On 1st two Lapland and Snow Bunting were on Carr Naze. A long-staying Bar-tailed Godwit was on the Country Park or Brigg all month. 11 Snow Buntings were in the stubble, Short-eared Owl & 12 Grey Partridges were on the Tip, with 5 Bullfinch around the Heligoland plus Reed Buntings & Yellowhammers. A wintering Velvet Scoter was in the bay all month. A Slavonian Grebe also appeared on 1st, and stayed until 10th. 43 Sanderling were on the beach in front of the Coble Landing on 3rd. A Jack Snipe was at Carr Naze pond on 5th, with a 2CY Little Gull opposite Coble Landing. The wintering female Long-tailed Duck remained at Filey Dams/ East Lea all month. Two more female Long-tailed Ducks turned up in Bay Corner on 10th. On 11th Hunmanby Gap recorded a pair of Long tailed Duck and a pair of Pintail. A drake Scaup briefly landed the bay side of Brigg. 81 Purple Sandpipers were on the Brigg. Twenty Bottle-nose Dolphins swam south past Hunmanby Gap on 13th. On 15th a Short-eared Owl at the Tip also 20+ Yellowhammer, 40+ Reed Bunting, 1 Corn Bunting all in Tip and adjacent Long Hedge/stubble field area, also 65 Linnets in stubble field with around 50 Tree Sparrows. An Oarfish, a super-rare deep sea denizen, was found washed up and caused some excitement among the marine biologists. A minimum of 80 Red-throated Diver roosted inshore between Hunmanby Gap and Speeton late afternoon of 17th plus 4 Woodcock flushed from the clifftop scrub. On 20th 230 Pink footed Goose north at Hunmanby Gap plus the Velvet Scoter, 4 Great Crested Grebe and 2 Common Scoter still present off Filey seafront, 47 Sanderling on beach, 56 Oystercatcher feeding on Muston Sands, and 19 Skylark high to north. A Little Egret went south on 23rd and 24th. Two Short-eared Owl were at the tip on 24th. The first returning Puffin was on the sea on 25th. The Linnet flock reached 160 in Top stubble field, in a good winter for seed-eaters at Filey. A sign was put up commemorating the “Rocket Post Field’, the historically correct name for the Rocket Pole Field’ sign. The month finished with Velvet Scoter, two Great Northern Divers, a Lesser Black-backed Gull and 140 Wigeon in the bay.
