Birding Dad

Poppy gulls

2012-02-05T08:57:00.000-08:00

Quick look in the snow today at Poppleton, revealed the adult Iceland Gull with c300 large gulls. The flock was flushed by a pair of Buzzards and the Iceland Gull flew past at close range in gorgeous light, lit from underneath by the light reflecting off the snow. No sign of the Great Grey Shrike down at Copmanthorpe, though 6 Grey Partridges was notable. Moor Lane Pond was frozen, apart from a small patch which held the usual 50 Tufties.

The Iceland preening - far right of group.

An ill wind doth blow

2012-01-22T03:50:00.000-08:00

Well, it is pretty ill when it is blowing off a landfill site straight in your face. Spent an hour freezing to death and watching gulls on Harewood Whin landfill site at Rufforth. Highlight was the adult Iceland Gull that dropped in for less than a minute before vanishing. A probable first winter Yellow-legged Gull was seen before it too disappeared by walking out of sight. Also present was a Herring Gull with a lot of white in the coverts (top photo). The gulls were very skittish and together with Russ, we gave up and headed for Poppleton, but sadly viewing here was impossible due to light and the fact all the gulls were facing us and alseep. Earlier, 50 Tufted Ducks on Moor Lane Pond and 3 Teal.

Winger over Bish

2012-01-21T12:46:00.000-08:00

I've always thought I should be able to find something among the hordes of gulls passing over on their way to of from Harewood Whin landfill and Wheldrake Ings, and finally this morning it happened, when a fine adult Iceland Gull was picked up over the Iron Bridge heading west with two Great Black-backs. Thanks to the strong westerly wind, the bird made slow progress, allowing me to soak up this bird as it careered into the wind, in front of the trees, showing off it's nice white primary tips, over the Ings and off over Keble Park. Fantastic. Madly, out of all the gulls that are using the landfill site (several thousand), I had only seen about ten this morning before this flew over.

Wheldrake Ings 15th January

2012-01-15T11:22:00.000-08:00

Two visits today, this morning helping to show visitors the ducks and then this afternoon in a flying visit to twitch Tim Jones' Caspian Gull. This morning was very cold c-3c, with the Ings looking stunning, frosting twinkling in the sunshine and c100 Pink-footed Geese went over high north at 9.30am. Two patches of unfrozen water remained. One on the pool held one drake Goldeneye and one Ruff, among the commoner ducks. A Chiffchaff called from willows by the hide. Further out, the injured Whooper Swan was around, plus 21 Shelduck.

This afternoon a text from Tim alerted me to the reappearance of the Caspian Gull he found yesterday. Things were defrosting a little when I got there, and the Caspian Gull was being grilled by Tim, Chris and Jack on arrival. A classic first-winter with 45degree stance on long pale flesh legs, with a small head and long pale-based bill and long wings. A tiny amount of smudging around the eye on an otherwise white head, set off by a neatly marked nape shawl. There appeared to be a number of second generation pale grey scapulars, plus solid dark brown tertials with only a hint of a pale edge. This bird sports a yellow darvic ring, though distance prevented the code being read. A bit after 3.30, the bird headed off high to the south with other gulls, presumably to roost on the Humber.

Not a rough-leg

2012-01-14T13:15:00.000-08:00

On Sunday, during the bird race, John B saw a Buzzard from Bank Island looking north towards Cheesecake Farm. He took a couple of record shots. The bird had pale breast and head, bright white Goshawk-like undertail coverts and a square black belly patch, sharpy demarcated from the pale areas. The upperparts appeared solidly dark, with no white on the coverts or mantle like in many 'pale' Common Buzzards. Later, we got brief views of the bird sitting on a hedge before flying off. In the brief flight view I was disappointed with the tail which appeared not to be Rough-leg like.

On Tuesday, I was in the area enjoying the wildlife spectacle that is Wheldrake Ings (21 Shelducks, 23 Pink-feet - see photos below) and I thought I should see if the buzzard was about. I popped into Bank Island and saw the bird in the same spot. This time, it was sitting side on and slightly closer and identified it as a Common Buzzard, due to structure (tail longer than wings, no shaggy trousers, large prominent bill, not particularly long wings in flight etc) and plain brown upper tail colouration -see photo. It is interesting that a Rough-legged Buzzard was reported in flight within a mile of this location a couple of weeks earlier, presumably this bird.

Click Here for a Rough-leg I found near Yarmouth a couple of years ago.

Pinks and Shelducks

Wildlife Spectacle - The effect of the canon going off...

colder

2012-01-14T11:46:00.000-08:00

Had a look at the almost frozen Acaster Ings. 11 Dunlin, a Ruff, 7 Wigeon and 2 Gadwall noted. These are all good species for here, so pretty happy. Tree spugs still down by the allotments and a dogwalker said there had been waxwings at Brunswick Nursery in November.

The Mike Clegg BirdRace 2012 - the real story Part one

2012-01-10T13:38:00.000-08:00

As I traipsed through the dark along a muddy riverbank with three sombre blokes trying to flush a usually common, but of late (well, today) a very elusive bird, I did begin to wonder that I should have taken up surfing

At 7am I answered the phone to an amazingly calm John saying that he had had a blow out in his truck on the A1. Yuk! Poor bloke and not the best start to his day or the teams' birdrace. With short days and short attention spans, time is key so losing an hour or so wouldn't be good, especially when John was our Johnny Marr and we needed him to find all the good stuff.

As a valid team member myself, naturally I headed out to pin down some difficult species before Russ and Andy came to pick me up as I floundered helpless or rather, transportless in Bish. In reality, I decided to have a nap and a cup of tea. On realising this would look a bit naff, I downed the cuppa and headed down the river, where I soon met up with the guys and the race was on!

Sadly, Russ hadn't washed the landy. Don't you know image is everything here in posh Bish?!

Andy on the landy

We were all over some difficult birds early on - Kingfisher, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Goosander and our only Pochard of the day, hanging with the Tufties down on Church Ings. Failed to persuade Russ and Andy that we could go back to mine for a brew, so we headed down to Askham Bog for some Woodcock and Tit action.

Despite my inability to identify calling Willow Tit (far easier than a non-calling Willow Tit) one metre from my head (that noise was my birding cred evaporating) was rectified a little by flushing a Woodcock from the exact spot where I said it would be. A quick drop into Moor Lane Pond revealed the sought Great Crested Grebe and a lot of odd glances from papershop-heading locals - and another Goosander (I really should check this spot more often). I attempted to tempt the guys with Tesco's cafe but they had wills of iron, so instead we headed into the vale looking for partridges, buntings and 'hammers, generally with great success. However, our tour of the York area's sewage treatment works began, with a rewarding visit to Naburn's plant, which stank and did not hold a Grey Wagtail. This site really was the mother of all sewage works, although the beauty at Elvington came a close second.

We did fairly well in the countryside, less well in Escrick Park, though a briefly calling Nuthatch gave itself up somewhere in the slums (joke) of Escrick village. If Russ hadn't have been checking his Facebook page again, he might have even heard it himself! By now, JB had got to Bank Island and was in full flow, nailing Marsh Harrier, Grey Wag and even a possible Rough-legged Buzzard near the oddly-named Cheesecake Farm (though we couldn't count any of these for the list). We, on the other hand were struggling to identify geese in the middle of nowhere, along the Escrick - Wheldrake road. We named them as everything, before John rang to inform us of their identity.

Shortly after 8.30, well, 11.15, the LDV race team finally came together. We were doing well, with some good species under our belt. The 'String Quartet' (Ollie Metcalf, Tim Jones, Chris Gomersall, Jack Ashton-Booth) informed us that they were having a belting time, and seemed to be just ahead of us in terms of species they had seen. And I think looks might have been on their side too...

