Had the birding itch last week because Spurn had been delayed and it was a choice between Leighton Moss and Environs, some of the sites in Yorkshire such as Old Moor, Hatfield and Swillington Ings and Alkborough Flats/Blacktoft Sands.   Craggy, Craig and I were joined by a new addition - Paul Burke. 

Arriving at Alkborough Flats just after 9.30am we marched off as there was a Western Swamphen to see, one that has been around for a few weeks.  This is the second British record ever and the last one was at Minsmere for a week from late July.  Previous swamp hens were considered escapes as they appeared to look like subspecies from much further away.  What had given these birds credibility was the fact that this summer there has been a northward influx.  There has been debate about whether this bird was the Suffolk bird but the "birding community" had agreed it was not.  Western Swamphens to some, Purple Gallinules to me! 

We were parked on a hill which was a bit of a surprise - raised ground here we thought would have been rarer than Swamphens themselves.  We set off to the right and after a brief visit to the first hide which did not show much we trundled onto a tower hide.  The tower hide gave good views across the reserve and the confluence of the Trent and the Ouse which formed the Humber.  There Marsh Harriers, Gulls, Waterfowl and plenty of Waders.  Craig caught site of a Spoonbill, a flock of Avocets and a bunch of twitchers.  After a while we moved onto towards where the twitchers were.  Bearded Tits pinged over the reedbed and a Hobby was having fun in the air.  When we arrived at the twitchers point just outside a hide we stopped and set up camp with the others.  They waited patiently and so did we.  We could see 5 Spoonbill - 1 of which had avian bangles on.  I will let Craig give you the history of the bird.  I felt I had over dosed on Spoonbill recently - 5 here, 5 there, 9 here but I still could not get enough.  22 was the peak number of Spoonbill seen here at one point.  I had never seen Avocets after July in the UK or in the autumn.  There were triple figures I believe but at one point the peak was over 2000!  Seeing the post breeding flock of Avocets as how I would expect to see Redshank was something new.  I tried to explain to Paul what this bird looks like and after showing him a photo of it on the mobile he said very casually "was that the bird I was just watching when I walked a bit further down on my own?"  I felt my blood drain and could not give an instant reply and some listening near by looked like they were going to move so quickly that an Olympic record be broken!  We had been had! 

Paul, Craggy and I decided to have a  wander to the hide that looks the confluence but sadly we did not see much although there were a number of Dragonflies on the path, basking.  We could not help but notice the number of Reed Buntings moving.  We had left Craig alone with a bunch of people who thought a Ruff which if was flying any slower would have fallen out of the sky was a Sparrowhawk!  The Big Blue Chicken was no where to be seen.  The hide was packed.  Craggy was having a chit-chat with a local birder and called the hide a shed.  "That is not a shed!" came the distraught reply from the local as if his life long work had been ruined!  We gave up and headed back to the car and once there we realised someone had logged it onto birdguides but who and where?  It turned out a few people had seen it from a higher view point and it was not visible from where we twitched it.  We waited there and went back down again but nothing.  It had actually been logged again - we missed it twice even though we were in the area!  Consolation was a Hobby flying above our heads twice.  We decided not to visit Blacktoft Sands. 

Overall a good day with 5 birds of prey seen, min 10 Waders, Bearded Tits, Kingfisher and meeting globetrotting birders who had lots of adventures even though Craig says they do not know the difference between a Chiffchaff and a Willow Warbler :P