A pretty fab half hour at North Duffield Carrs yielded a flock of waders, which through the scope proved to be ten Ringed Plovers and two Turnstones heading north up the valley. As if that wasn't good enough, twenty five minutes later, my sky-scanning revealed a big raptor, an Osprey! It has been a great spring for Ospreys in the LDV and I was delighted to finally catch up with one. It circled briefly over Aughton floods before continuing upriver.
These sightings spurred me on to check more sites, but a message about a Nightingale at Flamborough - a much sought-after Yorkshire bird - got me heading coastwards. Unfortunately, the skulking chat was skulking a little too deeply in the brambles and had also fallen silent, so after an hour, I admitted defeat and went to look at the first-summer male Siberian Stonechat, which was bouncing around in the Gorse Field. After watching that for a bit, I did the Old Fall loop, which was relatively quiet, though a Whimbrel and a dapper male Pied Flycatcher were very welcome.
Siberian Stonechat. Post script - 24th May, DNA analysis of this bird has proven it is Siberian Stonechat, Saxicola maurus.
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