cliftonbirding: A bit of Yorkshire Surfing and Orchid hunting

Monday 1 July 2013

A bit of Yorkshire Surfing and Orchid hunting

Mark was on call this weekend although I was joined by Pete Watson for a day out on Sunday, we started at Filey where the drake Surf Scoter found mid week was still present off the Brig, good scope views of this fine Yorkshire Tick but it didn’t pose for the camera as I had been hoping especially after seeing what other photographers had been getting over the last few days, I suppose I may get another chance if stays a while, the Scoter flock were eventually flushed by a Canoe and flew further into the Bay so we took our leave and headed up to the Raptor Watchpoint at Wykeham, we thought it would be a good day for Raptors, a bit of sunshine and a stiff breeze, but it had been very quiet during the morning we were told, we gave it a couple of hours but it was very slow, just the occasional common Buzzard although I managed to pick up an Osprey moving through that was a nice bonus. We gave up and took a look at the Nurseries, a couple of Turtle Doves duly obliged, before heading out to Ellerburn Bank near Dalby Forest, I’d got some info there were some Fly Orchids there, we found them no problem and had some Bee Orchids as well but failed to locate Greater Butterfly Orchid that had been reported from there as well, we hadn't really seen any Butterflies all day so it was nice to have a few flitting about the meadow, Common Blue, Small Heath and the first Ringlets for the year. We had another go for Honey Buzzards later with a drive along Troutsdale and look around the Hackness area but to no avail so we ended up back at Filey to see if the Scoter was any closer this evening, it wasn’t.