Stunning Scarborough And Environs.......

With the prospect of a cracking days weather,Chris and myself made the journey to my favourite part of the world.....Scarborough.After hearing that a juv. Glaucous Gull had been showing well in the harbour,this along with the prospect of a great days birding in the area,saw us visiting today.To start with we enjoyed stunning views of the Peregrine pair near to were we had parked the car at post 54 along Marine drive.These two birds put on a fine display as they preened and wheeled around over their cliff top eyrie,with much calling between the two,a great start to proceedings.Nearby and off marine drive,we saw several goodies,the best of which was a Slavonian Grebe flying north with a Great-crested Grebe,a distinct species when seen in flight for me,with it doing much neck stretching and lifting its head,not unlike what Red-throated Divers do,a nice surprise.Also off the drive were at least 5 Common Porpoise,giving great views and overhead a male Lapland Bunting came in off the sea,before heading south.We then made our traditional stop at the 'Tea Pot' for a Hot Chocolate and Bacon bun(Thanks Chris) and briefly saw a rock climbing Fox on the castle headland nearby.Unfortunately after several hours looking the Glauc didn't visit today,but several other goodies were seen around the harbour area and included at least 40 Purple Sandpiper coming into roost at the east pier,which gave stunning close views,1 Razorbill,just off the harbour wall.In North Bay,6 female type Common Scoter and a Red-throated Diver were seen,3 adult Med Gulls were watched distantly around Holbeck car park,123 Pink-footed Geese flew south and a Common Buzzard was seen overhead on a couple of occasions,receiving a proper battering from the local Crows,with the birds pecking and jostling this poor raptor as it tried to escape.By this time lunch time was approaching,so we drove the short journey over to Scalby Mills for one last attempt at looking for the Glauc and a bite to eat.Again the Glauc wasn't seen but a flock of about 120 Wigeon,Grey Wagtail and a crab crunching male Eider were seen.The Eider particularly stunning with his fine plumage.As always happens when we visit this area we made our way over to spend the remainder of the day at beautiful Troutsdale.The best bird here was a stunning adult male Goshawk,close enough to see the eye and 'Super' through the scope as he made his way across the valley from our vantage point,fantastic and a single bird called from the forest.Other niceities seen here,included a single Willow Tit near Hilla Green,40 plus Siskin,2 Common Buzzard,male Peregrine heading west along the valley,a single Crossbill,6 Bullfinch and a Nuthatch which gave superb views as it fed in a roadside Oak.So after all this it was sadly time to go back home after another cracking visit to this stunning part of the world.