From L to R: Andy Walker, Jono Leadley, John Beaumont, Russell Slack

We briefly saw John's cheesecake buteo which face-on looked pretty good for a rough-leg, being very pale with a sharply-demarcated solid black belly. Nice one. Sadly, when it flew the tail just wasn't right. It cleared off and we had to leave it. The Grey Wag put in another appearance flying on to Wheldrake sewage works (next to Bank Island) but Andy was checking his ample beard out and I was trying not to get run over by some Sunday birders and so only Russ and John connected. Hurrah, we would have to visit some more sewage works!

Off we pootled round the LDV checking out our well-reccied sites* (* not at all) for Jack Snipe (missed), various geese (not there) and a total of 34 different sewage works and 19 canal lock systems for Grey Wagtail. Sadly, the Grey Wagtail plague has clearly killed them all and we found nothing. Highlight was getting the 4 wheel drive landy stuck in a field. Oops.

I was anxiously wanting to get back on the 'right' side of the valley (the west side) and back to Wheldrake Ings, where I knew our list would get a good boost. However, I hadn't counted on the LDV duck hit squad being out with their canon and consequently once on site we realised that everything I had seen here yesterday had flown to Lancashire. So, no Redshank, no Golden Plover, no Curlew - sorry, there was some Curlew - and no Goldeneye - at least not until dusk anyway. Things began to hit a spirit ditch and we were all feeling pretty glum, having been confident we could really get a good total. This was exacerbated by the young 'uns who by now had beaten the previous record of 86 and were rapidly approaching 90! Doh! Good on them though we all agreed, and there was no note of sour grapes on our part at all. Oh no, none...

It was left to eagle-eyed Walker to pull a couple of really unexpected and equally scarce LDV Short-eared Owls out of the bag to lift our spirits. Great views, followed moments later by a Barn Owl, then a calling Tawny Owl, then a squealing Water Rail (which could have actually been the noise made by long-abandoned stomach). The race was back on!

It got dark. Still no Redshank. We joked about whether we could tick Goldeneye on their distinctive wing-noise. Moments later, the whistling wing noise of passing Goldeneye helped us make the right decision! We ran into the Pool Hide where Andy and Russ were pointing into the gloom. Modern bins are fantastic and I could make out the white bodies and black heads of a pair of drake Goldeneye and could even hear their excited calls as they displayed to some unseen females. Nice! A quick tally and we were on 90! Awesome. Radio silence from now on lads. Our friends and rivals had called it a day on 90, despite still having a chance with Water Rail to get to 91. We still had a chance of Redshank in the dark on Thorganby river bank and Little Owl surely was a dead cert in the lanes around the area. So 92 was possible and a glorious victory to boot!

Round and round the lanes we drove, Andy burning the retinas out of dog walkers, their dogs, rabbits and passing motorists, with a second world war searchlight. Bemused farmers and passers by must have assumed we were lamping - for squirrels. Despite the perfect conditions, the hordes of Little Owls that usually terrorise the worms and beetles in these parts had agreed to all have a lie-in and we failed to get even a sniff. So we decided to try walking the River Derwent bank to try and flush a Redshank.

Birdracing is wierd as despite being incredibly aware of the passing of time and the loss of daylight,
your complete focus really affects your sense of reality and by dark, it felt like 10pm, rather than 5.30pm.

As I walked through the dark, I reflected on what a great day I had had with a bunch of people I didn't really know until recently and what camaraderie and fun we had shared, despite numerous set backs in pursuit of a bunch of birds. I was thrilled that we had got such a good total, but frustrated knowing we could have easily got 5 or 6 more, had we have been a little luckier. Surely 100 must be possible in the York area in January? And the good thing about all this is the money will help pay for some conservation work at a local birding site - great. So we all shook hands and went our separate ways. A great day and some cracking birding at some great sites and in great company. Who said birding sucked?

And we never did find a Redshank along that riverbank...

Immigration from outside the EU 'linked to UK jobless ducks'

2012-01-10T13:26:00.000-08:00

The government's official advisers onmigration say there is a link between immigration from outside the EuropeanUnion and job losses among UKducks.

The Migration Advisory Committee saidthere were 23 fewer UKduck jobs for every 100 migrants from outside the EU.

But a separate report from the NationalInstitute of Economic and Social Duck Research (NIESDR) says immigration has had littleimpact and couldn’t really understand why diving ducks, such as common pochardand tufted duck would be having such a serious effect. As for the thousands ofcoot that arrive in the UKfrom the Ukraine,NIESR officials were unwilling to comment.

The government said it was working toreduce net migration.

The Migration Advisory Committee (Mac) estimates160,000 British-born ducks have been "displaced" following non-EUimmigration between 1995 and 2010.

The impact and displacement of British ducksdoes not last forever, it found.

Poor old Ben

2012-01-07T06:19:00.001-08:00

This made me laugh on the iron bridge at Naburn...

Bish floods

2012-01-07T05:48:00.002-08:00

7 Goosanders on the floods at Bishopthorpe Ings this morning. 12 flew over Keble Park at dawn yesterday.

RSPB faux pas

2012-01-07T05:48:00.000-08:00

Slightly in poor taste to see the RSPB advertising it's garden birdwatch with a tabby cat, possibly one of the biggest predators of garden birds and other wildlife going!

Start of another

2012-01-02T13:05:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year 2012 y'all.
Customary family trip to Filey on New Year's Day marred only by shocking heavy rain and poor quality chips, but top drawer fun anyhoo. Didn't get chance to do any birding though there was a Great Crested Grebe on the sea off the Coble Landing.

Headed to Blacktoft Sands with me Dad this afternoon for the roost. 70 Pink-feet flew high over the A64 by Bish on the way out at about 12.30. Blacktoft was absolutely heaving with huge-camera-toting dudes as expected: couldn't get in Singleton Hide three hours before the roost - so headed to Xerox. Dad comically had forgotten his bins so he borrowed some off the warden - the RaSPBerries have it all covered -nice one!

13 Marsh Harriers and a ringtail Hen came in by 4pm, but the highlight was two skeins of geese that came over. The first consisted of 30 White-fronts and 4 Tundra Beans heading west - see photo. Later, 70+ White-fronts went south along the river. Despite me calling them, nobody in the hide - apart from me Dad- seemed particularly bothered and they all looked a little surprise when I grabbed my scope and legged it out of the hide for a better view. Also seen, a Stonechat, c1000 Golden Plovers, and two Barnacle Geese flew east down the Humber.

End of a year

2012-01-02T12:54:00.000-08:00

Jack Snipe and 3 Snipe on Bishy Ings on 30th December. Spent New Year's Eve morning at Wheldrake Ings and then at Harewood Whin tip. Nothing unusual, 53 Whooper Swans, 10 Ruff, 10 Curlew, 20+ Dunlin and 2 Willow Tits at Wheldrake, nothing rare at the tip, though gulls showing well at times.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-23T06:46:00.001-08:00

Merry Christmas everybody.
Had a few bits round Bishopthorpe in the last week:
Jack Snipe flushed from floods, Woodlark flew over calling on Wednesday and this morning a Water Pipit was flying around near the sewage works.

York area birding - Sunday 3rd December

2011-12-04T09:18:00.001-08:00

18 White-fronted Geese were still present with Greylags and two Egyptian Geese just north of Elvington this morning. Also, 14 Whooper Swans flew over high south. Nearby, a male Peregrine flew south at Wheldrake Ings, where three Whooper Swans loafed, plus ten Pintail on the pool. Still no floods! When will it rain? On to Castle Howard, c20 Goldeneye and a Brambling were the only birds of note.

