Test drive

Kettleness in the distance with Saltwick Nab peeking out behind from Old Nab, Staithes

Tried out the Old Nab at Staithes for a seawatch today. It's a ten minute walk from rather limited parking but there's a bit of shelter and it should work better for birds coming north (well west really) than Kettleness. An Arctic Skua was an early reward which cruised down east. There was a brief flurry of mid-seawatch Manxies, 18 in all going up west. Other highlights were a drake Eider that nearly knocked me over, a Puffin and good numbers of Gannets, most moving west (about 500 in 2.5 hours). All in all a worthwhile outing, especially as Lesser Whitethroat and Tree Sparrow were in Port Mulgrave and a fleeting glimpse of a maybe Hobby was a bonus.

Moved on to Scaling where I finally resolved the Pink-foot/Bean problem, the goose is a Pink-foot as everyone else (who has either seen it properly or is better than me at grey geese) has said all along.

In the garden wham, bam and a Siskin was RIP as the male Sparrowhawk finally made a successful pass at the Nijer feeder - 10 feet from where we were drinking tea. I hear the Sparrowhawk coming by the sound of its wings very frequently it is entirely fearless of us (as are the Siskins), small birds are totally traumatised by these raids often continuing to alarm 3 or 4 minutes after the hunter has departed.