honey_b.king_e.little_t.

I spent a pleasant day with STH, ADMc and Phil south of the region today. First stop was Wykeham, North Yorkshire where we had very prompt views of honey buzzard - albeit distant, but prolonged and some amazing butterfly-clapping display. A good start! A further hour produced no more hb sightings, but tree pipit, bullfinch etc added to the day tally.

Further east we took the long walk to Filey Brigg, where reasonable views were had of the 1st summer king eider. Loafing with a female norther eider, the bird had been closer prior to our arrival, but given that it was a sunny day, there was a lot of disturbance from beach-trippers. Not to worry, its a rather grotty bird anyway!

Our journey home was paused with a brief look at the beach at Crimdon Dene -no sign of the colourful female dotterel that two of the party had seen the day previously, but there were plenty of little terns...

Right... time for the world cup final!