West Yorkshire Birding

2011-12-03T13:00:00.001-08:00

Headed west with me Dad this arvo and started by dipping the Mirfield Ring-billed Gull for the second successive winter. I later found out that it is usually only here first thing. A drake Mandarin was the only bird of note, plus a Little Grebe on the river. Highlight was too guys who did an amazing powerslide round the corner in a big BMW and nearly ended up in the river.
On to Anglers CP to look for the reported Lesser Scaup. No sign of this, but we did bump into a fine American Wigeon, presumably the same that has been at the nearby Wintersett Res recently. A smart drake. Also present, a slightly nervous-looking Ruddy Duck (wondering where all its mates have gone) - the first I have seen in ages, 11 Goosander and several Goldeneye.

Tundra comes to Elvington

2011-11-27T12:16:00.001-08:00

After another disappointing visit to Castle Howard yesterday morning, whereby the highlight was covering the car in mud, a gratefully-received text from Russ Slack lightened my mood as it proclaimed he had found 2 Tundra Bean Geese in a field near Elvington, with 2 Pink-feet and a White-front.

After lunch, we headed up there to find a huge goose flock feeding in winter wheat near the waterworks. I soon picked up a family group of White-fronts in the nearest Greylags -nice - and then more. So, some more birds had arrived! Two birds sleeping at the back of the field looked good for the Tundras, but they were facing me, so I could not be sure. I continued to scan, picking up two Pink-footed Geese and two Egyptian Geese among the hordes of Greylags and Canadas. Failing to find any more likely candidates, I switched my attention back to the original suspects. After a few minutes, one bird suddenly stood up, revealing smart white edgings to tertials and scaps, a fairly long orange bill and best of all, bright orange legs. It's mate woke up too and soon the pair started to wander about grazing the crop. It was really interesting to compare these Tundras to the Taigas which in the last few years I have become far more familiar with. The birds were clearly smaller and shorter-necked, with smaller bills. Altogether the appearance was of a dark, brown Pink-footed Goose, with orange bare parts, and browner plumage, with the white fringing to the upperparts being quite distinctive. Certainly nothing like the big, bulky, long-necked Taigas of the Yare Valley. So the total count was c300 Greylags, 100 Canadas, 2 Tundra Bean, 2 Pink-footed 13 White-fronted Geese and 2 Egyptian Geese.

Below: Tundra Bean Geese (top) and White-fronts.

More Fog

2011-11-22T12:15:00.001-08:00

Went to Castle Howard Sunday morning, but annoyingly the pesky fog stayed all day so the hordes of geese I was looking for stayed just out of view in the murk. Saw a handful of Bramblings feeding on mast under the beeches and several Goldeneye.

The Fog

2011-11-10T12:15:00.001-08:00

Worked at Spurn in the morning, covering the gate for a few hours. Lots of migrants heading south early on, c100 Tree Sparrows, small parties of Chaffinches, one Brambling, and four Mistle Thrushes heading north. Two Chiffchaffs around the Warren, one of which looked very brown and grey, a bit Tristis like, but my views weren't good enough to be anywhere near sure. Barry and Toby appeared with a fine imm male Sparrowhawk at one point they'd caught, which was nice to see, apart from when Barry just let go of it without warning and it nearly took my head off!
The fog rolled in late morning and migration stopped. Had a quick walk at the point at lunch and saw the Woodlark feeding with Redwings and Chaffinches on the football pitch, looking a bit dishevelled, but a fine bird nevertheless. Lots of Robins on the road on the way back to the Warren and plenty of Blackies on the road around Kew.

To twitch or not to twitch

2011-11-05T08:09:00.000-07:00

It is always a shock to find several text messages, missed calls and emails on my phone late afternoon, and once I had had a look I realised that Andy Gibson had found an Isabelline Wheatear at YWT Spurn. Doh! No chance of me getting there before dark, so will just have to change my plans for the morning and head down the Humber. During the evening I began to get real pangs of doubt about going for this cracking Yorkshire rare. I had planned to go to Flamborough in the hope of finding a Sibe Accentor. Joining the crowds at Spurn certainly wouldn't help this.

Anyway, by the time I got up at 6am, I had decided that the Izzy was a bird I really should make the effort for. Shortly, I arrived at a murky Spurn and was ushered into a space by Andy, who had already texted me to say the bird was still showing along the Humber shore. I bumped into Tony Martin with his mate Mark, and we strolled up the road. We soon arrived at the scene, spotting Tim Jones and Chris Gomersall who I had planned to travel with already watching the bird. We quickly got on the bird, which was feeding energetically on the beach. What a cracker!

Even at a distance and in the early morning light, this bird looked great, very pale, upright with a stand out black alula, pale wing coverts and tertials, white fore-super and amazingly long black legs. The tail which was mostly black with white base-sides, was wagged forcibly, a bit like a Pied Wagtail. After a while, the bird took flight, looped round the line of birders on the beach and landed nearer the Warren. We moved position and the three of us on a hunch decided that if we hung way back from the line of advancing scopes, if the bird was flushed it may well return to where it started. A little while later, a car flushed the bird from between the opposing ranks of birders and sure enough, the bird looped round over the saltmarsh - underwings and general overall bird looking very pale in flight against the dark Humber mud and dropped on the shore 20 metres away, where the three of us got our closest views. Soon the other birders arrived and the Wheatear moved further up the shore again. It seemed this cat and mouse game would continue, so having had some belting views, we decided to go off and look for our own stuff.

My temporary 'scope aint that good for digiscoping! Also, I managed to bust my bins today too. What is it with me, Spurn and optics? Some awesome shots were taken by Ian Smith yesterday - here

Hordes of Redwings, Fieldfares and Blackbirds were coming in off, along with several Woodcock, a couple of Snow Bunts and a Brambling. Others reported Twite, Lap Bunts and a Short-eared Owl. A walk round the triangle was enjoyable and full of birds, but no other rares showed up. Tony and Mark headed for Sammy's Point, and I did a spell on the gate. At 11.20 I decided I best get back, so despite the fantastic birding to be had, I headed back west, to York.

Redwings. Everywhere.

Wheldrake, I've missed you

2011-10-21T12:11:00.000-07:00

Work visit to the Ings today with a potential funder. No water yet, so 14 Whooper Swans on the Refuge was a nice surprise. A huge flock of c500 Fieldfare near Swantail, plus a Willow Tit. Not much else going on.

A visit to Filey last weekend revealed very little except 14 Purple Sands on the Brigg and a late Arctic Tern.

Oh and I am glad I went for the Castle Howard Fudge - it left the following day and presumably is the bird that has turned up at Calder Valley.

A Stonechat at Spurn.

Nyroca rocks

2011-10-16T08:54:00.000-07:00

Twitched a Ferruginous Duck found by Dave Richardson at Castle Howard this afternoon. A fine drake, with pure white wingbars and undertail coverts, pale eye, nice black bill nail, solid dark upperparts and rich chestnut head and breast, concolorous with flanks. Dark rear border to flanks setting off white undertail nicely. White belly patch noted when the bird roll-preened. A smart bird, though very active which made it tricky to pick up at first. Also noted, Russ Slack and Ollie Metcalfe, plus c30 Tufties, c50 Wigeon and a Chiffchaff. Despite Russ giving me a go with his scope - I'm using an old Kowa at the mo - I failed to get any decent pics, though one does illustrate the wingbars nicely.

Go East

2011-10-15T11:34:00.000-07:00

So whilst everyone else was dipping the Rufous-tailed Robin, we packed up the kids and headed east to Filey.

