Ditto
Sunday, 5 May 2013
Blog update - in the breeding season
Just a quick note to explain why the blog has not been updated. Its currently breeding season which means I shouldnt post details of certain 'schedule 1' birds as they are protected. I've decided instead of risking slipping up in one of my reports to wind in the blog until the season is over (late July) and until then i'll keep it brief and just post some photos from my recent trips. Hope you stay with the blog, it will get better soon I promise!
Pied Flycatcher
Ditto
Ditto
Great Spotted Woodpecker
Nuthatch
Dipper
Tawny Owl
Siskin
Grey Wagtail
Ditto
Monday, 1 April 2013
Easter Birding
Birding on a glorious Easter Monday, what could be better? Well the wind chill for one, and the clouds that spoilt the start to the day & set in for the rest of the morning! It was a balmy 1c when I set off but the wind chill made it feel much worse. I've not been birding in the LDV for about a month now, way too long and I was surprised at just how much the area has changed again with water levels dropping drastically.
Plenty of birds about at Duffield Carrs today including healthy numbers of Wigeon, Teal, Tufted Duck & Lapwing. Counts of species in less number were as follows: 3 Little Grebe, 10 Mute Swan, 1 Curlew, 2 Canada Geese, 1 Pied Wagtail, 1 male Reed Bunting, 15 Coot, 10 Shoveler (good numbers for a species which has been scarce on the Carrs recently, two were displaying right in front of the hide - fantastic!), 2 Pochard, 4 Moorhen, 1Cormorant, 1 Great Crested Grebe, 3 Pintail & a single Stock Dove. I also noted 5 Goldeneye, 3 males & two females, the males were displaying drawing their heads back almost touching the water then throwing them forward rapidly, it was great to watch! Circa 300 Dunlin flew through disturbed by something - no doubt dog walkers on the bank as there was a constant stream of these today and none of the dogs were on a lead!
Moving on to the Garganey hide which is now open (thanks to Natural England for getting this sorted so quickly) I heard 2 Skylark singing over the fields & flushed 2 Red Legged Partridge along the way. From here I soon picked up the drake Scaup and the Aythya Hybrid which has been frequenting the area. Also here were 3 Gadwall & 2 Greylags and other species noted above.
On the new feeders at North Duffield Carrs were 4 Tree Sparrow, 2 Great Tit, 1 Blue Tit, 1 Robin & 3 Chaffinch.
I finished up at Bubwith Bridge which was stacked out with ducks mostly wigeon & teal but also big numbers of Pintail with 53 counted which is my personal highest count in the area. 2 Grey Herons were seen here and another over on Duffield Ings which looked brown/grey, wondered if this was a 1st winter bird?
I was also afforded excellent views of the two Egyptian Geese which have been around for some time but usually distant and scanning the same field picked up two Oystercaters. A Kestrel flying over Duffield Ings were about as exciting as it got for this side of the bridge.
Great to get out again in this ever changing fantastic area. See you next time!
Duffield Carrs
Plenty of birds about at Duffield Carrs today including healthy numbers of Wigeon, Teal, Tufted Duck & Lapwing. Counts of species in less number were as follows: 3 Little Grebe, 10 Mute Swan, 1 Curlew, 2 Canada Geese, 1 Pied Wagtail, 1 male Reed Bunting, 15 Coot, 10 Shoveler (good numbers for a species which has been scarce on the Carrs recently, two were displaying right in front of the hide - fantastic!), 2 Pochard, 4 Moorhen, 1Cormorant, 1 Great Crested Grebe, 3 Pintail & a single Stock Dove. I also noted 5 Goldeneye, 3 males & two females, the males were displaying drawing their heads back almost touching the water then throwing them forward rapidly, it was great to watch! Circa 300 Dunlin flew through disturbed by something - no doubt dog walkers on the bank as there was a constant stream of these today and none of the dogs were on a lead!
