Dave, Ken, Roger and I set of
for Spurn at around 07:15 in the hope that yesterday’s Masked Shrike was still
at Kilnsea. We hadn't gone too far when we received a message that
it was still there and we continued hoping for a new bird.
On arrival there were lots of
birders scattered around and after parking we joined a few birders in the car
park looking towards Rose Cottage. We were soon on the shrike but it
was pretty distant and so we decided to go to the sea wall to see if we could
get any closer. There were plenty of birders along Easington Road
and I saw a single Chiffchaff, a Spotted Flycatcher and a Whinchat and Ken had
a Red-breasted Flycatcher. As we walked along the sea wall we had
another two Whinchat and a Stonechat and although we could see the shrike the
views were no better then before. We could see a crowd developing
inside a field off Easington Road and it was obvious that they were a lot
closer. We started to walk back seeing the Red-breasted Flycatcher
on route and there was a ring-tailed Hen Harrier flying over the
estuary. As we walked towards the field I had further views of the
Red-breasted Flycatcher and on reaching the field entrance it was difficult to
gain access. I managed to get in a position where and could see the
shrike quite close in the hedgerow. I fired off a few shots but it
wasn't easy and most were unacceptable being out of
focus. Eventually the bird started moving further down the field and
I moved further into the area where access had been arranged.
From my new position was able
to view the bird through the scope and had some excellent views. I eventually joined the others a little
further on and the bird started to move back closer along the hedgerow. Whilst it was a little further away I mounted
my camera on my tripod and took another couple of shots, which turned out to be
reasonable record shots. It eventually
went back down the hedge and Dave, Roger and I went to view the sea.
Masked Shrike
The sea was, perhaps
surprisingly, very quiet and after about ten minutes we decided to go and have
some lunch. As we walked back we saw
some other Leicestershire birders and stopped for a chat and whilst doing so
Roger picked up a Red-throated Diver over the sea.
As we were having our lunch we
could see a crowd on the sea wall suddenly get quite active and we assumed that
the Olive-backed pipit had been seen. A
few minutes later Dave, Roger and I set off to join them whilst Ken went for
further views of the shrike. When we
reached the birders, the pipit had been seen and was now apparently somewhere
amongst some small bushes. A birder who
was obviously local decided to go close to the edge of the bushes to try and
flush it, which succeeded in moving it into a small bush and some birders managed
to get on it before it returned to the larger bush. After a few minutes they tried again and this
time it flew out and went away towards the field. Dave had seen it drop into a small bush on
the other side of the dyke and I was able to get alongside him and see the bird
briefly before it dropped out of sight.
Although the views were quite brief I did see the facial pattern and the
nice olive upperparts. It was now in an
area that was not accessible and it wasn’t seen again.
We walked back to the hide on
canal scrape where I had really poor views of a Jack Snipe before we headed off
to have another look at the sea. We
spent the last half-an-hour watching the sea and had a Sooty and Manx
Shearwater and several Gannets. Several
distant skuas and auks were observed but they were too distant to be certain of
their identity. As we walked back to the
road we had a Whinchat, Stonechat and a Wheatear all perched closely together
on fence.
It had been an excellent days
birding and as we drove back I was able to get the City’s score, which wasn’t
good news as they were losing 3-1 to Man United at home. I got some grief from the others in terms of
spoiling their day. On checking a few
minutes later it was 3-2 and shortly afterwards 3-3. I mange some comment that the win was now on
and on checking again it was 4-3 to the City.
Ken wouldn’t believe and I had to show him the score on the phone and
few minutes later my wife called to ask if had seen the score and I said yes
they were winning 4-3 but she no they have now got a fifth and the game finished
5-3. What a day, a new bird and a
magnificent win for the City.
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