The day was stunning and we had a great time exploring the rockpools on the Brig. Not many birds present though a late Arctic Tern was roosting on the Brig, along with 14 Purple Sandpipers. Up Long Lane I could only find a Chiffchaff, though a Sparrowhawk nearly took my head off and nailed a Blackie literally feet from me, which screamed horribly.

Last night was Autumnwatch at last. The team had done a great job and Spurn looked fantastic. My moment on national TV was slightly surreally pishing into a heligoland trap...

One good bird...

2011-10-13T11:33:00.000-07:00

A fun few days spent at YWT Spurn with the BBC Autumnwatch team. The obvious benefit of this was I got to spend a fair bit of time at Spurn, in peak season. Don't forget to watch - 8.30pm on BBC2 this Friday.
Here are the highlights:

6-7 October
Not much going on though 6 Barnacle Geese in from the north along with hundreds of Pinkfeet was nice. A Barn Owl was a Spurn tick for me, plus a couple of Bramblings.

9 October
Not sure what influence the weather had as the wind was still southwesterly, but the appearance of low cloud and occasional spots of rain really upped the migrant stakes, particularly in the afternoon, when hordes of Skylarks, Redwings and Song Thrushes, plus a few Blackies and Fieldfares came in off the sea. An Arctic Skua and Short-eared Owl also put in appearances at the Warren. Sadly, the Red-throated Pipit that flew over Chalk Bank late morning didn't stick. Disaster however struck when my scope blew over and broke the tripod fixing and damaged the zoom. Oops! Shortly my spirits were raised when the Obs trapped a stonking Hawfinch at Kew and I managed to scramble the BBC crew in time to film this monster. My second east coast Hawfinch in a week.

Better was to come though! Andy and me accompanied part of the team with Michaela Strachan to do a short piece of film near the lighthouse. We parked up and walked north to meet them.

As we walked through the marram, a bird got up almost at our feet. It called once explosively "pseee"- I shouted "Red-throated Pipit!" and to my relief, Andy immediately agreed. The bird looped round showing white, boldly striped underparts, and then landed on the ridge next to the road. Andy put the news out on the radio, but got no response. Surely somebody was still on channel?!

Michaela came over and was keen to see the bird, so we walked down the road to where it landed. I set my camcorder running just in case and walked towards where we thought it had dropped. Sure enough, the bird took flight again at close quarters, called once and headed south towards the car park where it dropped again into the marram. Amazingly, I managed to capture the bird on film and even better, you can hear the call!

Shortly, a convoy of cars screeched up unloading many of the Spurn locals, to my relief. After a little walk the bird showed again in flight, this time calling several times, before returning to it's original location. This was a Yorkshire tick for me and even a Spurn tick for some of the gathered birders, so all went away happy.

And here is the video - look and listen carefully. The wind noise makes the call a little harsher than it sounded in reality, but you can just about make it out.

10 October

Not much of note!

Lastly thanks to Andy and Reenie for putting me up, and to all the Spurn guys, especially Ian, Paul, Adam, and Andy et al for all their hospitality.

East Coast Weekender #5: Birthday boy

2011-10-04T13:21:00.000-07:00

Up and at 'em early - it was my birthday - and was soon enjoying a beer on Chalk Bank for breakfast. Following this, the sky filled with Wheatears, as a fall happened. We counted over 50 around Chalk Bank, including 14 sitting on one patch of rocks on the beach and six in a line on the telegraph wires. Crazy!

We then went to Sammy's Point where yet more Wheatears greeted us, with at least 32 in the horse paddock and 12 in the adjacent field. I checked every one, but sadly the Black-eared wasn't playing ball.

After a snack, we popped into Canal Scrape, which lasted literally two seconds as the radio crackled 'Whiskered Tern off the Narrows'. Yikes! We scrambled into the car and shot down there. I was soon on the Little Gull flock and picked up a Black Tern. Reg then had a look through the scope, and we both decided we couldn't see the bird so headed up the track to see if the others were on it. After a bit of confusion it turned out the 'black tern' was the reported Whiskered. The views were not great against the bright sky, but the bird looked all dark, with white ffrom the throat down the belly and round it's neck. This didn't look like a Whiskered, but also looked wierd for Black Tern. Then Adam Hutt cleared it up stating 'it's an American Black Tern!' Soon an Arctic Skua barrelled in flushing the flock high into the sky. Although they returned, the tern never came as close, being very distant, so I couldn't get any more on it.

This was quite a surreal end to a fantastic four day weekend. The Sandhill Crane never did fly on to my list, but great birding in great places with great company more than made up for it. Thanks to Richard at Flamborough and Andy/Adam at Spurn for sorting us radios and Kat and Craig for putting us up/up with us!
And a good bird finally came my way...

East Coast Weekender #4: Spurn

2011-10-04T13:06:00.000-07:00

After an awesome time at Flamborough, where else could come up to the mark? Spurn, of course. We headed south, taking in the delights of Hornsea Mere, where we failed to connect with the lingering Pec Sand, making do with a sprightly Common Sand with surprisingly yellow legs...

Arriving at Spurn was something of a culture shock. Birders were everywhere, along with cars, radios and sea buckthorn. Had a mooch round Chalk Bank away from the crowds, but failed to see anything other than three confiding Bramblings. The news was that the Spurn Pallid Swift had been trashed on photo analysis. So how soon til the same happened to our bird? Surely not!

A recovering Reg and me smelt pie on the breeze, so soon found ourselves in the Crown and Anchor for tea. A few pints later and back to the obs for sleep, or in my case lying on my back in a smelly dorm listening to competitive snoring.

East Coast Weekender #3: Eyes on the Skies for the Prize!

2011-10-04T13:00:00.000-07:00

Dawn came round too quickly and I found myself pointing and muttering 'Hawfinch' to anyone listening. An excited Craig Thomas saying 'where, where?' woke me up and we soon enjoyed cracking views of the brute sitting atop the Old Fall hedgerow. A fine start!

Migrants were much in evidence, with four then two Crossbills flying west overhead amid the cacophony of Siskins and Redpolls. Chiffchaffs flitted ahead of us along the hedge and Redstarts scolded our progress. The Yellow-browed Warbler gave itself up more quickly, this time on the northside of the plantation and showing for several minutes. A smart, if dull bird, with little tertial edging, but a couple of fine wingbars and a whopping supercilium. On round the head revealed a Whinchat and a Wheatear perched in the so-called motorway hedge. Then unforgettably, Craig said 'get on this swift'. I lifted my bins to see two swifts coming across the field in front of us sunlit against a dark sky. The first, remarkably was sandy brown, with two tone wings, a dark saddle and huge white throat patch. Blimey! I said 'this has got to be a Pallid!' Reg came running back saying 'that's a Pallid Swift'. So we were all in agreement. The pair came past at close range, fairly leisurely, allowing us to check the features off one by one, with the added bonus of a Common Swift close by for comparison. After a minute or so, they headed off high into the bright sky over Bridlington Bay, leaving us shocked and elated.

After a brief conflab, Craig tried to hail the others on the CB, but this didn't work, so he legged it over to the fog horn station to alert the seawatchers. On his way to the head, he bumped into Ashley Saunders who apparently had independently seen the bird and agreed with the identification. Fortunately, the two swifts reappeared in front of the swelling throng and performed well for the next hour before being lost to view at 11am, during which time I managed a little bit of poor video. Meanwhile, news came through that another Pallid Swift was at Spurn...

Craig had to dash off to chair a meeting - unfortunate timing. Reg and me celebrated with a cup of tea and then decided to do Holme's Gut. Even more birds than yesterday for sure, but still no rare.

It was time to head for Spurn...

