North Duffield Carrs

 

Having driven through some heavy rain showers on my way to the reserve I was relieved to be able to walk to Garganey hide not only in the dry but sunny weather. The water levels have dropped since my last visit, so more land for the waders. Despite the fact that the birds have more land on which to stand, they were all on the river side of the reserve, and none near the farm. Had they been disturbed?

Still lots of wigeon, pintail, teal, shoveler and mallard. About 30 tufted ducks, 1 goldeneye and 2 gadwall.

Wader wise there were lots of lapwings, probably about a thousand, 30 dunlin, 7 redshank, 2 ruff, 3 black-tailed godwits and 2 curlew. The curlew numbers increased to 14 just before I left the hide.

A pair of mute swans came to the bund to preen, one of them is wearing a red ring.

A pair of pintail also came onto the bund.

They soon moved when this cormorant landed near them.

A marsh harrier flew over and disturbed the birds including the waders, and 2 curlews landed on the bund.

After a couple of hours I walked back to the Geoff Smith hide.

More land around the scrape but no sign of the mute swans which looked as if they might be attempting to build a nest. A single moorhen and a pair of mallard were the only birds on the scrape. Elaine was in the hide with  her"hearing dog", and neither of us could see the usual pair of stonechats.

A hare appeared on the right hand side of the scrape.

Then another appeared on the other side of the fence, so they approached each other

had a short chase and then they went off in different directions. A pleasant 4 hours and 38 birds on my day list.

"Two Valleys"!

 My recent birdwatching has been done in two valleys. The Lower Derwent Valley and the Aire Valley, mostly at Fairburn Ings. Monday I was at North Duffield Carrs.

The water level has gone down a little since my last visit.

Birds were sheltering from the wind and were reasonably close to the hide.

No idea why this common gull decided to stay with the wigeon!

 

There are still plenty of pintails about.

Today (Tuesday), I had a meeting with Heidi at Fairburn Ings. I am leading a Specialised Heronry Experience walk on Saturday, and we did a recce this morning. As we approached the spot where we will view the herons from, we saw 10 cattle egrets.

We carefully retreated so as not to disturb them. After our meeting I spent some time birding.

The bird feeders have been put back at the Pickup hide.

Members of the tit family were looking smart as they fed.

I then drove down to the LIn Dike end of the reserve.

Not many birds on the water. Teal and wigeon were near the waters edge, a single goldeneye was at the far end of the water. A great white egret was in the field to the left of the hide.

Perhaps we might see a spoonbill on Saturday!

North Cave Wetlands

 20 of us assembled in the shelter near the "Butty Bus". Barbara, who was leading the walk welcomed everyone and then explained the route we would follow. It was a cool and cloudy day  and the forecast was for rain showers.

From the shelter we could see, great crested grebe, mallard, teal, shelduck and gadwall. In front of the east hide were Tufted duck, gadwall, shoveler and wigeon. Finches were twittering away in the tops of the trees as we approached the Maize Field feeders.

On the feeders we saw greenfinch, tree sparrow, goldfinch, chaffinch, robin, long-tailed great and blue tits, blackbirds and a female brambling. I walked away and some saw a redpoll.

The turret hide only had pochard to offer.

The trust is making improvements to the path along the northern edge of the reserve. It is usually wet and muddy, so they are  improving the draining and laying a stone path.A pair of stonechats were exploring the newly disturbed area for food.

Siskins were on the feeders along the western footpath and at the Carp Lake end, a redwing was sat in the hedge having a preen.

 After lunch we explored the part of the reserve near the new hide. A pair of goldeneye were on the lagoon and a pair of red kite were circling, possibly attracted by the dead swans.

As we returned to our cars it started to rain!

49 birds on our day list.

 

Frosty Fairburn

 Health and Safety Checks in the Aire Valley today. I had a meeting to attend and arrived early, so I had a walk around.

There had been a keen frost overnight.

Nothing at this hide so I walked along to the "Big Hole".

Just a few coots on the open stretch of water.

These photos are of the pools of water on the top of the reserve. A mixture of coot, moorhen, tufted duck, gadwall and goldeneye.

Mute swan, little and great crested grebes on this pool of water.

Looking down towards the heronry.

Some grey herons have chosen their nest site. How long before the spoonbills arrive?

Looking down to the River Aire.

The pool of water in front of Lin Dike hide.

Highland cattle with some great white egrets on the waters edge and a single cattle egret in the field with the cattle.

Lower Derwent Valley

 

Noon when I arrived at North Duffield Carrs. The sunshine had given way to cloud, but no wind. Not a bird to be seen in the set aside field. A male bullfinch flew across the path just after the Geoff Smith hide. No birds at all in the hedge or trees on my way to the garganey hide.

From the hide I saw that the birds were in roughly 3 groups. Group 1 consisting mainly of wigeon and teal were on the left hand side, grazing on the grass near the farm. Almost straight across on another grass bank were group 2, mainly canada and greylag geese.

The 3rd group were near a piece of exposed vegetation, this group was a mixture of lapwings, teal, wigeon and a few pintails.

Nothing happened, no birds moved and no new birds flew in, so after 90 minutes I left.

This is the view from the viewing platform at Thorganby, looking over West Cottingwith Ings.

Wigeon and teal grazing, while lapwings just stood. Then something disturbed the birds and they all took to the air. I could not see what had disturbed them, but birds much further over were also in the air.

I could see lapwing, golden plover and other small birds. When they eventually settled I was able to see dunlin and ruff with the other waders. The wigeon and teal resumed grazing and then one and six redshank flew in and started to feed.

A pair of stonechats were slowly getting closer as they flew from post to post along an electric fence, but they did not come close enough for a photo.

I had to meet the youngest granddaughter from school, so had to leave.

Aire Valley tomorrow. 

Nosterfield

 

Nosterfield was my chosen venue for a couple of hours of bird -watching today.

Lingham Lake from the viewing screen. It is getting increasingly difficult to see the whole area due to the growing vegetation. No wonder people are climbing the fence and going through the trees.

14 different species of birds on the water including 2 year ticks, male smew and male scaup.

As I walked to Flask Lake, a treecreeper flew across the path in front of me.I could not find the little owl in the field.

A pleasant view across Nidderdale. 

Lots of golden plover, another year tick. Lapwings were very flighty.

A few oystercatchers were with the black-headed and common gulls

.This is the view from the hide overlooking the main lake.

A few pair of wigeon were feeding close to the waters edge, along with some teal

The rest of the birds were on the far side of the water. It was good to see nearly 100 curlew, 2 black-tailed godwits, 2 redshanks and 3 ruff (my first of the year).

Lots of lapwings which kept taking to the air, but I could not see any predators.

A pleasant day out in the sunshine.

RSPB Fairburn Ings and St. Aidans

 

Called in at Fairburn Ings on my way to help at St.Aidans. At least 6 great white egrets and a cattle egret at the Lin Dike end of the reserve.

A group had booked a "Raptor" walk at St.Aidans and I was helping. Sadly the first raptor that we hoped to show them was a little owl in the compound. However, we could not find it.

Red kites slowly circled over the hillside, while a male kestrel hovered over one of the fields,

While we were watching a kingfisher perched on a nearby bush, a pair of marsh harriers were hunting over the reedbed.

As we reached the crossroads and the turning point for our walk, we watched a buzzard flying over Boyers Lake.  On our way back to the visitor centre a female marsh harrier flew over our heads.

A pleasant walk with 38 birds on our day list.