Old Foss Beck.

 

My first dog walking session of the year, and a new tick for this patch. The white in the distance is a little egret, no doubt pleased to find some running water in which to look for food. Lots of fieldfares still in the hedges feeding on the hawthorn berries.

RSPB Fairburn Ings

 

My view from the Pickup hide this morning. In the distance I saw several cormorants perched in the trees, no doubt the breeding season has started. A large female marsh harrier was perched on a post near the moat area.

Lots of birds on the feeders.

Then this squirrel appeared.

It was using its tongue to get seeds out of the feeder.

Lower Derwent Valley

 

I waited till after 10pm before setting out this morning, so that any problems on the roads would hopefully have been sorted out. I took the above photo from the viewing platform at Thorganby. I joined Graham who was scoping the area. He had started out at East Cottingwith and was slowly working his way around the valley to Wheldrake. From the various places he had stopped at there was no sign of the white-tailed eagle.

There was a steady flow of birds up and down in front of us and before long I had seen my first whooper swans, canada geese and pied wagtail of the year. Lots of corvids were having an arguement to our right.

I left soon after Graham, satisfied with my list of 20 birds.

The viewing platform at North Duffiled was my next stop.

From here you can look up river and I could see that most of the ducks were on the river.

Marsh harriers were active

They slowly pushed the ducks towards me.

The majority of the birds were wigeon with a few teal. Once the marsh harrier had flown off they went back to their original place  further up river.

Lots of fieldfares in the bushes.

Garganey hide is now visible.

This is my view from it.

Just solid ice with a single black-headed gull and several carrion crows on it. Pieces of ice were clinging to the fence posts.

Every now and rhen there would be a large cracking noise as the ice moved. I returned to the Geoff Smith hide from where I was able to add dunlin, dunnock and snipe to my day list. If my understanding of the weather forecast is correct then perhaps some of the ice may melt and there might be open water on the reserve, which might attract the wildfowl.

RSPB Blacktoft Sands

 

A bright but cold day at Blacktoft Sands. Ian was on duty in reception and I helped when it was busy.

Gareth was also on duty and helped get the fire going in reception before he went to check on the ponies.

Stuart and Catherine were also on site and we passed in the small wooded area near Ousefleet hide.

All the lagoons were frozen which reduced the number of birds to be seen. Mute swans were on Reedling and Singleton.

Reed buntings were picking up small pieces of grit from the paths.

Plenty of fieldfares in the hedges.

Grey herons were hunting along the side of the ditch.

Snipe were exploring along the edges of the lagoon where the sun had helped to soften the ground.

Skeins of pink-footed geese flew over.

Marsh harriers were interacting with each other.

A kingfisher was often seen as it flew along the ditch and Jean and Andrew spotted a water rail as it slipped on the ice crossing the ditch in front of reception.

A very pleasant day with a day list of 26 birds, including 8 year ticks.

North Cave Wetlands

 

9am on New Years Day at North Cave Wetlands. Helping family with taxi jobs restricted my hours for birding, so I had to stay local. I decided to avoid the Lower Derwent Valley as I expected it to be busy with people looking for the white-tailed eagle. I will see plenty of these birds on my forthcoming trips to Scotland.

A touch on the cool side, but the morning sun was welcome as I strolled around the reserve. Plenty of redwings, and they were happy to keep on feeding on the berries instead of flying off.

A few fieldfares, but they just flew off chattering when disturbed. A song thrush was a pleasant addition to my list.

Lots of siskins feeding in the alder trees, but they were too acrobatic for a photo. I was watching a marsh harriere hunting over Crosslands lagoon when Stu and Catherine sent a message. They had been to see the eagle, so had just recently arrived.

We were walking along the footpath near the Carp lake when Catherine spotted a treecreeper.

Long-tailed tits were calling as they travelled along the hedge looking for food.

At the Maize Field feeders we had greenfinch,

chaffinch, robin, goldfinch, blue and great tits. They did not spend long on the feeders and flew off at the first sign of any disturbance.

We had a short chat with Maurice the membership recruiter at the main entrance before we said goodbye and we all went our seperate ways home.

48 birds for the day is a good start and I hope that I am not chasing my 200th on the last day of December.

Woodcock

 One last try to find the 200th bird for my year list. Flamborough was my first stop. A long-tailed duck had been seen on a regular basis.

A bit of a swell on the sea so I walked along the cliff top path towards South Landing in the hope of seeing the duck in more sheltered conditions.

Not a sign, just a rainbow as I returned to the car park.

Bempton Cliffs was my last hope. As I entered the reserve a chap was looking at something in the dell. I parked up and joined him and other birders. We were trying to look through the gap in a bush to see a woodcock. Eventually I found it.

Not a brilliant photo for the 200th bird of the year.

I then walked down to the cliifs.

I was surprised to see razorbills on the cliff.

I walked back to my car, and thought that I would have one last look at the woodcock. Dean a volunteer was there and I asked him if there were any owls about. At that moment he received a message on his radio to say that there were 3 short eared owls hunting in a field near Bartlett Nab.

We walked along the outer path and stood near a gap in the hedge and watched the owls. They were a fair distance away and carrion crows were mobbing them.

It started to rain so I left for home.

Marsh tit

 

Trying to increase my year list to 200, so am visiting places where I hope to see birds I have missed earlier in the year. Forge Valley was my first stop, where within seconds I saw a marsh tit, year tick 199. Next stop was the raptor viewpoint, where in the past I have seen crossbills.

I was aware that tree felling was taking place in the area but was surprised to see how much.

 I had obviously misunderstood what was happening. I thought that they were going to fell trees to maintain an open view across the valley, I was so wrong. Not a bird to be seen or heard. I visited other sites but no joy. So plan B. Go to Filey, I have often read reports of grey partridge sightings near the old tip.

Lots of dog walkers,both of which were walking in fields where crops were growing, so after a quick scan of the area I drove to the Dams.

A lot of work had taken place here, with presumably more to come in the new year. Very high water levels and not many birds.

sleeping shovelers and a male gadwall preening.

I have family taxi jobs to do for the next three days, can I find bird number 200 before Thursday?