Steve's Birding And Wildlife Blog.: Barton bits and Pec surprise......

Saturday, September 28, 2013

Barton bits and Pec surprise......

As her indoors was on nights and would be sleeping this morning,i decided to go over to Barton and see if i could find a Yellow-browed Warbler after the huge numbers arriving in the UK over the last few days.I walked around all the decent habitat around the Humber bridge viewing area and also Water's Edge,but nothing.It wasn't a complete blank though as at least 5 Chiffchaff were seen and a Grey Wagtail passed overhead on a couple of occasions.But the best highlight here went to a superb performance put on by an adult male and juvenile female Peregrine nearby on and around the Humber bridge.The juvenile bird was first seen chasing a Wood Pigeon over the viewing are before returning to the adult perched on the overhead cables on the bridge.Next the adult suddenly disappeared and then was seen chasing Gulls and Waders over the humber mud along with the juv,the male managing to catch a Redshank which it unsuccessfully passed to the juv. and the Shank fell into the river.The juv. managed to retrieve the bird and returned to the bridge to devour it's now slightly salty meal.A fantastic piece of action to enjoy from these superb birds.Later we had planned to visit my sister at Beverley and we had pre-planned a walk at Swinemoor.We were just walking alongside the Barmston Drain when i saw two waders feeding on a drying up pool,one was a juv.male Ruff,the other i was pretty sure was a Pec. Sand.I crossed over the small bridge which crosses the drain and tried to get closer taking a few shots with the camera,but the birds flushed for some reason.Thankfully they did a circuit before landing again on another pool a little further along.This time i managed some great views and rattled off a few shots with the camera and confirmed the bird as lovely,bright plumaged juv. Pec. Sand.After watching it for a while i left and put the news out for others to come and see this cracking bird.