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.

North Duffield Carrs.

 

I called in at North Duffield on my way home from North Cave Wetlands. A vast amount of water. No sign of the borders of the scrape and only thin ribbons of land where the river banks are.

Despite the rain and gloom it is possible to see further back along the valley towards Thorganby. Looking through my scope I could make out the shapes of lots of geese and swans, which I presumed were whoopers.

The vegetation next to the hide has been thinned out.

I ws not surprised to see the Garganey hide was once again under water!

A few wigeon on the water and on some of the strips of land. There were large flocks of lapwings in the air.

This picture shows about a tenth of the flocks constantly flying around. A buzzard flew over and soon had an escort.

A wren was in the brambles in front of the hide.

I only spent an hour there as the light was fading fast, but I enjoyed seeing all the lapwings and had a bird list of 18, which I thought was good, given the conditions.