Black Terns and Water Voles

KP, Seaton Road hide, beach, KP again
Drizzle, overcast, northerly wind, 6 degrees C
8.7 miles
44 bird species

Tuesday was my volunteering day over at Wheldrake so no update on here, and yesterday was a trip to Leeds so no update for that either. I may include a Wheldrake day in due course just to make things a wee bit more varied.

The big thing today was to get a good view of the Black Terns that have been appearing all over the place. I went to KP first just to check whether there were any to be seen from there, and although there were a couple of Dunlin and a few Common Sandpipers, the Black Terns were feeding over behind Swan Island where they were sheltered from the northerly wind.

I walked round from KP and joined Jon in the hide, and straight away the Black Terns were giving great views through binoculars. They were nearer Swan Island though, so quite distant. I took a few pics just to see what sort of images were on offer and the light was obviously an issue. Focussing on the birds when they were so far away was nigh on impossible for my 400mm lens as the background was always being favoured. I tried a fast shutter speed to avoid blurring but the poor light also meant a high ISO which degraded the image quality. Right there you have my excuses for crap photos - poor focus/low light/moving birds/grainy images. I could add u/s photographer but you already know that 😂😂😂 I did try manual focus but that was worse. So here they are, cropped to 50% or higher.

3 of the 9 Black Terns over Hornsea Mere this morning

2 of the 9....

The final Black Tern photo (for today)

Also seen while in the hide were Kingfisher, Common Tern and Great Spotted Woodpecker.

Jon had seen Sandwich Terns though his scope so I thought I'd walk down to the beach to see if any were on the groynes, which is where they often rest between fishing sorties.

2 miles later I could see why they were favouring the Mere over the sea, as the waves were crashing in and the northerly wind was whipping the surf on the beach into a moving mass of foam.

I decided to go back to KP so I took the opportunity to check on the Water Voles. Two of them were quite active, swimming from the far bank over to the near bank and going back over into their holes.

Water Vole

Back at KP the rain was still raining and Common Terns were dominating the available resting places. No Black Terns or Sandwich Terns here I'm afraid.

Common Tern, Swallow and Sand Martin

Home for tea and crumpets courtesy of Mrs C? Oh yeah.

44 bird species seen this morning:
The usual plus-
2 Dunlin
3 Common Sandpiper
9 Black Tern
3 Common Tern
Kingfisher