Coot (Fulica)
Tufted Duck (Aythya fuligula)
Shoveler (Anas clypeata)
Shoveler displaying
Moving on to the Garganey hide which is now open (thanks to Natural England for getting this sorted so quickly) I heard 2 Skylark singing over the fields & flushed 2 Red Legged Partridge along the way. From here I soon picked up the drake Scaup and the Aythya Hybrid which has been frequenting the area. Also here were 3 Gadwall & 2 Greylags and other species noted above.
Red-Legged Partridge (Alectoris rufa) Phone-Scoped
On the new feeders at North Duffield Carrs were 4 Tree Sparrow, 2 Great Tit, 1 Blue Tit, 1 Robin & 3 Chaffinch.
I finished up at Bubwith Bridge which was stacked out with ducks mostly wigeon & teal but also big numbers of Pintail with 53 counted which is my personal highest count in the area. 2 Grey Herons were seen here and another over on Duffield Ings which looked brown/grey, wondered if this was a 1st winter bird?
Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea)
I was also afforded excellent views of the two Egyptian Geese which have been around for some time but usually distant and scanning the same field picked up two Oystercaters. A Kestrel flying over Duffield Ings were about as exciting as it got for this side of the bridge.
Egyptian Geese (Alopochen aegyptiacus) Phone-Scoped
Great to get out again in this ever changing fantastic area. See you next time!
Tuesday, 19 February 2013
16 & 17th February Birdathon
This weekend I managed to squeeze in a day and a half of birding which was very enjoyable and flew by!
I'll keep Saturdays news brief then and focus on Sundays Birdforum Tyke Meet.
16/02/13
I decided to try out Askham Bog to see if I could get Willow Tit on the list, I had heard they were pretty much guaranteed here so off I went. Within 2 minutes of arriving I was stood 10 yards away from Marsh and Willow Tits coming down from the bushes to take seed from the boardwalk fence. There were about 4 Marsh Tits and 2 Willow Tits, it was a great opportunity to separate the two and appreciate their ID points which I had been researching earlier (Thanks to Lucy from the Natural England team for sending me a brilliant presentation on Marsh vs Willow Tits). A quick circuit of this small but brilliant reserve produced a single male Great Spotted Woodpecker. I managed to get this in my scope for fantastic views as it called from the top of a tree - looking for a mate?? It was about 12c by now and felt very much like Spring!
I will definitely be going back for some photo opportunities, I would recommend this to anyone, there were also Great, Blue and Coal Tits feeding in very close proximity as well as Robin, Chaffinch & Dunnock.
On my way over to Leeds I called in at Fairburn Ings RSPB to see if I could grab the Redhead Smew which was reported earlier in the day, but I didn't have any luck. I did see a single Pink-Footed Goose though which was a nice year tick and there were loads of Goldeneye about - cracking bird.
17/02/13 Birdforum Meet
Sunrise at Derwent Cottage Farm, North Duffield
I started out early today, 7am just as the sun was rising maximising the hours for today birding. In the fields here (which have been very productive lately) were 80 Lapwing & 11 Golden Plover, a few Mute and Whooper Swans, one singing Skylark and a male Pheasant. It was pretty quiet until a flock of Whoopers flew in overhead providing a good photo opportunity...
Whooper Swan (Cygnus cygnus)
After about an hour I was joined by Ken, Keith, Nick, Richard & Rob. Moving on to North Duffield Carrs from the Geoff Smith hide species of note were 5 Reed Buntings, 3 Little Grebe, Great Crested Grebe, 4 Shelduck, Curlew and a male Goosander passing right in front of us in the hide!
Goosander (Mergus merganser)
After a while we moved on again to nearby Ellerton picking up a good host of birds including Pintail, Gadwall, Redshank, Fieldfare, Pied Wagtail and a Buzzard which soared overhead.
Common Buzzard (Buteo Buteo)
Also present was a single Pink-Footed Goose in with a few Greylag Geese in a field next to the church. We also had 2 Egyptian Geese fly through towards Duffield Carrs.
Pink-Footed Goose (Anser brachyrhynchus)
On we went again, this time South to Aughton for more birdwatching from a churchyard! Not a lot about here but a single Goldeneye was picked up on the water along with Tufted Duck & Wigeon and a Curlew (the same bird seen from Duffield Carrs presumably). We also heard a Great spotted woodpecker calling & eventually saw it flying away and a Sparrowhawk flew over, another year tick for myself.
