Birding in the mist

 Friday the 11th I was at Fairburn and St. Aidans in the morning. Saw my first whooper swans for this winter at Fairburn.

This stonechat was perched in front of the screen near where the Lindyke hide used to be.

I then drove to Blacktoft. The highlight of my visit was to see a goosander.

After football on Saturday morning I spent the afternoon at Bank Island.

lots of greylag geese, with a few wigeon and curlew feeding in the grass.

A buzzard was hunting over the shallower water just before dusk

                                                                                                                                                                        On duty at Blacktoft on Sunday. Very misty and it was Webs count just to add to the fun.

14 reed buntings on the path collecting grit. Lots of redwings and fieldfare in the hay meadow and in the field next door a mixture of greylag, canada and pink footed geese.

Possibly due to the mist there were more birds on the reserve than my last visit. The mist did not clear much at all and by the time that I locked up it was as bad as first thing in the morning.

On Monday evening I went to an RSPB York Local group talk about the Howardian Hills. At the last talk that I attended, Professor Sir John Lawton was making the point that there is a lot of positive conservation work going on but it goes unnoticed, mostly because the people/organisations doing it don't shout about it. There is work going on to improve the River Rye as the water quality is poor. Part of the problem is that when farmers are ploughing their fields they plough towards the river so that there is a lot of run off into the river. If they ploughed the other way then there would not be as much run off into the river. Hedge laying is going on to improve hedges for wildlife and people are encouraged not to mow the grass verges and allow wild flowers to grow. All of these activities are taking place about 20 miles away, but most of us are not aware of them.

Today, Tuesday was a very wet day. brightened up by a visitor to my neighbours bird table.

  The tree sparrows that live in my big hedge, visit her bird table and this male sparrowhawk was on the look out for tea. Sorry about the picture but I took it through a window covered with rainwater. After a while the bird flew onto a neighbours tv ariel, he was too late for Autumnwatch!

Slightly better photos as I was able to go outside to take them. He perched there for a while and then a carrion crow chased him away.