4 raptors at North Duffield Carrs.

 

I arrived at 0830 this morning, and as you can see it waas hardly light. It did get brighter about an hour later, but no sign of sun all day. Lapwings and wigeon were occupying the thin strips of river bank still visible, with groups of mallard and teal on spits of land near the farm.

Stu and Catherine arrived about 0930 and we settled down for a few hours of bird watching. The lapwings in the distance kept taking to the air, but we could not always see a raptor. Then we did see a marsh harrier fly over the thin strip of land which put the lapwings to flight again. The harrier crossed the river and it disturbed lots of rooks in a field and they all took to mature trees for shelter while the marsh harrier landed on the ground near a low hedge.

Stu then spotted a flock of about 40 golden plover flying down river.

Catherine spotted a raptor across the river, it was a red kite and we were able to watch it for a while as it slowly scoured the area for food. At one point in landed on the top of the river bank.

After a while it flew in front of the hide as it looked for food. It completed a circuit of the reserve and perched in a bush on the other side of the river. Sue, Judith, Katherine and Jonathan arrived just in time to see it. A pair of stonechats perched on top of some vegetation.

Sue, Judith, Katherine and Jonathan left to visit other areas of the valley.

Wrens, dunnocks, robins and blue tits were busy looking for food in front of the hide.

Buzzards were also flying over the reserve looking for food and getting attacked by corvids and lapwings.

Catherine and Stu went for a walk to another part of the reserve. Catherine went home and Stu came back to eat his lunch. 3 buzzards were then out looking for food just as the rain started to fall. After eating his lunch Stu went home as the rain intensified.

As he left the hide and walked to the car park he disturbed the flock of fieldfare and redwing, which allowed me to get a couple of photos, poor quality though because of the rain and poor light conditions.

On their walk Stu and Catherine saw long-tailed tits. I was going to go and look for them but decided against it when the rain started. After a while the long-tailed tits joined the blue tits in front of the hide.

I left soon after as the visibility was getting poor, I could not even see the church!

A very pleasant day with excellent company and a day list of 40 species.

North Duffield Carrs.

 

I called in at North Duffield on my way home from North Cave Wetlands. A vast amount of water. No sign of the borders of the scrape and only thin ribbons of land where the river banks are.

Despite the rain and gloom it is possible to see further back along the valley towards Thorganby. Looking through my scope I could make out the shapes of lots of geese and swans, which I presumed were whoopers.

The vegetation next to the hide has been thinned out.

I ws not surprised to see the Garganey hide was once again under water!

A few wigeon on the water and on some of the strips of land. There were large flocks of lapwings in the air.

This picture shows about a tenth of the flocks constantly flying around. A buzzard flew over and soon had an escort.

A wren was in the brambles in front of the hide.

I only spent an hour there as the light was fading fast, but I enjoyed seeing all the lapwings and had a bird list of 18, which I thought was good, given the conditions.

North Cave Wetlands

 

Not the best weather for photography or birding out in the rain, however I took the opportunity of a free day to visit this YWT reserve.

I parked my car near the Crosslands Hide and walked to the Dennis Wood hide, from where I took the picture above. Lots of birds to be seen. 

 Most were resting on various islands

A quick count revealed 19 tufted duck,27, shelduck,26 shoveler, 30 gadwall, 16 mallard,

3 pochard, 200 plus wigeon, 40 lapwing, 15 redshank, 62 teal.

Crosslands lagoon had a similar number of birds, plus blackbirds and redwing in the hedgerow eating berries. A female bullfinch appeared but no sign of a male. I did not see any birds as I walked to the North Hide, however on my return walk I saw these Egyptian geese in one the farm fields.

As I walked back towards Crossland hide I stopped at one of the viewpoints and looked across Crosslands lake. There are several dead swans and these carrion crows were feeding near one of them.

Then suddenly lapwings took to the air and started to attack a red kite, which I presumed had also seen the dead swan.

A pleasant visit with a list of 36 birds.

WeBS count at RSPB Blacktoft Sands.

 

Helping Stu with the count today. As I was getting out of my car lots of pink-footed geese were flying overhead. Redwings and fieldfares in the trees near the car park.

Still plenty of berries for them to eat. I started out at Ousefleet hide.

Still frost on the ground. Due to the sun, I could not see any birds on the lagoon to the right of the hide.

Lots of teal and lapwings on the islands.

Marshland lagoon had a single female goldeneye and lots of shovelers.

Reedling lagoon had wigeon, gadwall and a little grebe.

This grey heron was at the edge of Townend lagoon. Not many wildfowl on the last two lagoons, possibly because the marsh harriers were very active again.

Sunshine at Blacktoft Sands

 

Trying to get out birding whenever the weather is suitable. Today i went to RSPB Blacktoft Sands.

Lots of vehicles in the car park, visitors and volunteers. It was the last working party of the year and the team were installing the new seats.

RSPB York Local group, amonst others have donated money to but these seats, which will replace the old wooden ones which have come to the end of their working life.

The first photo and the two above this text were taken from Ousefleet hide. All 6 Konik ponies were in the area. A couple of them walked across to the islands and disturbed the birds. Lots of teal, shoveler and I guestimated about 2000 lapwings.

A kingfisher was sat on one of its favourite posts in fron ot Reedling hide.

The marsh harriers were very active and this one was sat in front of 1st hide.

Still no sign of a hen harrier on the days that I visit.

It was good to see all the team for the last time this year.

North Duffield Carrs

 A lot more water on the reserve. I took this picture on Saturday afternoon and it has rained a lot since. So there is the possibility that the Garganey hide where I took this photo from could now be under water!

Lots of wigeon, teal and greylag geese. Shoveler and pintail numbers are increasing and a few shelduck were on the far side of the reserve.

Lapwing, golden plover, dunlin and redshank were on the various bits of dry land, but were constantly kept on the move by hunting buzzards and marsh harriers. A large flock of redwing and fieldfare were in the mature trees at the edge of the reserve.

Another birder came into the hide and told me that Wheldrake Ings and Bank island are now only accesible if you have waders or a boat! It could be an interesting winter.

Great northern diver

 

I spent yesterday in Scarborough. My son is working there at the moment so I did some birdwatching before meeting him for lunch. I started off by walking around the harbour looking for divers, but it was low tide so no luck.

A long steep climb up to St.Marys church looking for a redstart was equally fruitless. After lunch I returned to the churchyard, but only saw a song thrush!

Walking back to the car I saw a large bird in the harbour, so got my bins and cameral from the car and went looking for a diver again.No birds at all in the harbour, but I saw two people with a telescope so I joined them. Steve Race, Yorkshire Coast Nature, was one of them. They had spotted a diver out in the bay and it soon surfaced, some distance away.

Luckily it gradually came closer.

Another tick to take my year list to 192, will I make 200?