As we left the church I noticed a large thrush in the field, Song Thrush trashing about looking for worms! Just as we had seen this the familiar sound of jangling keys could be heard, and indeed it was as we'd hoped, a singing Corn Bunting perched atop a tree... and then another!
Heading back to Bubwith Bridge we viewed over Duffield Ings which was stacked out with waders, hundreds of Golden Plover & Lapwing, along with Dunlin, 6 Ruff and 2 Black-Tailed Godwits. A call from Andy Walker got me onto a flock of 53 Barnacle Geese heading our way, the flock spilt and was seen a few times in the next hour circling and looking completely lost... could they really be wild and not the York University birds??
Barnacle Geese (Branta leucopsis)
A single Green Woodpecker flying overhead was an unexpected bonus here.A cormorant flew overhead and then chaos ensued as a Peregrine Falcon passed over the flock, sending everything up and away from the area.
We returned to Derwent Cottage Farm determined to find the Bewick's Swans which had been seen by others on the day. By now the light was terrible causing a faded image in the scope, but I did manage to find 2 Peregrine Falcons sat in the field in close proximity, presumably Male & Female as one bird was considerably larger than the other. We had almost given up on the Bewicks heading back towards the Carrs, but we returned to the fields further down the road which made for better viewing. The bird I had earlier suspected to be a Bewick's was on the move, and showed nicely the size difference from the Whoopers it passed, eventually joining another similar looking bird, finally we'd caught up with the pair of Bewick's which have now been here for some time.
The rest of the group went on to Skipwith Common & Thorganby platform whilst I went in search of some fuel, for the car and for my belly!
A report came through that the Waxwings were still showing well at Acomb and this brought the end of our time in the Lower Derwent Valley.
Beckfield Lane at Acomb, York was the destination and we all met up here (after Nick and Richard took a detour into the centre of Acomb!). I parked up unwittingly directly under the tree where some of the waxwings were, and they did the dirty all over my car (not many can say they have waxwing poo on their car!) My maximum count was 48 but there have been more reported in the area recently. The birds were sat in 3 trees and would all converge upon one small berry laden tree at once, which provided for spectacular photographic opportunities!
Waxwing (Bombycilla)
After we'd had our fill of Waxwing action we headed to Upper Poppleton for the Gulls, which were nowhere to be seen, so we carried on to Rufforth Airfield. Not a lot about here either, just as good numbers were arriving a micro-lite went up and sent everything off never to return. So that was the end to a fantastic day with some great company and a cracking weekends birding!
I'll keep Saturdays news brief then and focus on Sundays Birdforum Tyke Meet.
16/02/13
I decided to try out Askham Bog to see if I could get Willow Tit on the list, I had heard they were pretty much guaranteed here so off I went. Within 2 minutes of arriving I was stood 10 yards away from Marsh and Willow Tits coming down from the bushes to take seed from the boardwalk fence. There were about 4 Marsh Tits and 2 Willow Tits, it was a great opportunity to separate the two and appreciate their ID points which I had been researching earlier (Thanks to Lucy from the Natural England team for sending me a brilliant presentation on Marsh vs Willow Tits). A quick circuit of this small but brilliant reserve produced a single male Great Spotted Woodpecker. I managed to get this in my scope for fantastic views as it called from the top of a tree - looking for a mate?? It was about 12c by now and felt very much like Spring!
I will definitely be going back for some photo opportunities, I would recommend this to anyone, there were also Great, Blue and Coal Tits feeding in very close proximity as well as Robin, Chaffinch & Dunnock.
On my way over to Leeds I called in at Fairburn Ings RSPB to see if I could grab the Redhead Smew which was reported earlier in the day, but I didn't have any luck. I did see a single Pink-Footed Goose though which was a nice year tick and there were loads of Goldeneye about - cracking bird.
