Kicking things off with a pit stop at Rutland Water, it was fantastic to watch nesting Ospreys. We got a pair and two chicks, and a host of wildfowl and fledgling tits flocking around.
Having only seen one distant Osprey in my life in passage migration, seeing them perched and posing was awesome!
After a motorway journey littered with Buzzards, Kites and even a Hare bouncing around a showground, we then arrived at our campsite near Hull. After settling in we took an evening stroll to get the lay of the land, and despite no owls we got a few singing Yellowhammers, along with more Hare and then the first lifer of the trip, a Tree Sparrow!
It soon became apparent that there was a pretty good sized flock in and around the farm house, and with our curiosity satisfied we turned in before the main event.
The next day took us down a long lane to Bempton Cliffs. I've heard a lot about the spectacles on offer, and my god did it not disappoint! Once past the visitor centre you are simply overwhelmed by the noise of Kittiwakes and Gannets, and literally every single square foot of the many cliff faces are covered in seabirds, most of which I hadn't seen since I was a kid.
You can't get past the cuteness of the Puffins, and I tried my best to get photos whilst simultaneously cacking myself staring down a 300 foot drop into the crashing waves. The hype around this place is definitely accurate, I can't quite put into words how incredible the combination of noise and numbers of the seabird colonies, nor the sheer beauty of the scenery. And hey, having massive Gannets soaring a couple of metres from your head is just mental!
A stop off for a woodland walk down to the beach afterwards finally gave me a distant Shag which I'd dipped at Bempton, and some fantastic views of a Bullfinch foraging in the undergrowth, before a Roe Deer put in an appearance before home.
For the return journey we weighed up a few options regarding different RSPB reserves, but in the end took a slightly different route on a couple of twitching pitstops. Having heard about a few rarities on a random patch in Lincolnshire, we headed for the small village of Bardney, before walking down a cycle path until we reached a small patch of marshland. Although the views were distant (don't judge these awful photos), we got Glossy Ibis, Whooper Swans, and a pair of Common Cranes!
One pub-lunch later we were off again for the big breaking news of the day, a Roller had been seen by a farm house in Suffolk! Wasting no time, despite getting stuck behind some seriously slow drivers, we made our way to what felt like the middle of nowhere. Feeling slightly awkward essentially looking round it's last known location in someone's front garden (well, paddock, but you get the idea) we were thankfully rescued by a local who pointed us down the road towards another field.
This definitely felt like my first big twitch, with maybe 40 odd birders all training their scopes on the phone lines, and the bird performed spectacularly, posing up high before bombing down for food. I didn't actually realise how rare they were in this country, having grouped them with Bee-Eaters and Hoopoes in my head which are both now seen semi-regularly on these shores, but it turns out that Rollers are something special!
What an unreal couple of days! I'm definitely aiming to get on board with more twitches, and the year list is now looking very solid at 164. Massive thanks to Joe for driving and to both the guys for their excellent company and memory making!
I'll try to write a bit of a catch up post in the next couple of days to fill in the massive gap since I last did a blog, a fair bit went down! Until the next one!
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