After the re-finding of a Wood Warbler on a local patch on Saturday, I thought my luck was in, it was to prove far from the truth! A very rare bird had been found off the Welsh coast and we had assembled a team who might have been tempted, but the bird was not seen on Saturday, so we decided to head out east. Myself, Bob K with Steve K at the wheel met in Milnrow at 6am on a fairly nice morning. As we passed Leeds the weather turned very drizzly and did not change much all day. First stop was Strensall Common near York, a new place for us to visit, but after extensive searching and 2 hours walking the birds we had hoped to see were not located, perhaps it was too late in the season? The weather did not improve as we reached Wykeham Forest near Scarborough, as the whole of the usually beautiful valley viewpoint was obscured by mist. A good search of the nursery area was made and not a sight or sound was heard of the quickly disappearing Turtle Doves. At the viewpoint the mist cleared a little then came back again, time to leave! We headed to Bempton Cliffs, knowing we would see a few birds there. It was the first highlight of the day watching the Gannets, Kittiwakes, Puffins and lots auks battling against the wind. There seemed a lot of Puffins present, but we were told the numbers are down.The visitor centre accommodated one of our number to visit its inner sanctum, after which we quickly left. Next stop was Blacktoft Sands, to hopefully connect with a pair of Montagu`s Harriers. On arrival we were told that it had been 40 minutes since they had been seen. After being entertained by 4 hunting Marsh Harriers for 20 minutes, the male & female Montagu`s Harriers got up for about 2 minutes, albeit a little distantly but quite spell blindingly, certainly the birds of the day. A quick look at a Bearded Tit and then no joy with the Yellow Wagtails ended, what was a fairly poor day in the field. The rare bird was re-found in Wales also, which really helped. Home for teatime and it was dry back in Lancashire.