17/02/13 Birdforum Meet
I started out early today, 7am just as the sun was rising maximising the hours for today birding. In the fields here (which have been very productive lately) were 80 Lapwing & 11 Golden Plover, a few Mute and Whooper Swans, one singing Skylark and a male Pheasant. It was pretty quiet until a flock of Whoopers flew in overhead providing a good photo opportunity...
After about an hour I was joined by Ken, Keith, Nick, Richard & Rob. Moving on to North Duffield Carrs from the Geoff Smith hide species of note were 5 Reed Buntings, 3 Little Grebe, Great Crested Grebe, 4 Shelduck, Curlew and a male Goosander passing right in front of us in the hide!
After a while we moved on again to nearby Ellerton picking up a good host of birds including Pintail, Gadwall, Redshank, Fieldfare, Pied Wagtail and a Buzzard which soared overhead.
Also present was a single Pink-Footed Goose in with a few Greylag Geese in a field next to the church. We also had 2 Egyptian Geese fly through towards Duffield Carrs.
On we went again, this time South to Aughton for more birdwatching from a churchyard! Not a lot about here but a single Goldeneye was picked up on the water along with Tufted Duck & Wigeon and a Curlew (the same bird seen from Duffield Carrs presumably). We also heard a Great spotted woodpecker calling & eventually saw it flying away and a Sparrowhawk flew over, another year tick for myself.
As we left the church I noticed a large thrush in the field, Song Thrush trashing about looking for worms! Just as we had seen this the familiar sound of jangling keys could be heard, and indeed it was as we'd hoped, a singing Corn Bunting perched atop a tree... and then another!
Heading back to Bubwith Bridge we viewed over Duffield Ings which was stacked out with waders, hundreds of Golden Plover & Lapwing, along with Dunlin, 6 Ruff and 2 Black-Tailed Godwits. A call from Andy Walker got me onto a flock of 53 Barnacle Geese heading our way, the flock spilt and was seen a few times in the next hour circling and looking completely lost... could they really be wild and not the York University birds??
A single Green Woodpecker flying overhead was an unexpected bonus here.A cormorant flew overhead and then chaos ensued as a Peregrine Falcon passed over the flock, sending everything up and away from the area.
We returned to Derwent Cottage Farm determined to find the Bewick's Swans which had been seen by others on the day. By now the light was terrible causing a faded image in the scope, but I did manage to find 2 Peregrine Falcons sat in the field in close proximity, presumably Male & Female as one bird was considerably larger than the other. We had almost given up on the Bewicks heading back towards the Carrs, but we returned to the fields further down the road which made for better viewing. The bird I had earlier suspected to be a Bewick's was on the move, and showed nicely the size difference from the Whoopers it passed, eventually joining another similar looking bird, finally we'd caught up with the pair of Bewick's which have now been here for some time.
The rest of the group went on to Skipwith Common & Thorganby platform whilst I went in search of some fuel, for the car and for my belly!
A report came through that the Waxwings were still showing well at Acomb and this brought the end of our time in the Lower Derwent Valley.
Beckfield Lane at Acomb, York was the destination and we all met up here (after Nick and Richard took a detour into the centre of Acomb!). I parked up unwittingly directly under the tree where some of the waxwings were, and they did the dirty all over my car (not many can say they have waxwing poo on their car!) My maximum count was 48 but there have been more reported in the area recently. The birds were sat in 3 trees and would all converge upon one small berry laden tree at once, which provided for spectacular photographic opportunities!
After we'd had our fill of Waxwing action we headed to Upper Poppleton for the Gulls, which were nowhere to be seen, so we carried on to Rufforth Airfield. Not a lot about here either, just as good numbers were arriving a micro-lite went up and sent everything off never to return. So that was the end to a fantastic day with some great company and a cracking weekends birding!
Sunday, 10 February 2013
Wet & wild goose chase!
I set off at around half past eight this morning for a mornings birding, it was pretty cold out, just 2 degrees above and overcast. I decided to start out at Duffield Carrs to check out the situation with the water levels (its the first time i've been back since the floods hit again). Levels are basically back to what they were early January, the garganey hide is partially submerged again.