East Coast Weekender #2: Reg got leathered

2011-10-04T12:48:00.000-07:00

No sooner had I been dropped off in York, than Kat was picking me up to take me back out there. This time to Muston, where we had a fine curry with friends. Reg had arrived 15 minutes early and had sunk three pints of strong cider on an empty stomach. Sadly, his fine curry was enjoyed more than once, much to the surprise of our hostess. Reg decided air was called for, only to be returned by the neighbourhood watch 20 minutes later, having been found lying in an alley. This maybe the most exciting thing to happen in Muston in ten years. Unfortunately for Reg, he had done his shoulder in whilst falling over, limiting his bins wielding activity for the rest of the weekend.

On to Filey Dams, a YWT reserve which had changed a lot in the last 15 years, where a Bar-wit (good record?) and a couple of Ruff, sadly were not hanging out with a Solitary Sand today.

Flamborough beckoned and we were soon enjoying the cover in Old Fall, where the Yellow-browed Warbler still evaded us. A Pied Flycatcher and Redstart encouraged us to linger, and shortly the Phyllosc started calling like a mad man, allowing us to finally locate it in the southern willows. Smart. Interestingly, this bird would intersperse it's usual call with occasional monosyllables, which heard alone could have been confusing.

At lunchtime, Redwings started to drop in out of the sky; wierd on such a fine day. It is exhillarating to see these flocks come in off the sea and pitch up in a hedge. You can almost feel their relief and joy at having survived crossing the North Sea non-stop and being greeted by fine weather and berry-stuffed hedges. Great! A Pied Fly was new in by the lighthouse too:

We hooked up with Craig Thomas and headed round the northside. Whinchat and Wheatear near Thornwick, plus a plethora of Redwings and Song Thrushes in Holme's Gut suggested better was to come, despite the heat. And it was; the Rose and Crown, for fine ales and chats.

East Coast Weekender #1: Wild crane chase

2011-10-04T12:34:00.000-07:00

Friday 30 September 2011:
Like many birders, I took an emergency day off with the prospect of a migrating Sandhill Crane following the Yorkshire coast. Sadly, the crane took exception to the vampire activity in Whitby, and flew west in a hurry, to escape the wierd goth types. The bird then flew straight over the cracking new YWT hide at North Cave Wetlands*, over the whale-fest that is the Humber, straight round Lincolnshire, across Dudesville, sorry, Norfolk and into Suffolk, where it decided to ditch (*probably). Anyhoo, had a lovely morning with Birding Dad Senior, dipping Craig Thomas's Old Fall Yellow-brow, but pulling out a Redstart instead. The weather was burgeoning on tropical, the scenery of the Great White Cape stunning and the company great. A sprinkling of migrants around, notably six Lapland Bunts at North Marsh and one at Old Fall.

The Great White Cape

More buzzards

2011-09-26T11:18:00.000-07:00

Spurn with work, highlight being a fine Clouded Yellow by the Warren. One Wheatear came in off and thanks to the Obs guys, nice views of Lesser Redpoll and Tree Spug in the hand. A couple of Buzzards seen, with the lads having 10 over Sammy's Point at lunchtime.

Buteo

2011-09-24T05:29:00.000-07:00

Two raptors spiralling over the estate this morning got me running for the bins mid-child-dressing, and shorly I was enjoying two common buzzards thermalling. Sadly not honeys, but a nice garden tick. How times have changed. I don't think I saw a single Buzzard in the York area in my first 19 years of birding round here. They are all over the place now.

Birding is cool

2011-09-21T13:50:00.000-07:00

Just been reading Richard Bonser's blog post where he worries that birding is less cool than surfing. You're so wrong mate! Birding is incredibly cool. What other pursuit can you do wherever you are (obviously outdoors) and whenever? You need little equipment, little skill (though increasing both definitely increases enjoyment for some!) and absolutely no neoprene. Also, birders tend to be massively less pretentious, though I suspect true surfers are too busy surfing to worry about their image and it's the wannabes that let the side down.In reality, surfing and birding have a lot in common. Surfers waiting for the perfect wave are no different from birders seeking the big rare find. Keen birders hang out in fantastic landscapes all over the world - just like surfers, though we go for much more diversity. And we all get drawn to the coast at certain times of the year and in certain weather conditions!

The issue with birding's 'coolness' is that whereas all surfers are seen by non-surfers as 'cool', all birders tend to be regarded as old men in khaki hanging about in wooden boxes. This is a myth perpetuated by the media and also not helped by birding's self-appointed spokesmen who do the reputation of birders and birding no good whatsoever.

When I read a lot of the 'cutting edge' birders' blogs etc and hear the stories of the older generations exploits when they were young in search of birds and new birding, they can only be described as cool, and very comparable to, and possibly even cooler than any surfing tale I've heard. In reality the vast majority of surfers are the equivalent of dude birders or beginner birders who claim to be surfers, but perhaps only do it every now and again. I doubt many have taken the whole lifestyle choice, particularly in this country, although a lot of wannabe surfers would like you to think they have!
Birders - and by that I mean serious birders out there patching, exploring, finding stuff - are the most committed people I know and many of them live their dream. For the rest of us though, who have opted for/been lucky enough to secure job-mortgage-marriage-kids, we live the dream in our minds and on the occasions where we can escape the shackles of the day to day life, rekindle our birding passion. Nevertheless for those of us in this situation, we are still absorbed in this passion round the clock one way or another - writing blogs for instance...

But why is birding cool? As birders we share many things, we find ourselves..

Hanging out in stunning, remote locations, often by the coast.
Sensing the weather.
Being in tune with the patterns of nature, the intricacies of the lives of thousands of species.
Living in rough conditions.
Being switched on to environmental and nature conservation issues.
Travelling light.
Sharing the killer moment with your mates.
Feeling immense cameraderie with our mates, yet thriving on solitude.

And birds are inherently cool too!

It just depends whether you give a shit what other people think of you. If you are happy and birding gives you a buzz, however much you do it, or are into it, then it is cool. If you worry about what others think of you and worry that the hobby you have is uncool, then it is maybe because you are uncool! Richard, although I suspect you will never read this, please read back through your blog. Sleeping in barns, seeking windblown Arctic waifs, oozing enthusiasm, living your dream. That is pretty cool in my book mate and if others don't think that, more fool them.

And if all this fails, simply grow your hair and go birding in a wetsuit.

p.s. I blatantly borrowed these pics off the t'internet. If you want me to remove them, let me know.

Mere Birders

2011-09-15T13:21:00.001-07:00

Enough of the Azure inspired craziness, check out the new blog from Mere Birders - Hornsea inspired bird action from the East of the county from Tony Martin and crew

Castle Howard ain't Grafham Water

2011-09-14T03:42:00.000-07:00

Spurred on by the report of two Grey Phals and a Sabine's Gull at my old patch of Grafham Water, I grabbed the lad and headed over to Castle Howard, the only decent bit of water in the York area. I was overwhelmed by the lack of seabirds grounded on the lake, though two late(ish) Swifts and ten Wigeon were nice. A fine gathering of all three common hirundines over the water and a couple of Buzzards was all I could manage. Popped into Hes East on the way back, where someone was walking around the western scrapes = no birds. Nothing doing at the east end either. Just need to see if this Sooty Tern gets pinned down this afternoon in Durham...

Grey Phalarope at Grafham Water in November 2001

I love waders me!

2011-09-09T12:21:00.001-07:00

I just love waders me. Following droolingly-close passage waders (esp stunning Curlew Sands, which seem to have had a bumper season - lemming year anyone?) in Norfolk during the week, I today had chance to check out a bird I'd only seen in Australia previously.

