North Duffield Carrs

 A lot more water on the reserve. I took this picture on Saturday afternoon and it has rained a lot since. So there is the possibility that the Garganey hide where I took this photo from could now be under water!

Lots of wigeon, teal and greylag geese. Shoveler and pintail numbers are increasing and a few shelduck were on the far side of the reserve.

Lapwing, golden plover, dunlin and redshank were on the various bits of dry land, but were constantly kept on the move by hunting buzzards and marsh harriers. A large flock of redwing and fieldfare were in the mature trees at the edge of the reserve.

Another birder came into the hide and told me that Wheldrake Ings and Bank island are now only accesible if you have waders or a boat! It could be an interesting winter.

Great northern diver

 

I spent yesterday in Scarborough. My son is working there at the moment so I did some birdwatching before meeting him for lunch. I started off by walking around the harbour looking for divers, but it was low tide so no luck.

A long steep climb up to St.Marys church looking for a redstart was equally fruitless. After lunch I returned to the churchyard, but only saw a song thrush!

Walking back to the car I saw a large bird in the harbour, so got my bins and cameral from the car and went looking for a diver again.No birds at all in the harbour, but I saw two people with a telescope so I joined them. Steve Race, Yorkshire Coast Nature, was one of them. They had spotted a diver out in the bay and it soon surfaced, some distance away.

Luckily it gradually came closer.

Another tick to take my year list to 192, will I make 200?

Murmuration at North Cave Wetlands

 

After yesterdays non stop rain it was pleasant to be out in the winter sunshine today.

A walk around North Cave was pleasant but surprisingly most of the birds were on Crosslands Lake, including the female red crested pochard.

Lots of lapwings on East Holm along with starlings.

The syatlings were getting ready for their nightly flying display.

A sight worth seeing.

 

Whooper swans at RSPB Blacktoft Sands

 My day for manning the reception hide at Blacktoft and hopefully catching up with a ringtail hen harrier. However it rained all day, so visibility was poor, so if the harrier did appear I missed it.

I started at Ousefleet hide where there were lots of shovelers and lapwings. On my way back to Marshland hide lots of pink-footed geese flew over.

Marshland had nothing to offer so Reedling was next and I was  pleased to see this family of Whooper swans.

they were a little agitated as a male mute swan was swimming towards them, but he stopped when they swam in the opposite direction. Lots of shovelers and wigeon on the lagoon. First lagoon also had lots of wigeon. The bushes around Townend lagoon were popular with marsh harriers.

I was unable to get all the bushes in one shot. There were 8 marsh harriers in total. There were also 2 adult whooper swans, which like the ones on Reedling were being chased by a mute swan.

Singleton lagoon had lots of wigeon and an adult and young whooper swan, so it was nice to see the birds before they flew off to feed in the fields next to the reserve.

I took this picture from Reedling at 3.15 and as you can see it was nearly dark, time to go home. Still lots of fieldfares in the trees in the car park, along with redwing and mistle thrush.

RSPB Fairburn Ings

 

Usual bird watching session after completing safety checks. I started at the Pickup hide, more water now but no birds using it. Plenty of activity at the feeders. Robin, chaffich, dunnock, goldfinch, blue, coal and great tits.

After an hour I drove down to the Lin Dike end of the reserve. A lot more water than my last visit.

11 pintail sheltering behind the "mangroves", tufted ducks and goldeneye diving in the centre of the lagoon. No birds around the waters edge.

A great white egret flew across.

A day in reception tomorrow at Blacktoft, will I be lucky enough to see a hen harrier?

Marsh harriers at RSPB Blacktoft Sands.

 

This was the view I had at 0945 this morning from Ousefleet hide. I met Gareth the warden on the main part of the reserve and after a catch up I walked down to this hide. Shelduck. lapwing, dunlin and shovelers were on the lagoon. A marsh harrier flew over and disturbed them all. 

I could hear a water rail from the lagoon on my right and eventually it appeared from the reeds. I was waiting for it to walk clear of the reeds before taking a photo when it flew.

On my way back to the main part of the reserve, I disturbed fieldfares, which were feeding on the berries on the long hedge.

Marshland lagoon was full of water but empty of birds so I walked to the next hide, Reedling.

More birds on this lagoon. A single female goldeneye

Pochard, wigeon, mallard and snipe.

First hide was the next hide I visited, where a single little grebe had the lagoon to itself.

Townend hide was my next stop and I had just arrived when the rain started again. A marsh harrier was busy hunting along the edge of the reedbed. A male pheasant walked in front of the hide.

I arrived at Singleton hide just as the sun started to shine again. A grey heron was standing to the left of the hide.

I had hoped to see a ringtail hen harrier but no luck. Marsh harriers were very active.

As I walked back to my car, I saw a barn owl hunting along the flood bank, and lots of fieldfares were in the trees next to the flower meadow.

RSPB Fairburn Ings

 

 I did not visit the Aire Valley yesterday due to the snow, so completed the H&S checks today.

Afterwards I spent some time birding at Fairburn.

Plenty of water at the Lin Dike end of the reserve, some of it has a layer of ice on the top, which resulted in the birds gathering together on the open water.

A line of black-headed gulls on the ice. There were at least greylag and canada geese in the field to the right of this piece of water.

plus a single grey heron.

 A few of the geese were on the water with a couple of whooper swans.

Several great white egrets in the tall vegetation.

a female marsh harrier caught a male teal and landed in the grass to eat it.

Mute swans were on a piece of open water near the footpath

Mallard, teal and gadwall were keeping close to the swans to feed off some of the food that the swans dragged up from the bottom of the water.

After a while I returned to the visitor centre and went to the Pickup hide. On the way I passed the latest pond that the wardens have created. The water in front of the hide is frozen, but blue tits were visiting the sand martin nest holes, presumably for shelter.

Blue, great and coal tits, chaffinch, dunnock and goldfinches were flying back and forth to the feeders.

A pleasant couple of hours in the winter sunshine.