As I walked down the path to the hide I noticed a familiar sight, a big white bird perched on the fence post... A Barn Owl! As I stealthily manouvered myself to grab my camera, my heart sunk as i realised clutching in my bag I had my small lens on, I rifled around for the larger lens, attached it (whilst being intently watched by the barn owl) who then flew off. Typical, this seems to be my luck with Barn Owls here (im sure its the same one playing games with me!). However my fortunes have since changed on this - more on that later.
Duffield Carrs in flood 10.02.13
Not a huge amount about on the water but on the floodbank were 103 lapwing, my highest ever count of Lapwing here. Still lots of wigeon about (I didn't count them), 25 Teal, a single Coot, 10 Canadian Geese and a smattering of Mallard. A flock of circa 20 dunlin flew past heading towards Bubwith.
In the fields over the road from the car park were Whooper and Mute swans but nothing much else about (at this time).
I carried on to Duffield & Bubwith Ings, connecting with my first Curlew of the year, I always enjoying seeing these birds, with their ungainly long bills! Thousands of Wigeon on the water here & lots more Teal and 2 Pintail.
Moving on looking for farmland birds at a nearby site I quckly connected with circa 20 Yellowhammer & 30 Tree Sparrows. Its great to see so many of these birds thriving, the local farmers are obviously doing their bit for nature. The Yellowhammer & Tree Sparrows were particularly showy, but it really wasnt a good day for photography! Also seen here were 2 Corn Bunting, 2 Reed Bunting, Chaffinch & Greenfinch
Tree Sparrows & Yellowhammer (rear)
Yellowhammer (L) & Reed Bunting (R)
In the field beyound the hedge were circa 400 Starling mixed with Fieldfare & Redwing, they were very flighty & as they took off a huge noise was made, sounded like a roll of thunder, pretty spectacular to see too! There were also 2 male Pheasants & 20+ Woodpigeon.
Starling & Pheasant
I'd decided i'd had enough for the day with the cold & persistant rain, but on my way home I noticed big numbers of lapwing in the fields opposite Duffield Carrs, I pulled in to check it out for other waders & noticed Andy Walker was here too. He'd picked out 5 European White Fronted Geese mixed in with Greylags & Whooper Swans in the distance. The conditions made for difficult viewing but eventually I noted the large white patch behind the bill and the dark patches on their breast - this was a lifer for me, result!
Whilst we were watching masses of lapwing shot up all at once, usally a sure sign of a bird of prey and it was, not just 1 but 2 Peregrine Falcons were tussling in the air. Always a magnificent sight, one flew straight towards us & I got on it with the scope providing fantastic views, though I totally forgot to reach for the camera! It was here my luck also changed with the Barn Owls, one flew along the road from Bubwith direction straight towards us, this time I managed to get some photos!
Barn Owl
There were also lots of Dunlin about here, with a flock of 25 flying in to join the others along the waters edge. After this I went for a quick visit up to Thorganby to look for the reported Barnacle Goose, but no such luck here, quite a few wigeon & teal about again, 2 shelduck and some whooper swans in the distance. It was time to go home and the end of my birding day.... or was it?!
After a few hours at home enjoying the warmth of the fire, a text came through from Andy to let me know the Egyptian Geese were in the field where i'd seen the whitefronts earlier so back out I went! It was about 4pm now and the light was going, the rain was still falling too! As I arrived I picked up the two Egyptian Geese within minutes, giving me a chance to appreciate their characteristics, but they soon wandered off out of view. This was another Lifer for me, quite a day for Geese! The whitefronts were still about but there was a marked increase in Greylags here too, which made it difficult to pick them out as it was now darker, mistier and possibly wetter too!
2 Lifers and 3 year ticks in a day, pretty pleased with that really!
In other news...
In my previous post I mentioned the bird I'd seen at Bank Island was a Willow Tit. Its been pointed out to me that this is actually a Marsh Tit (I'd never seen one of these either) so I'll have to go back to look for Willow Tit!
And finally...
