No...not the Royal Bank of Scotland!
A conservative estimate would be 10 Hours of effort over 2+ days. Just a statement of fact, no pat on the back needed. I covered ALL areas of my elastic Village boundary (it stretches even more when there's a chance of something "special)!
I started on Wednesday morning at Old Hive...It was great to see the re-established Sand Martin Colony (c100) in full swing after the Winter erosion...did I mention the horrendous weather?!
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Tough Birds |
A cracking LBB Gull cruised along the beach...
...and this Reed Bunting was in full song...
I checked all the bramble clumps...
No RBS
Next it was the Cliff Paddock...
Plenty of perching opportunities? Alas no luck nor on the Clifftop...
Although a brief flight view of a small brown Bird with a russet tail strongly suggested Redstart (P.95, H.78)...Nightingale did cross my mind...briefly...Thrush Nightingale even less so!!
After lunch it was onto Snakey...
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Male Marsh Harrier through the continuing gloom |
...then the picturesque Sewage...
Still no RBS. I did get great views of a couple of Yellow Wagtails...
I ended up back at the Paddock around 6 but still no luck...until a Barn Owl appeared...
Yesterday I checked all the above areas again and marched along the Cliff to the Runnel via the now precarious First Pill...
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Sadly, an inevitable demise |
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Patient as ever |
A few Swifts (P.96, H.79) were brought down by the poor weather. Another check on Snakey Lane produced another pair of Yellow Wagtails in the Arable...
There have been 20+ Red-backed Shrikes reported between Spurn and Redcar in the last few days. I felt this was my best chance since moving here (2011) to add this Species to my Village List. It wasn't to be.