Quiet Sunday afternoon!

 I left home after lunch for a spot of local birding. My first stop was Skipwith Common in the hope of seeing tree pipit and woodlark. Lots of vehicles in the car park.

It was nice to see the ponies but this is close to where I was hoping to see my target birds and there were lots of people having a picnic, so I left.

North Duffield Carr was my next stop. This is the field to the right of the path leading to the hides.

The field is full of buttercups and clover and other plants. My friend Chris had sent me a message to say that a male garganey was on the scrape in front of the Geoff Smith hide.

The bird was on the second island, quite a distance from the hide.

also on the scrape were 3 pairs of tufted ducks, who kept chasing each other about, a male shoveler

sedge warbler and whitethroat were busy hunting for food in front of the hide. After an hour I walked down to the last hide.

I could see 60 plus mute swans, lots of greylag geese, a few canada geese and the long staying whooper swan

Mallards were flying about and a few lapwings were chasing the carrion crows. Curlews were also calling as they flew around. I could see several little egrets but was not certain how many till later. After an hour I returned to the other hide. No birds were on the scrape.

Perhaps one of the reasons for the absence of birds was the fact that a family were in the next field fishing and having a picnic. I thought that there was no public access in this area. Across the river a dog walker had let their dog chase the sheep.

Then a helicopter flew low over the reserve and disturbed the birds.

The little egrets flew close together so I was able to count at least 15 of them. I then left for home.

Young peregrines

 I have been observing No Mow May. Partly to help the insects etc and partly to do with the wet weather,

Today was nice and dry and warm so I spent the morning mowing the lawns. I cannot say that I have noticed a lot of insects this month, again the weather probably played its part. I saw something on the television about recording any insects on your car number plate. I remember doing something similar before in the 1980's?

As soon as I had cut one patch of grass a male blackbird flew down on to the lawn and started looking for worms. I have not seen them do this when the grass was long.

After lunch I decided to go to York Minster and try to see the young peregrines. You can follow their progress on Twitter @YorkPeregrines. York was very busy., the sunny weather and the bank holiday had brought the crowds out.

I managed to find a spot away from other people, but still with a view of the balcony.

this is the balcony on which there is a tray for the peregrines to nest on. There are four young birds.

The two adult birds were sat on various part of the North Tower.

I think that it was the female who flew in with some prey. After approaching the balcony she flew off and landed on a different roof.

she then flew back to the tower and landed on a grotesque and started plucking her kill.

the other adult bird landed on the balcony edge/and was looking up at a pair of peregrines fly over.

once the kill was plucked the adult took it to the balcony and dropped it, and then flew off. One day I will get a decent flight picture.

the four young birds then ate what had been dropped for them.

one of the youngsters kept looking out from the balcony/

One of the adults, again I think that it was the female came back with another kill and landed on the highest grotesque, where she started to pluck her kill. Lots of feathers were flying about.

I left after a couple of hours but will return soon as the young will be flying soon.

Filey and Flamborough

 Change of dog sitting days this week, so I decided to go to the coast.

Filey was my choice of destination. I walked along the beach towards the sea watching hide.

The sea is slowly winning the battle here, each time I visit there seems to be less cliff. 

This was the view from the hide. It was 5 hours before high tide and there were lots of birds about but none near the hide. Lots of gannets, guillemots, a few razorbills and even less puffins. Lots of herring gulls and kittiwakes, but not many fulmars.

A single purple sandpiper , the first one I that I have seen this year was on one of the exposed rocks along with two oystercatchers. After 2 hours I left and went to Filey Dams.

No special birds but nice to see birds in sunlight.

a mute swan was having a preen in between chasing away other mute swans.

the colours on this male mallard stood out in the sunshine.

greylags were defending a space even though they had no young.

this little grebe was swimming round, then fishing and then paddling very fast.

the male tufted looked smart.

I think that the feathers on a gadwall always look as if their feathers have been hand painted.

From the next hide I saw this lesser black backed gull.

 

a canada gosling was feeding in the grass next to the hide.

On the way to the last hide I walked to the pond. A canada gosling was on the water with its parents.

along the boardwalk a pair of blackbirds seem to be enjoying the sun.

I thought that this tree sparrow was dead but then I realised it too was sunning itself.

this was the view from the last hide, a lot of gulls. I then walked to East Lea,

mute swans, grey herons, greylag geese, shelducks and oystercatchers. Jackdaws were having a bathe.

I then decided to go to Flamborough to try to see the reported thrush nightingale. I joined several birders who were also hoping to see the bird. After 20 minutes I had a walk along the cliff top path.

lots of guillemots on the sea and gannets flying from Bempton..

This kittiwake ws taking nesting material to a spot near the path.

other birds were on the ledges

a kestrel was hovering

herring gulls were looking for a nest site. I went back to where the birders were looking for the thrush nightingale and the bird had sung briefly during my absence. Gary and Wendy Flakes joined the group. They had heard the bird early and had walked down to Old Fall and seen spotted flycatchers. I left the group and went to Old Fall, and yes the bird showed during my absence!

lots of butterflies along the footpath

this wall butterfly (thanks to Chris for the identification)  was one of many. As I approached the wooded area I saw spotted flycatchers in the hedge, thanks for the tip off Gary and Wendy.

a pleasant day out and forecast is for better weather towards the weekend.