Saturday morning got off with a bang with 5 Waxwings on the next street to where I live, my first chance to get some good photographs of these stunning birds!
Waxwing
Next week some of the Yorkshire Birdforum lot are visiting my patch for a full days birding (weather permitting), so look forward to an even longer blog post next time!
Thanks for reading!
As I walked down the path to the hide I noticed a familiar sight, a big white bird perched on the fence post... A Barn Owl! As I stealthily manouvered myself to grab my camera, my heart sunk as i realised clutching in my bag I had my small lens on, I rifled around for the larger lens, attached it (whilst being intently watched by the barn owl) who then flew off. Typical, this seems to be my luck with Barn Owls here (im sure its the same one playing games with me!). However my fortunes have since changed on this - more on that later.
Not a huge amount about on the water but on the floodbank were 103 lapwing, my highest ever count of Lapwing here. Still lots of wigeon about (I didn't count them), 25 Teal, a single Coot, 10 Canadian Geese and a smattering of Mallard. A flock of circa 20 dunlin flew past heading towards Bubwith.
In the fields over the road from the car park were Whooper and Mute swans but nothing much else about (at this time).
I carried on to Duffield & Bubwith Ings, connecting with my first Curlew of the year, I always enjoying seeing these birds, with their ungainly long bills! Thousands of Wigeon on the water here & lots more Teal and 2 Pintail.
Moving on looking for farmland birds at a nearby site I quckly connected with circa 20 Yellowhammer & 30 Tree Sparrows. Its great to see so many of these birds thriving, the local farmers are obviously doing their bit for nature. The Yellowhammer & Tree Sparrows were particularly showy, but it really wasnt a good day for photography! Also seen here were 2 Corn Bunting, 2 Reed Bunting, Chaffinch & Greenfinch
In the field beyound the hedge were circa 400 Starling mixed with Fieldfare & Redwing, they were very flighty & as they took off a huge noise was made, sounded like a roll of thunder, pretty spectacular to see too! There were also 2 male Pheasants & 20+ Woodpigeon.
I'd decided i'd had enough for the day with the cold & persistant rain, but on my way home I noticed big numbers of lapwing in the fields opposite Duffield Carrs, I pulled in to check it out for other waders & noticed Andy Walker was here too. He'd picked out 5 European White Fronted Geese mixed in with Greylags & Whooper Swans in the distance. The conditions made for difficult viewing but eventually I noted the large white patch behind the bill and the dark patches on their breast - this was a lifer for me, result!
Whilst we were watching masses of lapwing shot up all at once, usally a sure sign of a bird of prey and it was, not just 1 but 2 Peregrine Falcons were tussling in the air. Always a magnificent sight, one flew straight towards us & I got on it with the scope providing fantastic views, though I totally forgot to reach for the camera! It was here my luck also changed with the Barn Owls, one flew along the road from Bubwith direction straight towards us, this time I managed to get some photos!
There were also lots of Dunlin about here, with a flock of 25 flying in to join the others along the waters edge. After this I went for a quick visit up to Thorganby to look for the reported Barnacle Goose, but no such luck here, quite a few wigeon & teal about again, 2 shelduck and some whooper swans in the distance. It was time to go home and the end of my birding day.... or was it?!
After a few hours at home enjoying the warmth of the fire, a text came through from Andy to let me know the Egyptian Geese were in the field where i'd seen the whitefronts earlier so back out I went! It was about 4pm now and the light was going, the rain was still falling too! As I arrived I picked up the two Egyptian Geese within minutes, giving me a chance to appreciate their characteristics, but they soon wandered off out of view. This was another Lifer for me, quite a day for Geese! The whitefronts were still about but there was a marked increase in Greylags here too, which made it difficult to pick them out as it was now darker, mistier and possibly wetter too!
2 Lifers and 3 year ticks in a day, pretty pleased with that really!
In other news...
In my previous post I mentioned the bird I'd seen at Bank Island was a Willow Tit. Its been pointed out to me that this is actually a Marsh Tit (I'd never seen one of these either) so I'll have to go back to look for Willow Tit!