Shot up to Greatham Creek mid-afternoon loaded on Haribo Gold Bears. and was soon watching a cracking adult Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, despite nearly having a heart attack when the departing Tim and Ollie told me it had flown off towards Saltholme! The chest pains continued for a while, but I think it was an overdose of gummy bears. The Sharpy was a really smart bird, often hanging out with the Dunlin flock, but sometimes doing it's own thing. Size, shape and behaviour like a Pec Sand, quite stealthily picking it's way around the muddy edges of the pool. Heard to call, very different from the Bee-eater-esque Pec, with a plaintive, though pleasant 'peep'.

General impression was of a rufous pec with a well marked head pattern, consisting of a distinct midbrown-rufous cap streaked with black, set off by a bright white super, which was buffy on the lores and where it ran onto the heavily black-streaked nape. Throat off white, before a complicated set of breast streaks over an orangey buff background. Buff breast quite demarcated but black barring and streaks extended on to white lower breast and down the flanks in apparently typical chevrons. Upperparts striped like a Snipe on the mantle, only really noticeable when the bird facing away. Upper scaps and tertials, black with orange edges and lower scape more worn, greyish with pale buff edges. Short primary projection. Yellow legs and short downcurved dark beak. Pale eyering less obvious an clear-cut than I would have expected. However, Adelaide summed it concisely, "a scraggy sparrow".

Check out some shaky videos here This was due to the wind, not the Haribo bears.

Kinda makes up for not being anywhere near the Little Bittern that turned up at Titchwell today, found by none other than the legend Kev Durose - nice work Kevin!

Great weather for seawatching...in Ireland

2011-09-08T12:45:00.001-07:00

Just back from our week-long hol on the Northwest Norfolk coast. The day before I went, I twitched Tim's Little Stint at Hes East, although I think it was stuffed as it did not budge in the 15 minutes I watched it.

A fab week had, mainly indulging in family stuff, and meeting up with old friends, but a little birding done where possible. The birding started with a little madness, whereby I dashed to the nearest bit of sea to look for the Kilnsea Albatross. Sadly, it didn't fly past Titchwell before dusk. It didn't fly past anywhere else by the sounds of it. I did manage several Arctic Skuas and one distant bird that landed on the sea looking very like an adult Long-tailed Skua, but sadly I couldn't nail it.

The following day started well with Philip finding a Wryneck in the dunes at Holme at the same time as one was trapped at The Firs. 'Our' bird was very flighty which made it impossible to get a photo. A smart bird, which at one point perched atop a reed stem like some kind of freaky Reed Bunt. Not much else doing at Holme, apart from a fine Hobby, a Peregrine, Turtle Dove and several Lesser Whitethroats. A spectacular high tide roost was going down on Gore Point, with several thousand Bar-wits and Knot, some still in fine plumage. Later that day, we hooked up with Reg at Cley, for fine views of c15 Curlew Sandpipers, Little Stints, Spoonbills etc.

Juv Curlew Sand. A fine bird.

The next day, the wind went heavily to the westward. Reg got excited as this was perfect timing for his Bridges seawatch trip. I, on the otherhand, got a bit depressed! Not a lot else seen all week, apart from more Spoonbills, lots of common waders, Little and Yellow-legged Gulls, and a few Wheatears. As we headed home today, got the gutting news that a Citrine Wag and Cattle Egret had appeared at Cley and a Buff-breasted Sand at Titchwell. Would have been nice to see these, but nevermind...

Little Gull, Simmond's Scrape.

Year ticks

2011-08-01T13:34:00.000-07:00

I haven't had a year tick for ages and then I get two in a weekend: Hobby over the garden on Saturday and a Spotted Flycatcher by the church in Copmanthorpe yesterday.
Sweet! Bit tempted by the SemiP at Saltholme, but sadly I was in a football match tonight, so couldn't go. Tomorrow????

More waders

2011-07-24T13:39:00.000-07:00

Full-family outing to Blacktoft this arvo. Very enjoyable, highlights being Adelaide hiding in the cut grass on the floodbank, the Marsh Sand again on Ousefleet, a moulting adult Curlew Sand, 178 Black-wits, 2 Greenshank and 10 Spotshanks.

Twitching Dad

2011-07-17T11:23:00.000-07:00

Very little birding done recently; been away a lot and training for my 10km run during the week. In Norfolk last week, where the Pacific Swift failed to turn up, though it was a bit of a long shot. Did see an Eagle Owl on a streetlight in Hunstanton, and a showy Gropper at Brancaster. Checked out the Titchwell air terminal (the new hide) which was incredible, and saw a Hobby take a House Martin over the campsite at Burnham Deepdale. Yorkshire has gone Quail-mad, though all I have seen is c50 Crossbills at Dalby Forest yesterday.

Finally got my self into gear and nipped down to Blacktoft Sands for the afternoon. The adult Marsh Sandpiper gave me the run around a little before being grilled on Ousefleet Lagoon. Whilst trying to relocate it, I did hear a Gropper, and saw 15+ Spotted Redshanks, most of which were moulting, but a couple retained quite a lot of black summer plumage. Also present were two Spoonbills and four Little Egrets on Townend Lagoon, c100 Icelandic Blackwits, a Greenshank, three Green Sandpipers, a Common Sandpiper, c40 Dunlins and two juvenile Bearded Tits.

The Marsh Sand seemed to be a moulting adult. Typically white, particularly on the face and throat, with grey barring on the crown, ear coverts, nape and sides of neck. A few arrowhead black marks under legs and vent. A white rear-eyering and a dark mark behind this, making eye stand out. Most of the back fresh grey non-breeding feathers, with only brown feathering on the wings, which seemed quite plain, though with some black and buff barring on the tertials retained breeding plumage. Primaries in line with tail end. Body shape recalled a small Redshank, being quite dumpy. Legs long and yellow-green. Bill characteristically long, straight and needle-fine. Quite a smart Yorkshire tick.

Marsh sand, feeding with Ruff and Redshank.

Marsh Sand with a spanking Spotshank

Spotshanks. Fresh in from northern Scandinavia.
Spooners in usual pose. They did wake briefly.

Wot no birding?

2011-07-03T07:15:00.000-07:00

Not much birding done recently. Popped into Hes east this morning. Several Lapwing chicks seen, plus my first Green Sandpiper of the autumn.

Snipe

2011-06-11T14:34:00.001-07:00

Avoiding dancing drivel on telly, I went for a nice walk down Wheldrake. Little going on, but the meadow looking cracking; lots of Great Burnet flowering. A smart Snipe on a fencepost posed nicely for a photo and a singing Corn Bunting in front of tower hide were the only birds of note.

Third helping of Poms

2011-06-07T12:41:00.001-07:00

All photos taken of the 27 strong Northton flock, by Martin Batt on 18 May 2011. First seen resting on the sea, they then took off, flew around a bit before heading off over our heads, cutting across the peninsula.

An evening jaunt to Hartlepool - 6 June 2011

2011-06-06T23:26:00.000-07:00

Had a lovely, relaxed evening with Ollie and Jack in Hartlepool, chatting to local people about the strangeness of the modern twitching scene, enjoying urban Kittiwakes, and reminiscing over the fortunes of Red-backed Shrikes in the UK. Also, nearly fell to my death five feet up a scaffolding gantry in the back of a pick up (thanks John!!) while trying to digiscope a White-throated Robin in a walled garden, and later almost ended up walking back in to York in the dark as Ollie's car nearly ran out of juice. Fortunately our adrenalin and buzzing vibes kept it going all the way back to town.

Jack and Ollie walk the plank.

