Nightjar and woodcock

 Stainburn Forest at 10pm last night.

Woodcock were out roding first then nightjars started churring and then saw them in flight.

A pleasant evening despite the midges!

Garden warbler

 

Monthly walk in the Museum gardens, York, this morning.

The top picture shows the churchyard where we saw 2 goldcrests in the fir trees.

The bottom picture is the wild flower area and near here we saw a young garden warbler feeding.

Cattle egret, great crested grebe and kingfisher

 Stu amd I had a few hours at RSPB Fairburn Ings. We started at the Pickup hide where we had blackcap, great spotted woodpecker, cormorant etc before we drove down to the Lin Dike end of the reserve.

As you can see by the photo the highland cattle were near the hide. Common terns were fishing and then resting on the posts.

 A pair of avocets also came in front of the hide to feed. One was wearing a leg ring and a flag.

7A is part of a project by East Dales ringing group.

A cattle egret appeared with the cattle.

More cattle egrets flew in

We reurned to the visitor centre and walked to the hides along the Riverbank Trail. From the hides we watched the gulls on the islands but could not see any mediterranean gulls. A cormorant was drying out after fishing.

A great crested grebe had caught a large fish. Poor photo due to the distance.

The fish was so large the grebe was unable to swallow it. After a few minutes the bird released the fish, however another grebe caught it. It too could not swallow the fish and released it after a few attempts. The first grebe got hold of the fish and attempted to swallow it again without success, so let it go. The pair of them took it in turns to try to eat the fish without any success and eventually gave up. 

We returned to the visitor centre and saw this kingfisher at the new pond.

A very pleasant day.
 

RSPB Blacktoft Sands

 A very busy day in reception at Blacktoft today.

A barn owl was perched outside its box this morning

Spoonbill in front of Townend Hide.

Most visitors saw at least 1 bittern today, this was my best shot

Not a common bird at the reserve, a collared dove!

To the right of Marshland Hide was a popular fishing spot.

I could not read the code on the leg of this great white egret.

RSPB Burton Mere

 This was my view from the visitor centre at RSPB Burton Mere this morning. I was there with other members of the RSPB York Local Group.

Black headed gulls and a single med gull were making alot of noise as they defended their space.

From the Border Hide was saw lots of Black and Bar tailed godwits and knot.

A pleasant surprise was to see Gerald from Old Moor in the hide.

Plenty of orchids on the reserve

A garden tiger moth.

Sitting on a fence wating for the sun to shine was this lizard.

An excellent day on the reserve.

Jay and Kingfisher

After completing H&S checks I spent two hours in the Pickup Hide at RSPB Fairburn Ings.

A jay was on one of the bird feeders

 

A pleasant lady called Anne joined me in the hide. She is very enthuiastic about wildlife and loves spending time at Rodley Nature reserve in Leeds.

She spotted a male kingfisher sat on the sand martin bank.

It dived into the water and returned with its catch.

After digesting this it dived into the water and caught a fish.

A grey heron arrived and frightened it away.

Meanwhile back at the feeders, a great tit family had arrived.

They had waited until a grey squirrel removed a part of a suet ball from the feeder.

The jay returned and found a piece of the suet ball on the floor and flew off with it.

Blackcaps , chiffchaffs and blackbirds were singing. Swifts were flying overhead and great spotted woddpeckers were also flying about. A very pleasant 2 hours, with excellent company to help forget about the rain. 24 birds on my list for the day.

Green Sandpiper

 

 YWT reserve at Staveley at 7am this morning.

A red-legged partridge was sheltering underneath this mobile unit and it ran off along the path as I walked towards John's hide. Not a lot to be seen from here so I walked back along the path, and disturbed a red-legged partridge again as I past the mobile unit. From Bob's hide I could see a barn owl hunting in the field across the lagoon.

It rested on top of a fence post 

then the rain started and I lost sight of it. Plenty of warbler activity in front of the hide.

reed buntings as well.

I then walked to the Church Hide from where I was able to watch swifts, sand and house martins and swallows. Lots of lapwings, some with young.

Oystercatchers were flying about making a lot of noise, while ringed and little ringed plovers were chasing each other on a shingle bank. A green sandpiper was a pleasant surprise, my first of the year. Was it a non breeding bird returning from further north already?

A bittern flew towards the hide but was mobbed by gulls so took refuge in the reedbed. I returned to my car at lunch time and then returned to John's hide. No sign of a partridge but a family of mute swans.

A barn owl was now out hunting in the field to the right of the hide. Did it have young and had the reent wet weather forced it out to hunt at 2pm?

From Bob's hide I watched common terns feeding a young tern.

Lots of orchids

A very pleasant day with 53 birds on my list