And finally...
Saturday morning got off with a bang with 5 Waxwings on the next street to where I live, my first chance to get some good photographs of these stunning birds!
Next week some of the Yorkshire Birdforum lot are visiting my patch for a full days birding (weather permitting), so look forward to an even longer blog post next time!
Thanks for reading!
Sunday, 27 January 2013
A grand day out!
Decided on some more local birding today, I started out at 9am at Duffield Carrs, Andy Walker arrived just as I was about to set off to the GS hide. It was blowing a gale and had come over very dark and the heavy rain followed. As we arrived in the hide we noted a huge number of swans on the water, mostly whooper, I counted 83 Whooper Swans, 41 Mute Swans and interestingly 1 Black Swan (not a species i've seen before).
Whooper Swan (Cygnus cygnus)
A few minutes later the clouds passed over and we were in glorious sunshine, this seemed to be a feature of the day with short sharp showers. There was a marked increase in Gadwall on the Carrs, with around 6 pairs.
Willow Tit (Poecile montanus)
The Willow Tit is quite similar to the Coal Tit in size, with a black cap which extends down to the neck (there is no white stripe here as on the Coal Tit), and a pronounced black bib.
There were plenty of birds enjoying the food available including Bullfinch, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Tree Sparrow, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Dunnock and a big fat brown Rat!! I was joined again by Andy Walker as I was leaving who was going to explore, but it was time for me to go home!
On the way home there were 7 pheasants all feeding together at the side of the road (5 males!) and driving from Skipwith to North Duffield the usual numerous woodpigeon were still feeding in the fields.
A real cracking day out really enjoyed despite the weather being terrible at times. 6 year ticks and 2 life ticks, not bad going at all!
Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus)
Great Tit (Parus major)
A few minutes later the clouds passed over and we were in glorious sunshine, this seemed to be a feature of the day with short sharp showers. There was a marked increase in Gadwall on the Carrs, with around 6 pairs.
Black Swan (Cygnus atratus)
Whoopers rainbow flypast!
As I was scanning the skies for raptors Andy called out about a pair of geese flying low over the reserve, two Tundra Bean Geese flew past and over towards Skipwith, shame they didnt drop in but this was a life tick for me.
On to Bubwith ings next for a waderfest! I've not been lucky with these in the area so far this year so was nice to finally catch up with some. Here were 9 Redshank, 12 Ruff, 4 Golden Plover, 67 Dunlin and 62 Lapwing. Also present were a few Fieldfare, 1 Redwing, 1 Blue Tit, 1 Reed Bunting and a big flock of Starling.
Bubwith Ings - Drenched in sun
I moved on to a nearby site known for its farmland birds but unfortunately it was very quiet, probably because of the high winds but these fieldfare provided a nice photograph.
Fieldfare (Turdus pilaris)
I carried on up the LDV stopping off at Thorganby viewing platform (once I finally found it!). Not a a massive amount about but plenty of Wigeon, Teal & Mallard and 1 Shelduck.
Carrying on up to Wheldrake in search of Willow Tits (another bird i've not seen before), Andy told me he had seen some yesterday at Wheldrake Ings and a Water Rail! Unfortunately I couldnt find any and the river was up again (and you had to wade to get to the bridge!). I returned back to Bank Island and to my surprise a lovely Willow Tit was calling away, I managed to get on it and it flitted from the bushes to the feeders a few times, result!
The Willow Tit is quite similar to the Coal Tit in size, with a black cap which extends down to the neck (there is no white stripe here as on the Coal Tit), and a pronounced black bib.
There were plenty of birds enjoying the food available including Bullfinch, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Tree Sparrow, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Dunnock and a big fat brown Rat!! I was joined again by Andy Walker as I was leaving who was going to explore, but it was time for me to go home!
On the way home there were 7 pheasants all feeding together at the side of the road (5 males!) and driving from Skipwith to North Duffield the usual numerous woodpigeon were still feeding in the fields.
A real cracking day out really enjoyed despite the weather being terrible at times. 6 year ticks and 2 life ticks, not bad going at all!
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