Little B*****d - 2.1.15

Blyth's Pipit

 

Whilst waiting for the Bittern yesterday I had a call from Steve Blake offering me a lift with Brendon and Ricky up to East Yorkshire for potentially my first lifer of the year. A Little Bustard had been found in a kale field on NY Eve and was still present on NY Day. So with high hopes we headed north but with only 40 minutes before we arrived on site the news we had been dreading came through that the bird had sodded off. We arrived on site just in case but it wasn't to be and so we dipped. We then decided to head off to Hornsea Mere in the hope of a few year ticks. As we drove through the village of Skipsea a male Merlin flew in front of the car and onto the list. As it turned out the only year tick at the mere for myself was House Sparrow! Next stop was Calder Park near Pugneys CP. Here after a 20+ minute wait in front of a KFC the long staying Blyth's Pipit flew up into a small tree and posed for a couple of minutes. This was only my 2nd of this species in the UK. A quick scan of the gull roost on Pugneys added GBB Gull to my year list.