Wykeham & east coast

Waking up to pouring rain wasn’t a good sign for success at the Wykeham Forest Raptor Watchpoint but we headed there all the same. Thirteen optimistic members met up in the car park to confirm that the visibility was very poor. However, the rain did ease somewhat and despite there not being much of a chance of displaying birds, we walked around the area and had several sightings of Crossbill, some eventually were clear. There were large flocks of finches in the fields and we caught up with some pretty decent views of around 30 Bramblings as well as a Stonechat.

We then visited Burton Riggs NR near Seamer to see the summer plumaged Red-necked Grebe; the bird of the day. Extended and close views were enjoyed by all, a lifer for a few and many of the group had not seen this plumage before. A really special bird. A Chiffchaff was heard singing. After a bite to eat, several returned home while half a dozen of us visited Scarborough harbour where there was a Great Northern Diver sheltering from the rough seas. Four Purple Sandpipers and a flock of Redshank were avoiding the breakers before we decided that we had had enough of the windy, cold and dull conditions, at least the heavy rain mainly held off on the coast. Despite the weather, it was a successful day with 44 species recorded.