Monday morning i paid a visit to YWT Askham Bog. I still need marsh tit for my year list so decided to visit this reserve. Since people have been told not to feed the birds in order to help protect willow tits, the number of birds seen on the entrance path has declined. I walked around the boardwalk and then sat on one of the benches at the pond.
Lots of bird activity, but lost of them were flitting from bush to bush. Wood pigeons and black headed gulls were flying overhead while great, blue and long tailed tits went from bush to bush. Small flocks of siskins and redpolls were flying from tree top to tree top, calling as they flew. A chiifchaff sang in the warm autumn sunshine, but no sign of marsh, willow and coal tit.
Dexter cattle are used on the reserve to help control the vegetation.
Tuesday, Stuart and I decided to have a day out and visit RSPB Old Moor. One of our friends is usually there, but today he was at RSPB Blacktoft, helping with a U3A group.
After a chat with Liam in the visitor hub we made our way around the reserve, visiting every hide.
Great and lesser black backed gulls were sharing an island with herring gulls and shelduck. Lots of wigeon and i had just counted a group of 80 plus on one island when a young peregrine flew over and flushed them onto the water. From Fields Pool East hide we added black-tailed godwits, water rail and whooper swans to our day list. From the reedbed hide we saw a snipe asleep at the edge of the water.
We ended our day with a visit to Broomhill Flash.
We were the only people on site. A busy area and in next to no time we had 20 plus birds on our day list.
Lapwings were the only new bird for our list.
A pleasant day with excellent company. Next week Flamborough Migfest.
No comments:
Post a Comment