A dull grey bird that caused a lot of raised blood pressure and latterly, a lot of elation - see here for a better shot

Independent Urban Kittiwake

Red-backed Shrike beauty

Yeah ok we dipped

2011-05-31T12:25:00.000-07:00

Badly. No sign of the Terek Sandpiper at Hauxley NWT today. We (Jack, Tim, Chris and me) sought solace in Roseate Terns off Amble and a smart fledgling Stonechat - see below. So the third time I have dipped Tereks. I need to go sooner clearly...

Awww how cute. Seems my new £50 camera works well too!

Pesky twitching

2011-05-30T14:09:00.001-07:00

So, my third crack at a UK Terek Sandpiper looms tomorrow morning. This time at Hauxley in Northumberland. Last two attempts, resulting in a dip have been in Kent and Norfolk. 'Bout time I nailed one. Keep your fingers crossed good buddy!

Grafham MEGA

2011-05-28T00:10:00.001-07:00

Apparently Mark Hawkes had a Pallid Swift at Grafham Water the other day, my old patch. What an awesome find and due reward for all Mark's efforts over the years - nice one!!

Bonaparte's Gull on Lewis

2011-05-27T23:58:00.000-07:00

Here is a photo Martin Scott took down my scope on 20th May at Melbost Borve on Lewis of the first summer Bonaparte's Gull, which has been hanging out for a little while. As usual, quite dainty, being 20% smaller than accompanying Black-headeds, with a much lighter flight action. Flashing white underwings very obvious in flight, with neat black trailing edge to primaries. Black tips to the outer tail feathers, white in the centre enhanced a slight diamond shape to the tail. On the deck, the pale grey nape and black bill gave quite a different look. The legs were pink, but less bright than other individuals I have seen. A smart bird.

More spoonage

2011-05-26T04:46:00.000-07:00

A good find by Russell Slack on Saturday was a Spoonbill at Wheldrake Ings. Got down there with the family on Sunday and saw the bird fly over from the refuge, landing out in front of Swantail. My first for the York area. Sadly, my camera took a battering in the Hebs and the zoom has packed up. Therefore, the photo below is the best I could manage.

Check out the spoons on that

2011-05-26T03:50:00.000-07:00

So, finding myself with a couple of birding colleagues on a westerly facing headland on North Uist in late May in a big westerly I was somewhat surprised not to be able to find any skuas. This was quite disappointing. A big white swan-like Glaucous Gull on the beach did little to cheer us up, having got up at 6am, barely having slept due to anticipation. Too soon it was time to get back to our bunkhouse and prepare for our morning of meetings.
Later, we visited Balranald where we were met by the RSPB site manager. I had a quick chat with their membership officer who said "are you the bloke who got up at 6am to look for skuas?" I said yes and she replied that it apparently had all kicked off at 9am with strings of Poms coming in really close. I could have burst into tears! Anyway, I made my way back to our little group, where the RSPB guy was just about to start explaining their work with crofters to manage the machair. I was waiting for my chance to mention to Tony how unlucky we had been, when over his shoulder I noticed a flock of birds. Putting my bins up I could scarcely believe my eyes - Pomarine Skuas! As politely as I could, I blurted out, "excuse me, there are some skuas" and we all turned round to watch a flock of 19 fully spooned-up Poms cutting the headland off just behind us. Awesome!

Even better was to come. We headed north, on to Harris where we met a ranger for a look at his patch. It was early evening and the light was stunning, though the westerly wind was still strong. I had dropped back to have a pee in this somewhat tree-less landscape when I noticed Tony and Ant waving at me frantically from the dunes ahead. At first I thought this was a wind up but not taking any chances, I sprinted over to hear Tony saying "skuas!". There on the sea in a small bay was a tight-flock of Pomarine Skuas, huddled up out of the wind. Shortly the 27 took flight, and loitered around seemingly sussing out where to head, before gliding very close overhead. Absolutely awesome views were had for the next few minutes as they drifted around before heading northeast. Apparently all I could say was "Check out the spoons on that!". Fantastic.

Spoon appreciation society

2011-05-26T03:41:00.000-07:00

Some better shots of the Pomarine Skua flock at Northton, Harris taken by Tony Martin.

Outer Hebrides part one.

2011-05-21T12:08:00.001-07:00

Black Guillemot, Eriskay

Raven, somewhere.

23 Pomarine Skuas. Part of a flock of 27 found resting in a bay off south Harris. More photos to come...

Manx Shearwater, The Minch

Arctic Tern, South Uist

Arctic Tern, South Uist

Arctic Skua, Balranald, North Uist

Rare birds are rare, shocker

2011-05-14T13:52:00.000-07:00

Birding a bit frustrating recently. Male Collared Flycatcher finally turned up within striking distance, c3 hours, at Holme in Norfolk. Sadly, I couldn't get there. Loads of other stuff turning up all over the place, including Rock Bunting (no, really) at Bolton Abbey, Calandra Lark at Gib Point, Great Snipe at Cley, Black Stork in Northants, and even a SOS Red-rumped Swallow at Bank Island, really inspired me to get out.

So, yesterday I took Sol down to Hes East, hoping for a good wader, or at the very least a Turnstone or something. Nope, 4 Dunlin.

Today, went back up there in the evening, full of anticipation, especially since the Broad-billed Sandpiper that was in Notts yesterday had gone... Nope, 2 Dunlin - even worse than yesterday. Feeling a little dismayed, I headed to Wheldrake.

The fun was being had near the bridge where some people had erected a gazebo and were blasting Grand Master Flash across the meadow. Surely there must be something on the Ings? Yes, a Ringed Plover. Not the Temminck's I'd hoped for. Peak season and I haven't even had a yeartick in over a week. Who is finding all the good birds? Not me, that is for sure. :-(

On the bright side, the skua passage has been incredible in the Outer Hebs and I will be there in 48 hours...

a few bits

2011-05-08T13:17:00.000-07:00

Worked again at a very quiet Spurn Point Saturday afternoon. Highlight really was a male Brown Argus, quite a cracking little butterfly.

Today went out to Flamboro' to work on the boat with Kat, but sadly it was cancelled. A lovely afternoon was had nevertheless, doing beach and rockpool stuff on North Landing beach. Very pleasant. Kids loved it too.

Tonight went to Wheldrake. Bit gripped by the news of a Grey Plover at Hes East! Greeted by the sound of a Corn Bunting singing from a bush just north of the bailey bridge - my first at WI. Scanning from the Tower area, I picked up two Greenshanks on the bund, followed by three smaller waders roosting on an island. I couldn't make these out really as they were facing me and in a heathaze, but by the time I got to Swantail they had gone, or were out of sight. Noted my first York Lesser Whitethroat on the way round, plus several Swifts. From Swantail, I picked up several Yellow Wags walking about on the vegetation, one of which was quite interesting, being very grey, with dark ear coverts, big white supercilia and white underparts apart from a bit of yellow around the legs. Presumably a female Blue-headed. A few Whimbrel were about and one Ringed Plover, but sadly it appeared Russell's Little Stint had gone. I walked back round picking up four waders in flight - Wood Sands! Cool. They dropped in and began feeding out from Tower Hide. One Gropper reeling and a smart Barn Owl ended a lovely evening. Nobody mention Collared Flycatcher!

