North Yorkshire....

A visit up to the Scarborough area today with Nige didn't disappoint,with us seeing some nice birds.
After hearing a report of a Great-grey Shrike on the same clear fell as one was present on last winter at Wykeham Forest,we started at this site first with us unfortunately not seeing the bird,but seeing a pair of Stonechat,2 lovely Roe Deer and a male Winter Moth of which i got some decent shots of.After not seeing the Shrike we then travelled the short distance to Troutsdale Valley,parking at our usual place at Hilla Green next to the River Derwent and had a cuppa and something to eat before beginning to explore this brilliant area.It was noticeable that there was a few birds in this area near to the bridge here,with us seeing several groups of Siskin in the riverside Alders,with us also enjoying superb views of a posing Nuthatch and a couple of Marsh Tit and Grey Wagtail,a skein of 125 Pink-footed Geese flew south in the distance also.After a short while we saw our first raptors of the day,3 Common Buzzard,soaring over the adjacent hillside and forest,when another bird flew in and joined them and began to chase one of the Buzzards,it was a superb juvenile male Goshawk!it gave a great display of effortless flight eventually getting bored with the Buzzard and then began to soar around over the valley,showing the distinct 'Flying cross' jizz,with longish neck,bulging secondries and small hand and streaked underparts,making for a powerfull looking,impressive raptor species.We later saw a differant bird,which also looked like another juv male,but this bird had a single primary missing,where the earlier bird had,had complete wings,this particular bird being briefly mobbed by a couple of Carrion Crows and gave good,but distant views.After all this excitement,the weather set in and it began to pee down,so we decided to head to Scarborough.On arrival at Scarborough,the first place we visited was Scalby Mills searching through the throngs of bathing gulls for anything unusual,but sadly just the common species were observed which included a nice 2nd winter Kittiwake.Other birds observed here were several more Kittiwakes out at sea and a couple of Red-throated Diver.We then made our way to the harbour,with the only highlight being the best hot chocolate in Yorkshire!.The final place we visited was Holbeck car park,were we enjoyed fantastic views of 7 Med Gulls,which comprised of 5 adults and 2 2nd winters,coming down to a fellow birders bread and showed down to a few feet,the 2nd winters being particularly appealing,a great end to a great day in this cracking part of the world.