Daily exercise.

 Yesterday was dog sitting day and I managed a short walk on the moor. Today I decided to walk to the Railway Pond. Nice cold sunny day again.

although the sun had been shining for a while there was still a lot of frost about.

No bird song from the copse today, but a few trains

through the tunnel

across the green

along the path to the pond with some trees on either side.

a pair of bullfinches were calling and flying from tree to tree.

a few coots and mallards using the open water part of the pond. Elsewhere some silly people have thrown lots of branches etc onto the ice.

This pond is used by anglers who will not be happy if they keep "catching" twigs etc.

Part of the path around the pond is closed due to the virus, so I made my way back to the moor and walked around the perimiter.

York Minster in the distance.

as I walked around the edge I noticed some catkins

a few berries still about

still lots of apples

just as some fools have thrown branches etc onto the ice on the pond, some fool has decided to dump rubbish on the moor.

ever since the first lockdown and people went out into the countryside and nature reserves, I have seen lots of rubbish and damage done by people. We need a massive education programme to ensure that people know how to behave and we need to teach dogs how to read, so that they know when they should be on a lead.

Ist tick in lockdown 3.

 I had planned to go to Staveley, Nosterfield and Marfield in the hope of adding about 6 ticks to my year list. However now that we are in lockdown and I am only allowed out for an hour a day for exercise, not leisure or recreation, I will need to plan my walks with care.

I had to go to the doctors to drop of a repeat prescription request so decided to go to the raecourse and walk along the footpath. I parked my car near the old chocolate factory that belonged to Terrys of York.

Near there, the path joins the Selby Cycle route so I walked along there for a while.

The weather was fine, sunny but a bit cold. Quite a few people about, a lot walking dogs. 

 

A few black headed gulls on the ground looking for food. As I passed some allotments I could hear house sparrows and there were several male blackbirds also looking for food. A robin was sheltering in the hedge.

This used to be a "Law School".

The path crosses the actual racecourse and then on my right there is a small wood, which I think is called Knavesmire Wood.

It started to rain so I went into the wood for shelter and saw some long tailed tits, a new bird for my year list.

Lets hope I can be lucky on future outings, but I don't think that I will manage to get a new tick every day.

Back to the moor

 New routine again today

Looking after Cookie 3 days a week, unless Boris changes things tonight.

Had a walk on Hob Moor

a few blackbirds looking for the last berries on the bushes and a few carrion crows. Not even a wood pigeon!

East Coast Birding

 Decided to go to the coast today to try to add to my year list.

First stop was Scarborough

I walked around the harbour

a few turnstones about, then I saw a great northern diver, then a second and then a third.

Scalby Mills was my next stop.

plenty of gulls but no white winged

Scarboro Mere was my next port of call

Lots of swans which people were feeding with bread. I added goosander to my year list.

I then used my sat nav to get to Filey Dams. I expected it to take through part of Scarborough so that I could call at Holbeck and try for med gull. It took me along country lanes so I missed the chance to look gulls.

It was very windy at Filey Brigg

I added great crested grebe to my list but once again I could not find any snow buntings.

Filey Dams was where I ate my lunch.

very few birds about so after lunch I headed for Bempton.

very windy on the cliff tops. Lots of fulmars, a few herring gulls, no auks but a peregrine was stooping along the top.

this kestrel was having more luck at remaining still than I was trying to hold my camera steady!

No sign of any short eared owls, the wardens thought that the wind was too strong for them.

7 more birds on my year list.

"North" birding

 New Year Birding and I decided to visit North Cave Wetlands and then come home via North Duffield.

In the "good old days" I have been with Chris to Hartlepool area on New Years Day and I think that our record was 77 birds in the day. Hartlepool is "out of bounds" at the moment as it is in tier4.

I was surprised that I did not have to scrape ice off my car windscreen and the car display was reading 4 degrees. However by the time that I reached North Cave the temperature had fallen to 1 degree. Dryham Lane was like a sheet of ice and it was difficult to stand up. Even dogs were finding it hard to stay upright!

I started my walk through the entrance near the road. I could not see any birds from either the East or Turret hides. A few chaffinches were on the feeders, but there were not many birds about, no doubt due to the cold conditions.

From the next hide I could see lots of gulls standing on the ice.

Further along the path, a small party of siskins were busily feeding in the alder trees. My list was slowly increasing. Blackbirds, blue tits and robins were busy at the feeding station.

I did not go into Crossland Hide as the birds on the lagoon were closer to the road than the hide. On the stretch of open water were mute swans, black swan, canada geese, mallard, teal, gadwall, shoveler and wigeon.

A pair of bullfinches were working their way down the hedge. Lots of blackbirds were feeding on the berries in the hedgerow and this redwing.

a bit further down the hedge this squirrel was also eating the berries.

I don't know who was most surprised when I looked through the "window" in the next viewing screen!

South hide had no birds on view

The weather changed quite quickly giving the area a bit of atmosphere at times.

I was back at my car and completed my list. 35 birds, not a bad start. The reserve was now very busy so I decided to go to North Duffield. On my way I added 4 more to my list.

The car park was empty at North Duffield, which is always nice to see at this special time.

As I walked along the path, I could see lots of lapwings and winter thrushes in the field on my left.

When I got into the hide and looked out of the windows I was surprised to see very few birds.

perhaps is was the weather conditions or was it the shooting party?

On the bund in front of the hide I could see a few lapwings, redshank and dunlin.

As I sat and ate my lunch the weather kept changing

One minute it was raining then sunshine.

A fieldfare landed in the field on my left looking for food.

A pair of stonechats were looking for food in the reedbeds, while at the riverside of the reserve 2 marsh harriers were hunting. There was a mixture of gulls standing on the ice, while a few ducks and swans were on the river.

A sparrowhawk flew past the hide, which was the seventh bird I added to my list, which then stood at 46.

I came home via Bank Island where I added buzzard and house sparrow to my list to bring the total to 

48 for the day, a good start to the year in the circumstances.