6-8 July 2017 Cumbria short - break

Thursday 6 July to Saturday 8 July 2017
Cumbria 

Coquet Island

I made a flying visit to Cumbria to take in a family wedding, leaving after lunch on Thursday and travelling back first thing on Saturday morning.

As the wedding reception was not until 7.30 pm on Friday, I booked tickets for Brian, Jeff and myself on the 1 pm boat from Amble sailing around Coquet Island in Northumberland!  This gave us just enough time to see some of the 108 or so Roseate Terns nesting there and still get back to the west coast in time for the family event.  Although the boats were not allowed to land we enjoyed terrific views as we circumnavigated the island.

• The 10-hour round trip was well worth it even though the boat trip itself was only 1 hour long.   The seas were calm and we sailed out in almost perfect conditions. With only 12 passengers allowed we had plenty of space to get comfortable.  After seeing numerous Puffins and Kittiwakes, several Gannets and Guillemots and lots of seals, we finally got to see the Roseate Tern colony.  We even managed to get superb views of a couple of them still showing the pinkish tinge on their underparts.

Unfortunately, we were on the first of 3 scheduled trips and our boat had to be back in Amble for the 2 pm sailing and it was not possible to negotiate an extended stay.

A short but ever so sweet boat trip!

Nosterfield, Yorkshire

Next morning I set off back home to Sussex but decided to go back down the A1 to allow me to detour to Nosterfield in Yorkshire to twitch the Sabine's Gull.

• The bird was not on Flask Lake as reported on RBA.  It had flown on to nearby Kiln Lake so it took a while for me and several other birders to find it.  Eventually, we did spot it - flying and showing the vital ID features.  It then landed on the water's edge barely 30 metres away.  It then took to the water and we enjoyed good views of it swimming.

It was too late for me to go to Wykeham Forest to look for the Honey Buzzard so I made the long trip back home, arriving around 7.30 pm.

A very impressive Nosterfield site!