Off to a racing start this morning. A run out to Kilnsea Wetlands to coincide with a morning high tide is a good way to appreciate the wader numbers, passing through at this time of year. Anyone counting Knots?? Once settled in the hide, it was a case of which species to look at first. Immediately in front of me were 2 Common Sandpipers, Green Sandpiper, adult and juvenile Avocet, 1 Common Snipe, 2 Little Ringed Plover, Black-tailed Godwit, 3 Oystercatcher as well as 4 young Yellow Wagtails. Common Snipe. Common Sandpiper. Nearly forgot the single Ruff. Waders were present over much of the wetland, the larger flocks comprising mainly Dunlin and Redshank. Some distant Dunlin coming in to land. A small number of Knot came in from Beacon Ponds, settling for a while before moving out to the Humber as the tide receded. Knots arriving at the far end of the wetland.
Also in the area were a Little Stint, around 12 Curlew Sandpipers on the beach and a Wood Sandpiper on Holderness Field. My best find this morning was a juvenile looking Red Kite, first seen on Easington road near the farm and then found again, perched on the fence line at Sammy's Point. Another early start, not just to beat the traffic this time but to enjoy some good birding, before the temperature soars into the high seventies once more. Not too much wader activity at first, with a small gathering of Black-tailed Godwits and Avocets which have been present for some time. Ten Dunlin were probably passage birds and a similar number of Redshank were in the foreground. Redshanks resting and preening. A Spotted Redshank flew in, giving me brief views before all the waders and gulls took flight - a juvenile Peregrine was flying low over the mud and looking pretty menacing. The Peregrine did a good job of clearing the mudflats and I was left with only the Grey Herons and Little Egrets to admire. In time the birds began to return, two Curlews settled with a substantial flock of Lapwings. The Redshanks came back and brought a Green Sandpiper in with them. Green Sandpiper. There was little change for a while, quiet enough for a Roe Deer to walk across in front of me! A rather surprising arrival was this female Goosander, which is far from in its usual type of habitat and was the only duck species, apart from Mallards. The Green Sandpiper left the Redshank flock and was soon replaced by this Ruff which seems to be adopting a winter plumage already. The Water Rails exploded into life suddenly after not seeing or hearing them for a couple of hours. Adult birds were squealing from two directions and in front of me were two juveniles and a very small black chick. I was lucky to see an adult calling repeatedly, something I hear often but from a concealed location. The juvenile Rails were a little more wary and secretive, but showed quite well in time.
I thought I would write this short note for information, as the slightly disappointed recipient of the above Sigma teleconverter. For some time, I have been considering purchasing this converter to fit both my Sigma 150-600 C lens and Canon EOS760D camera. I have been really pleased with the Sigma lens which has worked fine with this camera, yet there are occasions when the subject is still out of reach or, a favourite subject would benefit from finer detail. In my pre-purchase research it became clear that the camera's 'autofocus' capability 'may not' necessarily work. Sigma do not specify which models will be affected, but say - 'compatible where autofocus at f8 can be achieved'. On that basis and using anywhere from f6.5 to f12 for shooting, I went ahead with the purchase. In line with what I had read on many blog comments, I powered up the combination and the camera defaulted to Manual Focus at f9. Not a hint of autofocus at any f number or any position along the zoom lens (mm). I have read where buyers have 'returned the goods' or 'wasted their money' or 'thrown it in a drawer!' The problem when senior years start creeping up on you is, your eyes may not be quite up to peering into a small viewfinder, at what is certain to be an already far away object! Having spent my working life as an engineer and, rather like 'a dog with a bone' when given a diffiicult breakdown, this converter wasn't going to end up in a drawer! There will be a way I can make this work. The solution I have found to be more than acceptable is as follows - Extend the zoom lens to the desired position and make the best focus you can, manually. Switch the camera to 'video' (camera achieves focus) and start video. Subject viewable on camera screen. Press shutter button fully down - video is interrupted momentarily and a 'still' shot is taken (saved as a separate file). The taking of a still shot during video is described in Canon's instructions, but not the application I am using it for - to get an autofocus at 840mm!! The saved image is not as you may expect, a small file, but is of the same size as would normally be taken i.e 5 or 6 Mb. There is no doubt, more testing will be required in the field but for now, comparable images of a Sky dish at the far end of the street show a 'more acceptable' focus than my guestimate. Manual focus Auto focus
I hope this proves useful and would welcome any comments. Following some late evening news from the Spurn area yesterday, it was a 3-45 a.m. get up for me this morning. A rare vagrant from the Middle East, in the form of a Greater Sand Plover had been found on the beach, just North of Beacon Ponds. Although it was light as I made the journey to the coast, my arrival coincided nicely with sunrise over a perfectly calm North Sea. Amazingly, the Sand Plover was in roughly the same part of beach as found and a group of birders were already assembled, at a distance. After setting up my scope, I was delighted to make out the orangey tinge on the bird, to one side of two Ringed Plovers. Its profile reminded me of a Kentish Plover and it frequently ran quite long distances over the sand. With an assembled group of around twenty-five birders, those 'in charge' seemed reluctant to inch any closer and we viewed the Plover from around 200 yards, through a quickly forming heat haze. Now that's a record shot - of Greater Sand Plover, left of two Ringed Plovers. With no change in viewing arrangements after some time, I left for Kilnsea Wetlands, pleased with this 'life tick' and perhaps returning later if the bird moves to another location. The Greater Sand Plover remained on the beach until 0815 when, a passing Peregrine flushed all the waders and the Plover was lost until 0945, when it was refound at the 'breach'. Here, it stayed only a short while before flying away high, to the North. It has returned to the Easington beach later in the afternoon (Twitter). Kilnsea Wetlands held hundreds of birds during the high tide period this morning, particularly Gulls of various species. I counted five adult Mediterranean Gulls, among a mix of Black-headed, Common, Little, Herring and Lesser Black-backed. Adult Med Gull. There was one adult Little Gull and this juvenile bird resting on the mudbank. Wader numbers were good and this Common Snipe in front of the hide was very obliging. Looking for an unusual wader in between the Redshanks and Dunlins, I came across this stunning Curlew Sandpiper almost in Summer plumage. Some Avocets are still on site with late broods. During the period the Sand Plover was missing, I walked the clifftop from Bluebell to the seawatch hut, checking the beach along there. A coffee break in the Canal Scrape was interrupted by this fine looking Little Egret.
