Sunny end

 

On duty in reception at Blacktoft on Sunday. I arrived at 0745 and visited all the hides. It was still a bit misty, and it was starting to rain. By the time that Daz had arrived, and we opened the reception hide the rain had got heavier and as the morning wore on the rain increased. At one point it was impossible to hear yourself speak due to the noise of the rain on the roof!

A few people were brave enough to come out in the heavy downpour of rain and enjoyed sitting in a hide on their own. After lunch the weather improved, and more visitors came.

The marsh harriers became more active

This male was hunting quite close to the reception hide. Where the digger had been and deposited mud etc from the ditch, lots of birds were searching for food, which in turn attracted the harriers. The kingfisher was also in the ditch but was unable to find anything to perch on. Perhaps we can put a few sticks into the ditch and then visitors can enjoy watching it fish.

 By 4pm when we closed the reception hide it was a pleasant evening. The reserve is open until 6pm at the moment, but that will change this week when summertime ends. I volunteered to lock up and decided to go and sit in Singleton hide.

Redshank, dunlin, ruff and snipe were on the lagoon. At the far end of the centre channel, I saw a bittern.

Terrible pictures as the bittern was too far away for me to get a reasonable photo, but hopefully you can find the bird. It remained in view for about 45 minutes before it went back into the reed bed. A pleasant end to the day.

Filey Dams

 A short visit after taking my granddaughter shopping in Scarborough.

A familiar sight across the country, low water levels.

one of the 14 moorhens I saw

a female shoveler

I guestimated about 500 pink footed geese flying over

One of the 2 black tailed godwits

If only......

 No jobs today and the weather forecast was good, so I decided to go to RSPB Saltholme area in the hope of adding to my year list. It was just after 9am when I arrived and managed to get the last seat in the Phil Stead hide. I presumed that everyone else there had gone to see the lesser yellow legs. It was a fair distance from the hide

not close like this redshank

The birds were startled by something and they flew a bit further away so I left to allow someone to sit down. Greatham Creek was my next stop.

This was the only seal I could see. Lots of waders about including this avocet

Grey and golden plover

As I walked down the path towards the hide at Seal Sands there were lots of goldfinches feeding close to the path.

Tick number two for the day was this long tailed duck, on one of the pools.

More seals on Seal Sands.

Hartlepool Headland was my next stop, but it was very quiet birdwise, I returned to Saltholme and went back to the Phil Stead hide, which was still full, and the lesser yellow legs was still in the distance, so I walked down to back Saltholme hide in search of tick number 3, a white fronted goose.

 I did eventually find the bird. IF only I had taken my scope, I am sure that I would have found it sooner. Just before I left the hide, a birder had located a bird of prey, but he was not sure if it was a hobby or a merlin. Having seen both this year, I left the hide and drove to Cowpen Bewlay Country Park. I had just sat down looking at the bird feeders when my phone alert sounded. It was Chris Downes. (chrisdownesbirds.com,) telling me that there was a message on Twitter reporting that there was a collared pratincole at Saltholme. I quickly returned to the reserve and walked down to the hide I had left about 20 minutes earlier. A couple of chaps in front of me were not walking as fast as I was, so I was glad that they went into the hide by the right hand door, so I went in the left hand door and sat down. I managed to locate the bird as it was flying about. It flew high and disappeared from view. In the discussions that followed it became apparent that this was the bird of prey that the birder had seen earlier. IF ONLY I had waited and looked for the bird, I too would have seen it on the ground. However it was my first life tick for this year.

October

 Very quiet on the birding scene.

this pied wagtail had Singleton lagoon to itself. Marshland had more birds

the barn owl had returned from hunting

two spotted redshanks were joined by a pair of shovelers. The males are looking smarter as their breeding plumage emerges.

a black tailed godwit joined the spotted redshanks for a preen

this one decided to shelter near one of the islands.

This marsh harrier had some new prey to hunt

a large flock of golden plover were in a ploughed field near the reserve.

Pink feet flying over the reserve early morning

they were in the stubble fields near the reserve, but the fields have now been ploughed so the geese have further to travel, I guess it won't be long before they fly to Norfolk. Regular reports on twitter about whooper swans, but I have not seen any this autumn yet. I am always reminded of the poem by William Butler Yeats "The Wild Swans at Coole"

The trees are in their autumn beauty

The woodland paths are dry

Under the October twighlight the water

Mirrors on a still sky

Upon the brimming water amongst the stones

Are 9 and fifty swans..........................