Goosanders

 

Our first fall of snow this morning, but it did not last long. About lunchtime I had a walk around Rawcliffe Lake and saw 10 goosanders.

Corn bunting

 Paid a visit to a site not far from North Duffield Carrs today and managed to add corn bunting to my year list. Yellowhammer, skylark, reed bunting, stonechat, starling, woodpigeon, carrion crow and mute swan also on my day list.

Staveley, Scarborough and Filey.

 My plans for Tuesday were changed so I had some spare time to go birding. Due to the roadworks in various parts of York I decided to head west and go to Staveley. For a change I was able to find a space in the car park.

Not a lot of birds on view from the first hide. I was surprised to see a family of mute swans, about this time of year the adults usually have chased the cygnets away. A couple of goldeneye were with some tufted ducks.

Similar story from the next two hides, although there were a few birds using the feeders at the 3rd hide.

As I walked to the fourth hide on the other side of the reserve I passed a group of volunteers who had come to help with maintenance work on the reserve.

A lot more birds here. Greylag and canada geese. Cormorants, lapwings, shovelers, teal. mallard. wigeon, great crested grebe etc. My list for the visit totalled 41 different birds.

According to the weather forecast I saw. Thursday was supposed to be a reasonable day so I set off for the coast. Scarborough harbour was my first stop at 0830. 

It was cold and very windy.

High tide was not until 1pm, so I was hoping that there were some divers in the harbour. I managed to see two almost straight away.

The younger great northern diver came much closer than the adult, which was a shame as the adult  still had some of its striking summer plumage.

Just outside the entrance to the harbour. shags and cormorants were fishing

It was windy in the harbour, I could hardly stand when I walked along the sea wall, and only just managed to get a picture of this cormorant

I do think that they look a bit like reptiles! Some purple sandpipers were trying to stay out of the wind and spray.

After a couple of hours I decided to go to Filey. The adult great northern diver was out in the bay and there was no sign of a black throated diver. Just as I was leaving this red throated diver appeared.

This turnstone came along to show of its leg rings!

It was still very windy as I walked along the top of Carr Naze. Not too many people about which gave me a chance to get some photos of the 3 female snow buntings.

The birds were feeding in the long grass and then would appear on the path before going back into the grass. I tried to find the twite and lapland bunting that had been reported earlier  without any success so went to Filey Dams.

Like most places the water level is high, so no sign of waders. Grey herons were standing on the edge of the lagoon

A family of long tailed tits were just outside the central hide.

The male teal looked smart in afternoon sunshine.

Then it started to rain so I drove home.

My hospital appointment for Monday has now been cancelled, will the weather be good enough for me to go out birding. Like other birders I am finding it difficult to reach 200 species this year. Granted hospital appointments and family commitments have reduced the time available. So from my list of possibilities which 7 birds, if any can I see?

corn bunting, twite, redpoll, red grouse, jack snipe, black-throated diver, glaucous gull, shorelark, little auk, long eared owl.

Roll on Monday.

Out and about

 

Saturday the 11th I went to Filey as the weather was pleasant. It was windy as I walked along Carr Naze and very few birds about, no sign of the snow buntings that had been reported most days. I went to Filey Dams to eat my lunch and again few birds about. The water levels are high.

Wednesday the 15th and I started at North Duffield Carrs. 

A lot of water on the reserve, but it was possible to tell the course of the river, and we could see the windows of the Garganey hide. A male goosander was over by the farm, while a redkite was hunting over Bubwith Ings.  2 buzzards were near the osprey platform while 2 goldcrests were in a tree near the hide. 30 species in 2 hours was very good. I went to Skipwith Common to join a walk with members of RSPB York Local Group.

 A very windy day and not many birds to be seen as we walked along the path from the car park. We walked along the path that took along the edge of the reserve overlooking Skipwith Village and we came to a field where they are cultivating turf. Lots of redwings, fieldfares, linnets and goldfinches were feeding in the area.

We stopped for lunch in a sheltered spot and a family of long tailed tits slowly worked their way through the trees above us. A grey wagtail on the path near the bomb bays was a bonus.

After completing the H&S checks at Fairburn and St. Aidans I drove to Blacktoft.  58 snipe were at Marshland and 46 at Reedling, along with teal, mallard, shoveler, gadwall and mallards.

 A great white egret was on Singleton Lagoon along with 4 shelduck.

Stu joined us as it was the day to count the Marsh Harriers. While we waited for the Marsh Harriers to arrive we were able to watch a male hen harrier hunt over the reedbed and Singleton Lagoon.

We counted 25 Marsh Harriers coming into roost.

WATER, WATER, EVERYWHERE!

 

I arrived at NDC at 0830 in the hope that I had read the weather forecast correctly and that the rain will have been blown through by the strong wind and sunny intervals would be the order of the day.

I was a bit too optimistic, but I was not on my own as Stuart Rapson(@RapsonStuart on X) had a similar idea. Stuart was sat in the Geoff Smith hide when I arrived. I had tried to walk down the path to the Garganey hide, but the path was under water. Having worn wellingtons all day Sunday at Blacktoft, I had decided not to wear them today.

From the hide we could just see the top of Garganey hide, as the rest was under water. It was difficult to work out where the river was and where the reserve boundary was.

On my previous visits the wildfowl were on Bubwith Ings, but not when I first arrived. A pair of little grebes were on the scrape, looking for food at the shallow edges

 Lapwings and starling were standing on some of the few bits of land and vegetation sticking out of the water.

The taller parts of a hedge were also visible and perched in these were fieldfare, reed bunting and stonechats. Marsh harriers would hover over these bushes looking for prey.

 2 red kites were also looking for food on the other side of the river, where a field edge was exposed.

A great white egret flew past and then landed out of view behind a bush!. It did move into view but soon flew down to the far end of the reserve. A few wildfowl did fly onto the reserve and we were able to add pintail, shoveler, mallard, wigeon and teal to our list.

Stuart spotted a group of golden eye, feeding on the other side of the river, and a short while later he saw 4 more birds fly in, including a male.

Stuart left about lunchtime and I remained until about 2pm. The only birds I saw that Stuart missed were about 50 red legged partridges in a field on the other side of the river. I was not sure if they had all gathered there because of the flooding, or if they had been released as part of a shoot!

A very pleasant morning with Stuart and a day list of 43 birds.