Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, RSPB Blacktoft Sands

 

What a day !  Both up to our necks in gardening with literally stones of tomatoes being harvested, the plants shredded and Simon digging them back into the ground as compost. It's a massive task but the sun was shining and seemed a good day for the job. My phone rang, JH ringing from south Wales......have you seen your pager, are you there ?  Tomatoes dropped and off to Blacktoft we went. It's really not too far for us (20 minutes max) so we were soon pulling into a packed car park (which fills me with dread!). The hide was stuffed to the gills and the bird was as far away as you can imagine, on the far mud. Very difficult to pick out as viewing was severely restricted on the left hand side of the hide due to the location of the bird and reeds obscuring views. But see it we did and Simon took a few pics before we beat a retreat. Far too busy and with more and more people cramming into the hide it was the right choice. Only our second sharp-tailed sandpiper in the UK. A brilliant couple of hours with the staff at Blacktoft well organised as ever. If it hangs around we can always go again. 

Red-flanked Bluetail, Sammys Point, Spurn

 Photos by Ian Smith

One of our rare trips to Spurn and only a couple of pied flycatchers to look at so we headed to Shaz and Ian's for a cuppa and lunch. Just getting stuck into recent trip pics and this came on the radio. So a quick dash to Sammy's where we had a few fleeting glimpses of this red-flanked bluetail. The crowd was huge and there seemed to be folk literally everywhere which made for quite a stressful hour !  So, happy with our views we beat a retreat. The bird was still there the following morning, and the Sunday crowds gone, so Ian returned and got these stunning pics. They are fantastic !

Last weeks bits and bobs

 

Some lovely walks with beautiful views

We regularly walk down the River Ancholme in the evening. Tonight we encountered a unicorn !

We have a new addition to our house and it looks fantastic. We were going to move but couldn't find the right house with a large garden that was in our price range and we do like our house, we have lived there for over 40 years !  So, a wood burning stove was installed and believe me, that was not cheap. The room was decorated, new carpets, rugs, chairs and looks fabulous. New greenhouse in the garden this summer and next year I have plans for a new kitchen.....watch this space !

We are so on the ball with firewood this year. This is full of sticks, all ready to go.

One of our favourite flowers in our garden this year

Simon makes all his own compost and Pixi loves to be with us in the garden. She stopped the job this afternoon when she had a nap in the compost

Pixi has a thing about runner beans, she thinks they are snakes and attacks them, biting and shaking them. Here she has two rounded up and killed !

This is the 100,000th tree planted by North Lincolnshire Council. You would have thought they would have watered such a milestone tree......wrong !  Stone dead ! So I have emailed our MP and local councillor about it. They were all there for the photo when it was planted, I thought they should be told that it was dead after only one month. Been promised it will be replaced. Will monitor it and get back on to them if nothing happens. What a total waste of time and money and just shows you what our council thinks of trees. 

Lovely to be brought flowers in grown in the garden. Always look lovely x

Cobwebs

 

There was a feel of autumn this morning. The cobwebs were beautiful x

A few from the garden this week

 

After demolishing an old shed and moving the new one up the garden into a more suitable spot, we thought a greenhouse would be good in the space at the very bottom of the garden. Being surrounded by neighbours garages on two sides it would also be protected from the strong winds we get these days. So Simon set about clearing the space and goodness, what a job that turned out to be. It was a corner that we had used to dump stuff for 40 years ! We had also had very heavy rain every day for a month which didn't help either. So as soon as we had got a delivery date it was all hands on deck, ground leveled. a base built and many trips to the tip were done. 

Nearly done and it looks fantastic !

Pixi loves it, she has already moved in !

And now for some VEG !!

Still harvesting new potatoes, flipping delicious !

We get this amount of tomatoes every day

Another day, another basket of tomatoes and a couple of servings of beans. Will be in the freezer in 10 minutes from picking !

OMG delicious with butter, a fantastic harvest this year

Ripen !

We have a sweetcorn jungle

Today I froze 55lb of beautiful corn cobs. 

We now have 2 freezers full to the gills of lovely home grown veg !

Brown Booby, South Gare, Cleveland

Just had to drive north to see the Brown Booby, a bird we have seen before in Cuba. An easy drive and then looked for birders. The bird had been sat on a buoy all morning and then had a fly round. It was the usual, it was here 10 minutes ago, when we got there which made for a stressful half hour until a shout went up that it was sat on the furthest buoy. So, moved the car again (for the third time!) and a very distant scope view was had of the booby, pressure now off ! So, moved the car yet again, and joined the group of birders at the very end where we had some very good views of it sat on green buoy 5. 

A local fishing boat then appeared with a photographer onboard and appeared to get very close, but the bird didn't flush or seem bothered to be honest. But, is there really any need ??

Thought we would beat a retreat with a 110 mile drive until we saw Vince and Mark so we moved the car again and joined them skua watching. Always keeping our eye on the booby, we noticed that it had flown and bingo, it flew round straight infront of us, catching a fish. A fantastic day ! Our first new UK bird of the year. 

Here the booby had caught a fish which attracted a crowd of gulls that failed to rob the fish

Brown Booby against the petro-chemical works

Any need ?? One photographer with a lens that could photograph an ant on the moon.