1st butterfly of the year at NDC

 A couple of hours birding down at North Duffield Carrs. 5 lapwings and a golden plover and then they flew off as a marsh harrier flew over

3 oystercatchers and several curlew. The curlew were calling as they flew but have not quite got into full song yet, the end bit seems to be missing. A few teal in a corner near the farm along with 3 pairs of shoveler and a single male stonechat was the total for the afternoon.

Changes at North Duffield Carrs

I have been to North Duffield Carrs 5 times in the past week and have noticed changes every day.

The water level has slowly been increasing but the number of birds has slowly decreased. Not sure if this is due to the weather conditions or if birds have left to move to their breeding grounds. Some teal have been sheltering from the wind and rain in the vegetation but pintails seem to have gone. Oystercatchers are back, another sign of spring and upto 800+ golden plover moving through the valley, presumable on their way to the moors.

On Friday there was no sign of the golden plover and only have the number of lapwings and dunlin from earlier in the week. The number of gulls increased with quite a few common gulls.

The gulls took to the air whenever the lapwings did even when there was no sign of a predator.

The number of starlings had also increased, with lots gathering near Aughton Church, but I did not see any sign of a murmuration.

Three male stonehatswere busy near the Garganey hide. I was watching them for a long time trying to work out if they were trying to find a female or just establish territory. I was unable to distinguish between the three of them, so if a pair do stay and breed near the hide, I wont be able to tell which male it is.

A single little grebe is still on the scrape in front of the Geoff Smith hide.

64 pink feet flew over heading west, another sign of the coming season.

On my way back to the car I explored the new path.

The bridge has been there for a year or two but the path beyond is new.

As I returned to my car I disturbed a small group of fieldfares and redwings who were feeding in the field.

 

Blackwits at Blacktoft

 I arrived at Blacktoft at opening time, just as the team were getting ready for the days tasks. I had not seen some of them this year, so it was good to have a catch up. My plan for the day was to start at Ousefleet and end at Singleton. On my way to Ousefleet, I popped into Xerox hide and had a quick look at the ducks on the water. I then went to Marshland where a lot of black tailed godwits had just flown in and landed on the islands. Pete came into to see them and out total count was 116.

A buzzard was keeping an eye on them

We left the hide at the same time, Pete went back to the office and I walked to Ousefleet. The ponies were grazing on the left hand side of the hide.

close to the hide, teal, shoveler,wigeon and gadwall were feeding.

The godwits and dunlin had moved from Marshland to Ousefleet and some were close to the hide.

Then all the waders and ducks took to the air

Two peregrines were out hunting

just the shelducks remained

I left the hide and walked to Xerox hide.

It was high tide and this boat was going towards Goole. The marsh harriers are now getting more active 

two deer were grazing in the reedbed.

Just coots on the water in front of 1st hide and a chaffinch on the roof.

Just a few sleeping mallard on Townend lagoon, a pair of goldeneye were on the water in front of Singleton

A very pleasant day, despite the strong wind and rain showers.

Up and down at NDC

 

Just 3pm when I sat down in Garganey hide at North Duffield Carrs. The weather was better than yesterday but the wind direction was different, so I sat facing the Wolds rather than upstream.

Just like yesterday only a few ducks to be seen on the water. Others could have been sheltering from the wind, but I never saw them. 2 male stonechats again, but they did not come near the hide today and only 1 hare running up and down. Most of the activity was on the bits of dry land where the waders were.

Mostly golden plover, then lapwings, about 40 dunlin and 4 redshank with a single curlew again.

A buzzard flew over

All the waders took to the air

While several lapwings chased the buzzard away the golden plovers circled, one minute golden brown then white as they banked to turn round. This happened several times and what a sight it was.

5pm and the weather had changed so I walked back to my car. On the way I disturbed these fieldfares.

They were heading east. Was that because the wind was blowing them that way or were they on their way home?

Hares and Stonechats at North Duffield Carrs

 Another bad weather day. I managed to walk down to Garganey Hide without getting too wet.

More water than yesterday but a lot fewer ducks. All I could see were a pair of shoveler and a male mallard. Lots of lapwings, golden plover, dunlin, 1 curlew, 4 redshank and 2 oystercatchers.

They slowly worked their way across the bund as they looked for food. The plovers and dunlin kept taking to the air but I never saw a bird of prey. Two male stonechats were having a bit of a battle for territory.

this brought them close to the hide several times. In the other direction 5 hares were busy chasing each other about.

The weather became more severe so I came home.

North Duffield

 

Time to catch up with some reading while the strong winds are blowing.  I saw some of the birds and hope to see more in the future. 

Luckily today there was no damage to garden fences etc. so I decided to pop down to NDC before the forecasted rain arived. Several vehicles in the car park so I wondered if a special bird had been blown in. The Geoff Smith hide was empty so I went in.

More water in the scrape than on my last visit and the level of the Derwent was much higher. For the first time this year a bird was on the water on the scrape, a little grebe. There were not many birds to be seen. Had the wind caused them all to shelter or driven them all away. I was just about to leave the hide when a samll party and Jono Leadley arrived, which explained the number of cars,  and informed me that there were more birds to be seen from the Garganey hide.

When I got there, another birder was sat in the hide and during our conversation I discovered that he was Chris Heppell, someone I follow on Twitter. I also discoverd that our sons used to work at the same school! It was a pleasure to meet him and talk to him.

A pair of mute swans were in front of the hide and one had a ring on its leg.555 was all I could read.

At least 2 male and a female stonechat were busy flying about near the bund and were joined by 2 linnets and then a male reed bunting. A marsh harrier kept flying over the water and lapwings, golden plover and dunlin would have a fly round.

I had some domestic duties to do so left about 1230. Chris decided to eat and lunch and then he thought that he too might leave as the rain had started. By the time that I got home it had turned to snow. These photos were taken on Hob Moor.

Staveley and Nosterfield

 The plan for today was to shelter from the wind in the hides at North Cave Wetland. The A64 was gridlocked due to an accident so I was heading west instead of east. I continued to the A 1 and drove north to Staveley. Previous attempts to visit have been thwarted by a full car park.

I was pleased to find that the car park was empty when I arrived. As I walked along the path towards the hides, lots of pheasants and crows flew off. From the first hide I visited I could see lots of greylag geese close to the waters edge, sheltering from the wind.

Lots of birds trying to get food from the feeders at the next two hides.

The sun was shining but the wind was strong. The birds  were keen to get food from the feeders but the feeders were swinging to and fro in the strong wind so staying on the feeders was difficult.

After a couple of hours I left and drove to Nosterfield.

A mixture of greylag and canada geese along with some oystercatchers and black headed gulls. Site maintenance closed some of the footpaths so I drove to the other site. 

It had started to rain so I went to the first hide.  Most of the birds were on the far side of the water, so I had to use my scope to see what was about. 165 curlews, 220 lapwing, 51 oystercatchers, 153 wigeon, 48 teal a few tufted ducks, gadwall and shoveler. The waders kept taking to the air, but I could not see any birds of prey. Each time they took to the air, a few curlew flew off. 

Three rabbits were grazing in front of the hide as I left for home.