Up at the crack of dawn and off to Flamborough Head, then on the way home

Sunday 19.06.11




I was up at the crack of dawn as I wanted to do some bird watching and photography at Flamborough Head. It was a nice dry morning, if somewhat blustery. I parked at the light house

and then went along the track that meanders along the cliff tops.

I ventured just above the nesting gull colony and a solitary guillemot landed on the shear wall and just hung on there, waiting its chance to grab a gull chick.

I saw the flights of Puffins returning to their burrows with their beaks full of sand eels for their young. The swallows where insect hunting in their dashing darting style.

Out to sea I could just make out flocks of swimming guillemots bobbing on the waves.

In the scrubland at the rear a cock pheasant was calling and the chaffinches and buntings making such a din.

 I returned to the car and out of the corner of my eye saw a white shadow swishing across some bracken and marshy land at the end of a row of houses. It was an owl, but what type, I thought it looked very like a snowy owl, but this far South? No it couldn’t be, if I had been in the Shetlands, just may be! I have puzzled long and hard (I took numerous photographs) and have come to the conclusion that it is a very light coloured Barn Owl. It was hunting, it criss-crossed this piece of ground time and time again. It was such a glorious sight.



here you can see the light brown back



I  was retacing my stps and found that the snails and slugs where out in force, brown black and some with their houses on their back!

The old tower one of the first light houses

I was on the road to filey and I chanced on a village pond, this was surrounded with fields full of red poppies and yellow mustard., it did look very pretty.

I noticed a couple of Canada Geese and a few ducks all with their off spring



The Canadian Navy



Reighton Gap to Flamborough Head

I then returned to Filey by way of a residential park (at Reightonsands), this has its own private beach with launching facilities, it also has a smashing biotope, I disturbed a grey stork as it was fishing and the place abounded with little bunnies. It also had a load of other wild life and flora



Honey Suckle



Dog rose






Red campion



Spotted Orchid

The bunnies where running wild and I didn't have a gun!

I just Newt was too slow,

The morning was nice and fresh, I went to the beach and took in the view along the beach to Filey, we would be leaving later that morning and heading off to Hull and the ferry back to Europort and then on to Germany and Kiel, where there was an apartment that needed finishing as it had been rewired and wall papered, it was also Kiel week, but that is another blog  for later.

I knew we had arrived in Holland because of the windmills, but we got alongside, tied up and got off without mishap

Home in Kiel and we got a table out, made ourselves a nice mixed grill and opened a bottle of wine, it may have streached to two.

Welcome home,steak, lamb chops, kideys, sausages, new potatoes and of course PEAS