Crossed a lot of rivers, seen a lot of land....

'Life is what happens whilst you're busy making plans' is what John Lennon once famously said - or should I say sang. My plans were scuppered when my flamin' laptop had to be rushed into Apple A&E due to its inability to take electricity.

Whilst it was a way I went to Hull and back as my latest outing for Bird Watching Magazine. My mission was to eek out the urban birdlife in this industrial East Yorkshire city. I was quite surprised to find that there were quite a few sites with the majority being sited just outside of the city.

TUB & the lovely lady at the Wild Bird snack van, North Cave Wetlands, East Yorkshire

I was shown around town and the surrounding countryside by Les Johnson of the Hull RSPB Group which culminated in a tasty sausage butty and a cup of peppermint tea in the spitting rain at North Cave Wetlands. The following day I treated myself to a trip to that famous birding mecca, Spurn which was some 30 miles from Hull. I hired a hairdryer (a basic tiny car) for the purpose.

As typical for this English summer that we're experiencing, it was a blazing hot day, a complete contrast to the day before. I met warden, Andy Gibson and had a great chat. He told me about some other interesting sites within Hull itself, plus some Spurn birding folklore.

A controlled Garden Warbler at Spurn

The lighthouse at Spurn Head

Since I last wrote anything in this blog I have become a patron of Spitalfields City Farm. I nipped over there today after football to be shown around. I also learnt that my proposed trip to Istanbul in late September to observe the migration through this historic city had been approved by the Turkish tourist board.

Finally, next weekend is Bird Fair - the Glastonbury for British Birders. I will be there all weekend as on Friday I will be participating in 'Call My Ruff' and on the Saturday I will be delivering my talk on Wormwood Scrubs in the morning and amongst other things, I will be on the RSPB stand in the afternoon to take some kids pond dipping.

So much to do and so little time.

Plus I have been watching The Scrubs practically every morning with Hobby, Garden and Sedge Warblers seen on an almost daily basis.