Moor and Carr

 Out and about this week. The weather has not been good enough for me to venture to the coast as I hoped.  Managed to get the dog walking in the dry, but not many birds to be seen.

Had time for a walk around Askham Bog yesterday, very very quiet on the bird front. I saw 1 great tit!

Decided to go to North Duffield Carrs today. I arrived just before lunch and walked down to the far hide. The recent rain has added to the water level, making the area more attractive for wildlife.

 A large flock of greylag geese were in a field to my left and I could only see part of the flock. When they flew down to the water for a bathe and a drink I could see 3 pink footed geese.

Further away on the reserve I could see several swans. Using my scope I could see that it was a mixture of whooper and mute swans. A marsh harrier was quartering the reserve and disturbed the lapwings and black headed gulls.

  

A dozen shelduck flew in and landed on a stretch of water. The area is about as far as my lens will reach, so apologies for the pictures.

Shortly after they landed a few swans flew the short distance from where they were feeding to preen etc on the water.

On my way back to my car I saw a small flock of fieldfare, again a poor picture.

Last year there was a murmuration  and I saw lots of starlings today. Not enough yet for a spectacular event, but fingers crossed!

Birding on a dreich day.

 The rain started earlier this morning than I expected. After completing a few jobs I decided to go to North Cave Wetlands as I can walk from my car to a couple of hides very quickly, thus avoiding the weather.

This is the view through one of the windows in Crosslands hide. The wind was blowing the rain towards the windows, and as most of the birds were in front of the windows, I decided not to stay long in the hide.

By opening the window and then sitting a few feet away from the open window I could watch the teal and wigeon feeding without getting wet. This swan family was swimming across the lagoon.

I then went to the South hide, where viewing conditions were better.

Lots of ducks on the water, mostly shoveler, pochard and mallard with a few tufted ducks.

A couple of cormorants landed near the shovelers

This disturbed the shovelers and some swam closer to the hide. A lot of the birds were swimming in pairs and were circling as they looked for food in the shallow water.

5 goosander were on the far side of the lagoon.

The rain eased slightly so I walked to the East hide,

There were lots of greylag geese

I spent ages looking through my scope at each bird. A "russian" white front had been seen recently, but I was unable to find it.

I decided to brave the weather and walk to the turret hide. Like Crossland hide the wind was blowing the rain in through the windows on the left hand side of the hide, so my viewing was restricted to the birds I could see on the right hand side. Plenty of teal, with a few snipe and redshank feeding.

The rain stopped for a while so I walked back to my car and decided to call in at North Duffield Carrs.

The water level in the redesigned scrape is slowly increasing. It will be interesting to see what it attracts over the winter.

There is a small amount of water near the other hide, and not far away from it were some swans.

There were about 20 swans, about half of which were whoopers. It is nice to see them back again.

The rain stopped and the light improved.

a kestrel was perched in the top of a bush at the far end of the scrape.

During my visit I also saw a marsh harrier and a buzzard. With all the rain forecast for the rest of the week, the water levels in the area may rise and make birding in the area more rewarding.

Last days of summer, first day of winter!

 As some of you may know, I only have 2 seasons. Winter and summer. Winter starts the day after the clocks change and ends on December 21st, the winter solstice. My summer starts on December 22nd when the daylight hours start to increase and end in October when the clocks change.

My last outing of the "summer" was on Thursday when I went to Blacktoft in the afternoon. The water level is nice and high thanks to the recent high tides and there is water in front of Ousefleet hide.

Lots of wigeon, teal and shovelers feeding in the area.

Next door the ponies were also feeding.

Not a lot of birdlife on Marshland so I went to Xerox, from where I could see lots of teal, gadwall and shovelers. I noticed a bird in the water, and when I looked through my telescope I saw it was a buzzard bathing.

After the bird had finished bathing it flew a short distance onto the nearest island.

after a while it flew off and scared away the teal.

There were no birds in front of First hide so I walked to Townend.

On the way to the hide I saw this small toad.

 Here I could see four snipe on some vegetation.

A redshank was feeding to the left.

Singleton lagoon was quiet, just a little egret and a grey heron. Towards dark marsh harriers came into view as they came into roost in the reedbed.

I counted 16 harriers coming into roost, and saw 5 birds in the air at the same time.

Friday was dog sitting day. On our walk on the moor I saw 10 carrion crows, some of whom seemed to be having a dispute as they were on the ground with their talons interlocked. Several small flocks of goldfinches flew over, but no sign of a grey wagtail.

 Saturday was odd jobs day including baking the cake for Xmas.

Xmas cards and wrapping paper and some presents already bought, so not much more to do.

First job today was to go and get my flu jab at he drive through clinic.

I then went to Nosterfield.

On the way to the lake I saw lots of plants etc, adding a splash of colour to the hedgerow.

Only a mute swan on the water, but on a spit of sand were lots of lapwings, curlews and golden plovers.

I then drove to the other part of the reserve.

The long staying lesser yellowlegs was feeding on one of the islands.

Lots of greylag geese and a few pink footed geese, curlew, mallard and lapwings were also there.

On the way home I called in at Staveley, but the car park was full, so I cam home.

Hoping to get to the coast during the week.