A midweek trip out to try to see a couple of nice birds that have begun their migration through Britain. Myself, Kevin C and Craig B left Rochdale at 10am (to hopefully miss the M62 snarl) on a warm, pleasant morning. Our plan was to head for North Cave nature reserve about 20 miles west of Hull to see a Spotted Crake that had been found there a couple of days previously. Spotted Crake breeds in Eastern Europe & Russia and is an annual overshooting migrant in Britain, not always easy to see as it hides away in marshy, bog like water fringes. This particular individual was no exception to the rule! With lots of birders already present in the hide where the bird could be seen from occasionally, we had to wait our turn to get sat at the front. After about an hour of watching Water Rails, Green Sandpipers, a birder said that the bird was moving about in the reeds and was about to emerge! A bird that is about 8 inches long at 75 yards distance is not easy to see, but we eventually had decent views of the crake as it shuffled about feeding on the edge of the vegetation. As we walked back to the car for a drink the smell of cooking bacon hit our noses, impossible to resist, and a really nice treat for us! Without looking for the Red Crested Pochard at North Cave we just almost bumped into it! Although it looked a little washed out the long body, red bill and capped head were good I.D. features. Also with 29 Little Egrets stood around together, it gave the place a more tropical feel to it. What a good reserve this is turning out to be, it used to be a gravel quarry, now being changed into a rather good nature reserve.
Heading back towards Goole along the behaving itself M62 we went to RSPB Blacktoft Sands reserve as an American wader, a Pectoral Sandpiper had been found a couple of days ago. This species is a regular migrant into Britain from North America where it breeds in northern Canada and is also to be found breeding in Siberia. It was fairly quiet at Blacktoft, possibly due to the lack of water in the various pools etc. We headed for Marshland hide where all the water is and we soon managed to see the Pectoral Sandpiper, its just a bit taller than a Dunlin with an obvious pectoral band of darker feather across its breast. After watching the bird for about 5 minutes it flew off, on its own and we did not see it again! Lots of other waders to watch though including: - Black tailed Godwit, Spotted & Common Redshank, Greenshank, Green Sandpiper, Ruff, Curlew, Dunlin, Snipe, and Lapwing. Only one Marsh Harrier was seen but a few Bearded Tit`s were enjoyed. As we got back to the carpark a U shaped flight of about 50 Common Scoter passed overhead, a nice end to another good day out. No complaints about the M62 today, well it was 8-00pm when we got home!
