Filey - 21/22 April 2013

A brief trip back home to Yorkshire for the weekend was poorly timed coinciding with a rather quiet spell though still managed to see a few goodies.

A couple of hours along Hoddy Cows Lane, Buckton on Sunday morning produced a Short-eared Owl, a female Redstart, 2 Twite over north and 4 Corn Buntings. 

There was something of a Red Kite bonanza in the area on Sunday with Filey having at least seven. I connected with three in the air together on Sunday afternoon over Reighton. Eight Arctic Terns were in Filey Bay as were 11 Common Scoters and 2 Red-throated Divers, little else though. 

Monday was if anything even quieter and four hours around Carr Naze and Filey Country Park produced little apart from small numbers of Chiffchaffs and Willow Warblers. Good numbers of Sand Martins were along the cliff tops with some basking in the morning sun. A Red Kite flew over south and then finally at the Parish Wood a brief Firecrest sighting brought a pulse of excitement to proceedings.   

Small raft of Razorbills - numbers of auks were visibly low 

Sand Martins clinging to the cliffs