North Duffield Carrs

 

A beautiful spring day on Monday 27th of March, I could have been in the Med!!

When I first arrived in the Garganey hide there were lots of ducks, geese and waders this side of the bund. I opened the window very quietly, no birds noticed. Then the farmer drove by in his tractor and all the birds flew to the furthest part of the reserve.

Lots of wigeon, some squabbling. At least 4 pairs of pintail still present, along with a few shoveler, tufted ducks, mallard gadwall and teal. I carefully scanned through the teal but was unable to find a garganey. The magical sound of curlew bubbling away as they glided over the meadow.

AS I walked back to the Geoff Smith hide I saw nice examples of spring.

No birds on the scrape in front of the hide when I first arrived, A pair of little grebes were calling and eventually emerged from the vegetation. To the right of the scrape a male reed bunting sang his chirpy song, while 2 red legged partridges fed along the river bank.

Across the river a group of 19 whooper swans were swimming back and forth. Were they getting restless and ready to start their long journey back to Iceland?

A pleasant afternoon with 33 birds on my list.

Fairburn Ings and St. Aidans

 

Health and safety checks to day at both reserves. On my way from Fairburn to St, Aidans I saw a spoonbill, my first year tick of the day. After I had completed the checks at St. Aidans I went for a walk.

A little owl was in the compound, tick number 2 for the day. I saw my first wheatear of the year on the ridge and furrow part of the reserve, tick number 3. Much further along I saw my first black necked grebe of the year to take my year total to 137.

On the way back I had another look for the little owl and saw this one in a different spot.

Grateful for roadworks.

 In the 50+ years that I have been driving I have often cursed at roadworks. Today I had taken granddaughter back to Scarborough and I was driving to Bempton Cliffs. There had been reports of an alpine swift so I was hoping to see one and possibly a puffin. Just after the second Filey roundabout there are roadworks and a set of traffic lights. As I was sat waiting for the lights to change I saw an alpine swift fly across the road, how lucky was that!

Good views of gannets, fulmars and kittiwakes at Bempton, but only 1 guillemot, no razorbill and no puffins.

I called into Filey Dams on the way home.

Buzzard sat in one of its usual spots, with a squirrel in the box below it.

Shelducks are paired up

The colours on the male mallard were showing well in the sunlight.

A chiffchaff was in the bushes behind the Central hide, 2nd tick of the day.

Filey Dams

 An extra trip this week allowed me to spend some time this afternoon at the Dams. Overnight the Dams had had visitors.

I had always imagined Filey to be a nice, quiet spot, but they too have problems with people who have to spoil others enjoyment and property. The police paid a visit while I was there. The photos above are not mine. They were taken by people who put the benches etc back into the hide.. Luckily there were no birds nests in the boxes.

This was the scene when I arrived. Pleasant sunshine and the temperature was 15 degrees.

This magpie was on guard duty

while this magpie collected nest material.

I tried to catch the colour in the male mallard and tufted ducks plumage.

One member of a family of long tailed tits.

It started to rain so I left.

East coast birding

 My usual Wednesday visit to the coast. I started at Bridlington in the hope of seeing waders as it was high tide mid morning. Lots of dog walkers, so no sign of any birds. A walk to the harbour was rewarded with views of turnstone and redshank.

RSPB Bempton Cliffs was my next stop.

Here I managed to add black redstart to my year list.

Filey Dams was my last stop.

The usual mix of gulls.

A pair of tufted ducks were busily feeding

On my past few visits I have seen a buzzard near the owl boxes and sand martin box, and one was there yesterday. 

It had an attempt to catch something in the reeds but it was soon mobbed by carrion crows.

An egyptian goose made a brief appearance at the far end of the lagoon.

Plenty of blue tits flying about

It was pleasant in the sunshine and spring did feel a bit closer.

Filey Dams

 After taking uni student shopping I paid a short visit to Filey Dams.

Still some snow on the ground and the occasional snow shower. Parts of the lagoon were covered in ice, and not many birds about. Mostly greylag and canada geese and herring gulls. A pair of little grebes kept me entertained as this one.

kept chasing this one

This strange pose was taken as it had a preen.

More signs of spring at Blacktoft.

 A quieter Sunday at Blacktoft, but more signs of spring. A bittern was booming and the first avocet of the year was on Ousefleet lagoon as was this black tailed godwit.

Marsh harriers were displaying

Wigeon were busy feeding before they start their long journey east

konic ponies were grazing near Marshland lagoon

snipe could be seen from every hide

Fieldfares and redwings were feeding in the flower meadow and then came in front of reception hide to feed, before they too start their journey east over the North Sea.

From mid afternoon the barn owls were out hunting. I saw 2 close together from Singleton hide, and this one landed in front of the reception hide, but behind some reeds.