The Hare and the Goose !

 No, I have not been to the pub. All will be revealed.

I took this photo as 0730 this morning from the East Hide at North Cave Wetlands. Sunshine, but still a bit on the cool side. Nothing special to report from this hide or the turret one, no bittern booming, perhaps due to the chill. 2 med gulls from the Dennis Wood hide.

They were just in range of my camera. No sign of egyptian geese or wheatear, plenty of sand martins. After completing a circuit of the whole reserve I went back to my car and noticed a work party setting off so decided to leave. I drove to North Duffield Carrs. Plenty of vehicles in the car park as there was a work party going on.  A butterfly liked a van tyre.

A group were erecting a small enclosure in the 1st field and a gentleman was busy in Garganey hide, there is now a handle on the door and you dont have to push the door open with your shoulder!

The water level is slowly going downm revealing more vegetation. A party of whooper swans were in the field to the right of the hide until they were disturbed by a helicopter, when they flew onto the water. A few minutes later more swans arrived from a different direction until there were 69 of them. After a bathe some returned to the field. This individual came close to the hide.

and then left with a splash.

Surprisingly this did not disturb the spotted redshank.

Which spotted redshank?

However the next event did wake it up.

This brown hare was running along the top of the bund, until it mat a greylag goose.

The goose was not letting it pass, so it had to about turn and run back along the bund. The spotted redshank stood up at this point.

Not that it was easy to see. Pete turned up and he found it difficult to locate the bird. Afyer about an hour I left Pete and returned to the Geoff Smith hide.'

The mute swans were not on their nest.

A pleasant morning in the sunshine.

Old Foss Beck

 

Dog walking again at lunchtime. The first bird I saw was a little egret as it flew from the beck to some mature trees. At the end of my walk I saw 2 little egrets perched in mature trees. The sound of chiffchaffs was everywher, But I only managed to see one. A single buzzard disturbed about a dozen herring gulls as they were bathing in a small pool in a field. 2 roe deer in a field on the other side of the beck and lots of bumble bees flying about.

North Duffield Carrs

 My view from the Garganey hide about 11am this morning.

 A few minutes later!  A day of rain showers and sun showers.

Still a few Whooper swans in the valley.

The white dots are Whooper swans in the field to the left of the hide, I took this photo from the footpath on the way to the hide. If you stop too long the swans fly away. However several came near to the hide.

Lots of birds sheltering from the wind, including this lapwing.

Shelduck, teal, mallard, wigeon, pintail,tufted duck, shoveler and gadwall were all present, but a peregrine had chased them into the far corner of the reserve. I guess it was more sheltered there as most of them did not move.

I saw 1 Black-tailed godwit, several curlews and some redshank in the distance. A pair of mute swans were getting acquainted.

A Cormorant was resting on top of the bund and this "Granada goose" appeared.

During one of the spells of sunshine I walked to the Geoff Smith hide. I did not hear or see any small birds on the way, which is quite unusual.

Now that the water level has dropped the area of the scrape is more defined. Another pair of Mute swans are building a nest on the island, Canada geese look as if they too are nesting. It will be interesting to see if the Mute swans allows them to stay.

A Marsh harrier was hunting along the river bank.

Suddenly a Red kite appeared.

It had caught something with a long tail!

Mr. Gadwall was hiding in the vegetation.

A pleasant 4 hours with a day list of 36 birds.

Rainton Meadows, Durham Wildlife Trust

 

My second visit to this reserve was with a coach party from RSPB York Local Group on Saturday March 28th. Several pleasant things to note. The first was that the driver of our coach, Andy, was the driver of the 1st coach trip i took to Mull, 22 years ago! Secondly we had 27 people on the coach and thirdly we had a very knowledgeable 9 year old with us!

We left York at 8am and arrived at the reserve at 0945, on our journey we saw several red kites and kestrels. It was sunny but there was a strong wind to face as we walked around the reserve. As there is only 1 hide, we split up into several groups, so that we did not all end up in the hide at the same time.

The group that I was with visited the bird feeding area first and added blue tit, great tit, woodpigeon and pheasnt to our day list. We heard a chiffchaff but were unable to find it. From the top of Nicholson's Hill we could see the "Durham Acropolis", the Penshaw Monument. 

In common with many wildlife organisations DWT use ponies to help and this is one of their Exmoor Ponies.

Joe's Pond was our next stop. a chiffchaff was singing and eventually came into view, Mute swans, mallards and tufted ducks were on the far side of the ponds where people were throwing food to them.

We then met another part of our group who had heard Cetti's warbler and seen bullfinches. We walked to the hide overlooking pond 2. From here we were able to see a group of about 30 curlews having a bathe, then during our time in the hide another 2 groups flew in making about a 100 in total.

Tufted duck, wigeon, teal, gadwall, mallard, shelduck and goldeneye were on the water. A large group of herring gulls were on one island with a few lessser black-backs.

Barbara then spotted a little ringed plover fly in and land to the left of the hide.

Lapwings, snipe, redshanks and oystercarchers were also visible from the hide. We then walked to ponds 3 and 4, seeing tadpoles in small pools of water. We then returned to the visitor centre and cafe and had a warm drink.

We then walked towards Joe's Pond. People had been putting seed on the top of fence posts and we saw several birds come to feed, including reed bunting, chaffinch and bullfinch.

While we at Joe's Pond we were able to watch a carrion crow mob a female sparrowhawk, and at one point they were above our heads.

As we returned to the visitor centre we saw a treecreeper.

We returned to the bird feeders and for our second visit we were able to watch blue and great tits, robins, treecreeper, coal tit and a willow tit.

An excellent day with 43 birds on my list, including 2 year ticks.

Hartlepool

 Out with RSPB Harrogate Local Group today. We started at the Headland and walked around the coast and finished at the fish docks and after lunch we drove to Jacksons Landing and explored the area around the Marina, ending our trip at Newburn Bridge.

I called in at RSPB Saltho;me on my way home and spent about 20 minutes in the Phil Stead hide.

Waxwings in the mist

 My first task today was to help on a Bittern Experience walk at RSPB Fairburn Ings. Not the best day for birding as visibiity was poor due to mist and people will insist in driving without any lights on!

We heard a bittern boom several times but did not see one, however I got a year tick with a green woodpecker. After the walk I drove to RSPB Blacktoft Sands to talk to Mike about an event this Friday.

On the way I passed some birdeers looking at 2 waxwings. After lunch the sun came out at Blacktoft, much to the delight of the large number of visitors to the reserve. Marsh harriers were acticve and this one perched in a bush opposite 1st hide.

While I was in Marshland hide this buzzard dropped in

It flew off over Ousefleet lagoon disturbing a large flock of black-tailed godwits and another year tick, avocets.

After a chat with Mike and Daz I drove home. Just outside Old Goole I stopped to look at the waxwings. David and Suzzane were there. (suzzane11a.bsky.social). Not great pictures due to the light, but the best I could manage.

Year tick 118.