A last minute decision this morning to have another visit to Alkborough, now that wader numbers should be on the increase. The walk along to the first hide revealed the sound of two young Cetti's Warblers and although I patiently waited, I had the briefest of sightings through the reeds in front of me. Further along the path, the 'pinging' sound of the Bearded Tits brought a group of four birds into the reeds nearby. Again, all juveniles, not in large numbers but they did continue to be seen throughout the morning. In varying plumages by age, they do show well here and are a real pleasure to watch, feeding on the seed heads. On arriving at the hide, my first impression was that there were more waders than on my previous visit, certainly more Black-tailed Godwits have arrived and Redshank numbers too. Rough counts of the birds in front of me were - 77 Avocet, 44 Dunlin, 74 Redshank, 3 Curlew, 43 Lapwing, 2 Oystercatcher. 12 Grey Heron and 3 Little Egret were also present. After a short while, I was delighted to see a number of Spoonbills wading out from the left side and soon there were eight in all, busily feeding in the midwater area. Adult Spoonbill with juvenile (right). 'Hail the Spoonbill' It was some time before I noticed in the resting Redshanks, there was a Ruff moulting out of its summer plumage. Around the hide, various birds were calling including Reed Bunting and Wren. This Reed Warbler was one of two, making regular visits into the nearby reeds. Water Rails were making a fair noise this morning and young ones were popping out briefly, before scurrying back into the reeds. The ones I saw differed greatly in age and size. At one point, a family of four chicks (very new) were led around the hide by their parents. The ones below are definitely older. Back with the Spoonbills, the adult bird had seized what looked like a good-sized Roach but wasn't sure how to go about eating it, with a bill like that. It persevered for a long time, attempting to swallow it and then putting it back in the water, only to try again. I didn't actually see it eat the fish! A few more birds arrived on the waters'edge, including a distant Spotted Redshank. The Black-tailed Godwits are looking terrific at the moment in a rusty red plumage. More Bearded Tits passing through, I'm afraid! A really good morning at Alkborough, two Marsh Harriers and a Common Buzzard made up the raptors.
As the weather is so wonderful at the moment, we've taken a short break in the area around Druridge bay. Beginning in the small village of Cresswell, a visit was made to the pond where, the local Barn Owl was still out hunting at 11-00 am. There was little activity at the pond other than Common Terns, breeding Tufted Ducks and Great Crested Grebe. A walk on the beach at Cresswell led me to find a 1st summer Little Gull resting with a number of Black-headed Gulls. Druridge bay stretches from Cresswell, North towards Amble. The North Sea was looking its best and as the temperature kept rising, there was little to do except enjoy the walk and watch the passing seabirds. Plenty of Sandwich Terns passing through. I was surprised to see several large rafts of what I thought would be Eiders, but in fact were Common Scoters. The group I photographed numbered around 120 ducks, the entire flock would dive for a while and all re-surface together Apart from a few attending gulls, there was nothing else among the Scoters however, some smart Red-breasted Mergansers were frequently seen in company with Eiders. Not many waders seen, mainly Curlew, a few Redshank, one Ringed Plover and resident Oystercatchers. The star bird at Druridge Pools at the moment is a Pectoral Sandpiper. It was seen on the rapidly drying up shallow pools from the viewing screen, the heat haze prevented any chance of a decent photo. These pools are well known for rarities dropping in and this N. American visitor was a welcome sight in my recent struggle to encounter something interesting! A Wood Sandpiper and Ruff were showing on and off between the reeds and I was also pleased to see an adult Water Rail emerge briefly. Birds in the hedgerows were few, Blackcaps were heard and Chiffchaffs included some juveniles too. 3 Common Buzzards passed over the Pools, one of which was clearly a young one. Common Tern alighting on the main pool. Cocquet Island off Amble - home to breeding Roseate Terns (in the heat haze!) Two views of Amble harbour - a great place to get close to Eiders. Female Eider with young. In an attempt to find some shade, we made a return visit to NT Cragside, which has some picturesque woodland habitats. Siskins are common here and I heard the occasional Crossbill flying over. Great Spotted Woodpeckers were about and Common Buzzards and a Sparrowhawk flew over. It was good to spend time in an area of the North I know quite well now and in excellent weather too. I did take plenty of photos of other sightings, but the heat haze after about twenty yards made them just too fuzzy!
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