bird infront of you. 



A couple of weeks ago the Pink Footed Geese arrived in big numbers, a fantastic sight to see and hear. The fields at Alkborough were teeming with them until the local sheep farmer drove constantly through them, scarring them off and then the wildfowlers arrived........and there were none. Geese are not stupid, once they have been shot out they find an alternative route where they are safe. Such a pity that an area managed for wildlife is so anti-wildlife. The Humber is surrounded by guns yet right in the middle is a massive roost site. We always thought it was a rule of Natural England not to allow wildfowling so close to a roost.....must be mistaken. 


When you walk down the path at Alkborough Flats, you will no doubt have seen this interpretive board. Have you ever read it? It goes on to describe the bottom fields, you know, the fields around you that resemble a New Zealand sheep farm. Wet grassland indeed!  Just look at that nice tufty grass on the board, the mud scrapes and the nesting redshank and then take a look around you. It doesn't resemble it does it, not in a million years.

This is the wet grassland, perfect for breeding waders. Look infront of you and all you will see are sheep, grazing the land to within an inch of it's life. The grass having already been sprayed with weed killing chemicals. And if that wasn't enough, the sheep farmer drives around these fields on his quad bike many times each day, totally flushing any birds that decide to feed or rest in the fields. If you thought this was an area of North Lincolnshire that was managed for wildlife,  then think again.  

Controlled grazing indeed, what it should say is grazed all year round and the field resembles a fine turf lawn.   


You could be mistaken into thinking you were in New Zealand. This grass is shorter than our lawn, and looking at how green it is, it contains more fertiliser and weed killer. 


This field is managed and grazed by the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust at Kilnsea. Although we will never agree on the visitor centre location, we think you have got this grazing just right. Not too many sheep, and lots of long tussocky grass. A short-eared owl was quartering so there is obviously a food source in here for it. A total contrast to the grazing at Alkborough. No-one drives round this field many times each day to check these sheep, so why do they do it at Alkborough? 





and then this monstrosity was put onto the public footpath, with the permission of North Lincs Council. It has been there for some considerable time, is totally trashed yet remains on the site. An absolute eyesore.  

But this is probably the worst case of 'clearing out' and heaven only knows why the council's volunteers decided to clear this piece of land. Cetti's warblers have been spreading north over the last few years and there are now many pairs at Alkborough Flats, they are usually heard with their explosive song, and very rarely seen. A male could always be heard as you parked your car,  calling from this small wood. Yet this cetti's warbler habitat has now been totally destroyed, all in the name of 'tidying'. Breeding habitat gone. Does anyone actually think this looks good?  Disgraceful.  I will get onto the rank reed beds  in a later post.