More Rarities and A Wanted Species!

 More Rarities and A Wanted Species!

(image from internet)

We arrived at 1:00pm at Hornsea Mere to see a rare female Ferruginous Duck. When we arrived, we went to the viewing area near Hornsea Sailing Club. We saw a birder who had seen the bird a couple of times before it dived down. It was a female so a hard bird to connect with, especially as it dived a lot. The man lowered his scope, since mine couldn't go that far, and showed me it a couple of times but it had either dived or moved out of view by the time I had looked through it. Suddenly, it stayed up for a long time and was by itself. I looked through and saw it as it swam side on to the right at the end of the raft. Wanting a better view, we went into the fields opposite and met Rob, Chris and some other birders who showed us the bird multiple times through their scope. We then got another decent look at it in the other field with a footpath where we also saw a Black-Necked Grebe. Everyone was struggling to find it, especially someone called Mike. It was such a hard bird to connect with. But, nevertheless, we ended up seeing it. Another tick. We then went to RSPB Fairburn Ings but didn't actually go on the site. We parked in the car park but then went out the car park and turned left to go on Newton Lane. We kept on walking, past a public footpath, until we got to a cottage and had a clear view of a lake. There was also a closed down footpath which mentioned nesting birds. That's where we saw a Spoonbill close up in the water. Much better views than having them fly out and back in the trees at the RSPB site itself. We then went to Staveley YWT (location pinned to post) to see a Glossy Ibis. On the way, we saw a Red Kite, a bird I've been wanting to see for ages and something I recently dipped in North Wales. It was a lifer for me as I don't get them where I live since it's too far north. When we arrived, we met a couple who had just seen the bird on East Lagoon. We rushed there and after a quick scan, we spotted it. It was at the back of the lagoon between the gap in the reeds, occasionally going out of view behind the island. After viewing it, we were heading out when we met two people who said they knew where a juvenile Cuckoo often was. We followed them towards the last hide yet no Cuckoo was seen. He then mentioned about a Grasshopper Warbler that often reeled just past here, occasionally showing well. We went there and could hear it reeling, along with a Yellowhammer calling. We couldn't see it yet but stayed on its tail until we saw it fly into a bush and got a quick glimpse of it before it flew off. The final tick of the day, and a difficult one, especially since they are hard to see at this time of year. Overall, a great trip with six lifers.