After completing the H&S checks at St. Aidans, I had a short walk around the part of the reserve near the car park. Several people were trying without any success to find the little owl. I had seen it earlier, so I was happy to show them where it was sitting, and even happier when one lady I showed, had never seen a little owl before, it was a life tick for her.
I guessed that it was keeping out of the wind, but sadly due to its position some people were not tall enough to see it.
I then drove to the car park at the Lin Dike end of Fairburn Ings.
This mute swan was sitting in the car park. It looked ok and when people approached it, it raised its wings. I rang Beth at the VC to let her know, just in case other visitors contacted her.
This was my view from the hide at Lin Dike. It was good to see the sunshine, but the wind was still a bit on the cold side.
Most of the birds were towards the back of the lagoon, including these 6 pintail.
On my left I could hear buzzards "mewing" and eventually I was able to see 4 and a red kite. A bit closer to the hide, but still some distance away, a marsh harrier was having an altercation with some carrion crows.
The birds were too far away for decent photos, and I could not determine if there was a prey item that they were fighting over. Meanwhile on the other side of the lagoon, 3 great white egrets were looking for food, when 1 flew a little bit closer.
It was still a long way off and soon flew over the road, where the other 2 joined it, before long, all 3 returned to the far end of the lagoon. I had been there about 90 minutes and it was time to go. Just as I got out of my seat, Vince turned up. I had not seen him since we met at North Cave, where he bought a new scope. We chatted for a while, before I headed back to the car.
Lots of activity at the feeders in the car park. Another pleasant visit to this part of the Aire Valley and my 117th tick of the year.
No comments:
Post a Comment