Fairburn Ings

Shopping occupied my morning so it was after lunch when I set out for a spot of birding.

No time for a long journey, and as I had failed to find snow buntings at Filey on several trips and also missed the ring ouzel at Bempton twice, I decided to call it at day with the list for this year, 194 was not bad considering.

As I am now in the same tier as Fairburn Ings I decided to go there, also it would give me a chance to see if it would be a suitable place for tomorrow to start off my list for 2021.

It was a nice sunny day and as I drove along, I could see that lots of people were out and about. I managed to get the last parking space at Lindike..

As you can see quite a wintry scene and not many birds about.

Gulls, ducks and geese were gathered around some open water in the centre of the lagoon.

a mute swan had decided that the ditch was a good place to feed

Further along the road I could see gulls near a piece of open water

these mute swans had landed on the ice thinking it was open water

lots of pied wagtails on the ice, feeding on insects

The visitor centre car park was full so I drove back home. A pleasant couple of hours to end this dreadful year.

A Happy and Save 2021 to you all, may we soon forget tiers and social. distancing

My thanks to all the NHS staff who have done a brilliant job..

Staveley

 

It snowed overnight, not a lot. Just enough for our neighbours children to make a snowman!

I decided not to go to far just in case road conditions were bad, so opted for a short trip up theA1 to Staveley. The car park was full, but after a few minutes a couple of walkers returned and I was able to park my car,

As I walked through the first part of the woodland I saw this redwing looking for food.

From the first hide I could see mallards, tufted ducks and goldeneyes. I was pleased to see the mute swan family had managed to raise 6 young and they were still all together as a family.

Lots of birds to be seen from the second hide as they came to the feeders.

The pheasant was picking up bits of seed etc. from the feeders.

A male mallard was next to an ice free bit of water.

I walked to the "public" hide where there are more bird feeders.

A family of long tailed tits landed on the fat ball feeder while female reed buntings were busy looking for seeds.

this male blackbird chased other blackbirds away.

On my way back to the car I saw a great spotted woodpecker.

Lower Derwent Valley

 A misty morning, A friend in Leeds could not see the bottom of his garden!

I decided to walk around Askham Bog but when I got there, there were lots of people so I decided to go to North Duffield Carrs.

Misty in the distance and I could hear  lots of geese.

From the bottom hide the visibility was slightly better. Lots of birds, but they were a long way away.

A few birds were on the bund

 In the distance a marsh harrier was been mobbed by crows

4 whooper swans flew in but did not land

the crows chased a buzzard into a  tree

this disturbed some lapwings

lots of pintails in the distance

I then left and called in at Thorganby on my way home.

Lots of water. Greylags close by and wigeon a bit further out.

The road to Wheldrake Ings is under water, so I did not try to get through. I went to the viewing tower at Bank Island.

Lots of water, a single mute swan, a few tufted ducks and black headed gulls.

Lets hope for better weather for the rest of the week.

Filey and Bempton.

 The weather today was not as bad as I was expecting so I decided to head for the coast.

Bempton was my first stop in the hope of seeing a ring ouzel. I joined Trevor Charlton looking at the patch of scrub just outside the visitor centre but we had no luck. A short eared owl was flying about.

a walk to the cliff tops was rewarded with good views of stonechat.

I decided to try Filey Brigg in the hope of seeing a snow bunting, but by the time that I arrived the country park was full so I went to the Dams.

Not a lot of birds to be seen on the reserve. This greylag was having a nap.

Boxing Day Birding

 The weather was not brilliant and the forecast was worse, as Storm Bella approaches.

I decided to go to North Duffield Carrs for a couple of hours.

There is more water on the reserve than my last visit.

When most of the reserve is covered in water the birds are spread over a wide area and there are not many birds close to the hides. Some birds will stand/roost on the bund and today there were a few to be seen,

A pair of mute swans were resting on the bund, along with shelducks and a lapwing

as you can see this swan a red ring on one of its legs, but I found it difficult to read. The swans came a bit closer to the hide as they were feeding.

when it upended I could read the ring.

555 was the number.

starlings were flying in and out of the reeds looking for food.

a wren flew on to a post

it flew off when a blackbird appeared

a carrion crow landed where the starlings had been feeding

The canada geese that had been out in the middle of the water started to fly towards the bund.

I then noticed what had disturbed them

one of the buzzards landed on a fence at the edge of the reserve

Then I noticed ducks flying and a marsh harrier flew past the hide.

The birds flew further away so I came home.