Marsh tit

 

Trying to increase my year list to 200, so am visiting places where I hope to see birds I have missed earlier in the year. Forge Valley was my first stop, where within seconds I saw a marsh tit, year tick 199. Next stop was the raptor viewpoint, where in the past I have seen crossbills.

I was aware that tree felling was taking place in the area but was surprised to see how much.

 I had obviously misunderstood what was happening. I thought that they were going to fell trees to maintain an open view across the valley, I was so wrong. Not a bird to be seen or heard. I visited other sites but no joy. So plan B. Go to Filey, I have often read reports of grey partridge sightings near the old tip.

Lots of dog walkers,both of which were walking in fields where crops were growing, so after a quick scan of the area I drove to the Dams.

A lot of work had taken place here, with presumably more to come in the new year. Very high water levels and not many birds.

sleeping shovelers and a male gadwall preening.

I have family taxi jobs to do for the next three days, can I find bird number 200 before Thursday?

Glossy Ibis

 

My year list total has been stuck around 186 for ages, and I did not think that I would be adding to it before the year end. However things have changed recently and when I discoverd that my total was now 195, I decided to try to get to 200. My recent trip to Teesside increased my total to 197, so where to get 3 more birds from.

Glossy ibis have been reported at St.Aidans for a while, so I decided to go there today. Not the best of weather and lots of visitors, including wild swimmers.

I met Neil while looking for the little owl in the compound, the last time I saw him was at Blacktoft.

I had a chat with Jo in the welcome hut and she told me where the Glossy Ibis had been seen. I popped into the Little owl cafe to see Romona and then headed for Bowers lake. 

No sign of the ibis, but a smart looking male red-crested pochard was nearby.

I slowly walked around the whole site and had 33 birds on my day list, by the time i returned to see Jo. She told me that visitors had reported seeing  3 glossy ibis, so I returned to Bowers lake. Lots of coots, black-headed gulls, shovelers and tufted ducks, but no Ibis. I helped a couple of birders locate the red-crested pochard, but still no ibis.

Then I was watching a male marsh harrier hunt over some reed beds, when a female flew over and they had a bit of a display. This caused loads of lapwings to take to air and in with them were 3 glossy ibis. 3 other birders joined us, and we had more views as the harriers kept disturbing the birds.

I returned to Jo to report my success.

Can I find 2 new birds tomorrow?

Black redstart and Hooded Crow.

 A sunny day so I made the most of it with a trip to Hartlepool. A glaucous gull had been seen on industrial sites off Ferry Road. Neither I nor several other birders could locate it. However I did manage to see a black redstart in the same area.

On my way home I called in at the cemetrey at Acklam and saw my first hooded crow of the year.

Just 3 more ticks for 200, will I make it?

More water at North Duffield Carrs.

 5 days since my last visit and the water level has increased. The water is now above the windows on the Garganey hide and the lapwings are standing in water.

There was a shoot taking place on the other side of the river and the noise of gunfire caused the birds to fly to the other side of the reserve, near the submerged hide.

3 whooper swans flew downriver.

One had a distinctive neck.

Only 25 birds on my list today, 15 less than my last visit.

Male hen harrier and 4 short-eared owls

 Yesterday, Monday the 22nd of December was the first day of my summer, and as it was not a foggy day, I decided to try to add to my ear list. I had read on various social media reports of sightings of hen harriers and short-eared owls along the Humber, so headed for Welwick. 

I settled in the small hide and scanned the surrounding area. I was looking towards the sun so not very good for photos.

A small group of black-tailed godwits were feeding in the lagoon along with several wigeon. In the fields behind me was a flock of brent geese.

Lots of chaffinches on the fence post, mostly male, often called batchelor birds due to the males forming large flocks in winter. David Armitage walked up at this point and we chatted for a while. He then set off to walk to the next hide. After a while he returned and told me that he had been talking to someone who had been watching harriers etc earlier that morning near Patrington Haven. So off we drove.

We parked in an area I last visited to see an Ivory gull.

I viewed the area from the hide while David set off to explore the area towards the pumping station. 

Lots of curlews

A kestrel was hunting

Half an hour passed by and David had not retuned, so I set off to walk towrds him. After about a 20 minute walk I came across him and other birders watching birds in a field. Lots of grey herons, little and great white egrets and a male hen harrier. The bird was some distance away as it hunted over the field.

Not brilliant photos due to the light and distance away. I had been watching the bird for about 30 minutes when 2 short-eared owls appeared.

I saw 4 owls hunting over the area. A good day and 2 more birds for my year list. I might make 200 yet.

Murmuration at RSPB Fairburn Ings.

 

Nice sunny day, so after completing the H&S checks I spent the rest of the afternoon bird watching at Fairburn. The above photo was taken from Lin Dike. Lots of black-headed gulls

A very distant male goldeneye

slightly closer great white egret, one of the 3,  I saw today. I then went to the visitor centre and spent some time watching the birds at the feeders.

Another distant shot. The cattle were in the field in front of the Pickup hide and there were 5 cattle egrets in with the cows. Blue, gret and long-tailed tits at the feeders.

Coal tits flew in and out so fast I only managed this poor shot.

Goldfinch, chaffinch and reed bunting were a bit more obliging.

I then walked up to the lagoons.

The "Big Hole"

Looking back down from the top. The white dots in the green field are cattle egrets.

From this footpath you look down on the moat and a grey heron seems to have occupied its nesting site already.

Looking towards the hide at Lin Dike.

The North Lagoon

Lots of coots and tufted ducks and once the sun had set the starlings flew in.

A pleasant end of the day.

4 raptors at North Duffield Carrs.

 

I arrived at 0830 this morning, and as you can see it waas hardly light. It did get brighter about an hour later, but no sign of sun all day. Lapwings and wigeon were occupying the thin strips of river bank still visible, with groups of mallard and teal on spits of land near the farm.

Stu and Catherine arrived about 0930 and we settled down for a few hours of bird watching. The lapwings in the distance kept taking to the air, but we could not always see a raptor. Then we did see a marsh harrier fly over the thin strip of land which put the lapwings to flight again. The harrier crossed the river and it disturbed lots of rooks in a field and they all took to mature trees for shelter while the marsh harrier landed on the ground near a low hedge.

Stu then spotted a flock of about 40 golden plover flying down river.

Catherine spotted a raptor across the river, it was a red kite and we were able to watch it for a while as it slowly scoured the area for food. At one point in landed on the top of the river bank.

After a while it flew in front of the hide as it looked for food. It completed a circuit of the reserve and perched in a bush on the other side of the river. Sue, Judith, Katherine and Jonathan arrived just in time to see it. A pair of stonechats perched on top of some vegetation.

Sue, Judith, Katherine and Jonathan left to visit other areas of the valley.

Wrens, dunnocks, robins and blue tits were busy looking for food in front of the hide.

Buzzards were also flying over the reserve looking for food and getting attacked by corvids and lapwings.

Catherine and Stu went for a walk to another part of the reserve. Catherine went home and Stu came back to eat his lunch. 3 buzzards were then out looking for food just as the rain started to fall. After eating his lunch Stu went home as the rain intensified.

As he left the hide and walked to the car park he disturbed the flock of fieldfare and redwing, which allowed me to get a couple of photos, poor quality though because of the rain and poor light conditions.

On their walk Stu and Catherine saw long-tailed tits. I was going to go and look for them but decided against it when the rain started. After a while the long-tailed tits joined the blue tits in front of the hide.

I left soon after as the visibility was getting poor, I could not even see the church!

A very pleasant day with excellent company and a day list of 40 species.