All work and no play, not necessarily bad

2011-05-06T13:37:00.001-07:00

Too busy for any birding this week, but work gave me the chance to see the first summer female Subalpine Warbler at Spurn today, where I spent the day with some of my team, implementing the new admissions system. A nice bird, very showy at times usually when quiet, feeding along the sunny edges of the bushes near the warren. Very pale bird, with bluey grey head, though hard to judge in bright light. Very white underneath, and pale eyering and red orbital visible. Despite being trapped, overlap in biometrics has not made it possible to nail the bird apparently. Check out Martin Garner's site for more info
A steady passage of Swallows noted all day, with at least several hundred in the six hours I was there. Several Whimbrel over, plus 6 Yellow Wags south and my first Little Terns of the year (I don't get to the coast much!). And sunburn...:-)

Old haunts, new haunts

2011-05-02T13:19:00.001-07:00

29 April
Spent a few hours at my old patch Grafham Water, with my old mate, Mark Hawkes on Friday morning. The previous afternoon, I dropped in and picked up three Arctic Terns over the reservoir off Mander CP. 25 Bar-tailed Godwits over the A1 at Tempsford (Bedfordshire) was a good start and nearly made me crash the car, which would have been a bit embarassing.
My hand eye co-ordination continued to be slightly awry as I dropped my phone when I got to the dam and smashed the screen. I have only had it a month - doh! I met up with Mark and we started to bird the res. Soon, I picked up 8 more Barwits overhead, followed by a further three on the deck in the lagoons, including two stonking males.

Barwit. Thanks to Mark Hawkes for the photo.

Also present here were two fine Greenshanks, two singing Cetti's Warblers and 9 Avocets. Did Grafham used to be this good?! No sign of any Ring Ouzels in the usual spot, but we did pick up our first Swifts of the year, with several over Marlow. I left Mark to his patch and headed back south, feeling slightly melancholy.
2 May.
The last day of the hols. It has been cracking. A fair bit of birding fitted in around meeting lots of old and new friends, good times. Nipped up to Heslington to twitch a Wood Warbler found by John Lawton, but there was no sign in the brief period Solomon and me were there. Had a chat with Tim, and he sent me a text to say it had showed again later. Doh! Started my new 10km training regime tonight and added Swift to my York yearlist, with several over the river by Naburn bridge. Unbelievably, Willow gave up running after 10 minutes - slacker!

Mindless Idiots

2011-04-26T11:38:00.000-07:00

What did you do on your Easter Sunday?
This little party will cost Yorkshire Wildlife Trust several hundred pounds in wood and time to fix. Money and time that could have been spent on something much more positive. And a lovely thumbs up for John and the others who fixed last year's damage earlier this year. They smashed virtually the entire side of the hide, removed benches, hand rails etc and burnt the lot on a pile outside the hide. I guess the only positive is that they didn't torch the entire stucture. They also smashed fencing near the bridge. Great. And on Look North there were the local police trying to stop kids jumping into a river. Got your priorities right, eh lads?

Tour

2011-04-26T11:21:00.000-07:00

Reg came up, so took him on a bit of a tour of the area.
Started at Hes East, where the pair of Wood Sands were showing along with a Green Sand and a Redshank. On to Castle Howard, no sign of any Lesser peckers, but a couple of Nuthatches were some compensation. Nothing of note on the lake. On to a wood in the north of the area, where we had a single male Redstart and four Tree Pipits singing. On to Farndale, where we saw about a dozen more Redstarts, a pair of Pied Flys and a Dipper, before climbing out over Blakey Ridge for Golden Plovers and Red Grouse. Reg was desperate for seabirds and Tree Spugs, so we headed seawards to revel in the guano-stench and cacophony of bird sounds emanating from Bempton Cliffs. Reg immersed himself in Tree Sparrows before strolling down with the hordes to check out the cliffs. Stonking Razorbills were again the stars for me, though a big gathering of Gannets ripping turf off the top of the cliffs for nesting material was good to watch, showering the auks below with soil and stones.

New Yahoo Newsgroup for York Birders

2011-04-23T13:44:00.000-07:00

Calling all birders who are actively birding the York area, please join!

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/yobbirding/

Keep trying

2011-04-23T12:53:00.001-07:00

Arose to news of 2 Wood Sands at Heslington. This place is really pulling in the birds!

I had promised to hit the aisles with Solomon, but thought he would be quite keen to see his first Wood Sands, so headed over there. Unfortunately, as Russ had told me, they weren't viewable from Low Lane, so I had to carry Sol for what seemed like miles to where I could see a couple of birders (Mark and Paz) scoping an out-of-sight pool. I arrived breathless. I plonked Sol down, he was happy grubbing about while I received the news that the Wood Sands had just flown off. Shortly a Green Sand flew in and gave corking close views and I noticed a female Wheatear on the rocks. Sadly, it's more elegant cousins failed to put in an appearance before Sol reminded me that we needed to get bbq'd up for this arvo.

Later on, mid bbq, received news that they were back, so once our friends had departed and the kids safely in bed, I shot over to Hes again. The dark clouds had blown in at 4pm and even given us a shower - the first rain in what seems like ages. I was hoping for some Arctic Terns over the lake, but none were around. Back at the pool, one Wood Sand was wading around - a little cracker. Nearby the Green Sand from earlier allowed a fine side-by-side comparison of these two smart tringas and a male Wheatear had replaced this morning's female. Also checked the far end, but not much present apart from a first summer Common Gull.

Wood sand

Green sand

Good Friday

2011-04-22T12:04:00.000-07:00

The start of 11 days off work - woohoo!
Thick fog this morning prevented early morning action, though through the murk I glimpsed a Golden Plover and Wheatear at Heslington. On to Wheldrake where the Blue-winged Teal had been seen again yesterday. Sadly, it had gone into hiding again and I didn't find it before I gave up at 10am. I did add a fine reeling Grasshopper Warbler to the year list, along with my first Cuckoo and Garden Warbler. Close views of a male Marsh Harrier along with three Dunlins on Swantail were the only other birds of note.
Spent a nice afternoon in Farndale with the family, where I picked up a pair of Pied Flys and several singing Redstarts.

Super Spring

2011-04-20T11:58:00.000-07:00

Thanks to a timely text from Russ, just before the battery on my phone died, I got great views of a splendid Black Tern on Heslington Lake whilst I munched my sandwiches.
Smart! Sadly I only had my bins with me so I didn't check the site for waders.
This brings the York yearlist to 131...

Eye ache, year ticks and the big dipper

2011-04-20T11:52:00.000-07:00

The moment I dread, checking Birdguides just before bed to find a mega on the local patch - in this case Blue-winged Teal at Wheldrake. Doh! Stupidly, I had left my phone in my work bag and hence missed the calls from my birding mates.
So, a dawn star on Tuesday (19th) was warranted. I rolled out of bed at 5.30 and was heading down the track at Wheldrake before 6, having met Russell in the car park, who was heading off surveying. Pete Piringer was already on site, and we were joined by one other birder. I was surprised how few birders had bothered to have a crack at this bird. The first hour or so was hampered by mist. As it lifted I noticed two Avocets on the pool. They departed as the mist lifted. I spent until 8 really grilling the refuge and swantail, but sadly I could not even locate a Garganey in the tall vegetation, let alone the teal. Not much else doing, apart from a single Dunlin, several Reed Warblers and a couple of Yellow Wags.
After work and putting the kids to bed I thought I would try again. Pretty shattered. Russ was just leaving having failed to get another look at the bird. Again gave the site a good grilling until dark. Rewarded with another fine year tick in the form of 9 Whimbrel which came in from the north and roosted on the refuge. No sign of any good ducks. The BWT must be still here, but is just very good at hiding. Went home, exhausted and with eye ache. Pesky bird.

Sunday 17th April

2011-04-17T07:14:00.000-07:00

Early look at Low Lane revealed 3 Wheatears, a Common Sand, four Yellow Wags (see below) a couple of Whitethroats and the usual waders.

On to Wheldrake where little of note except for my first Reed Warbler of 2011, several Sedge Warblers and a couple of Whitethroats.

Sedge in the reeds

Into the valley

2011-04-15T11:13:00.001-07:00

Avoiding Adelaide's second party, I legged it down the valley. Not much on Bank Island, though a fair bit of water present. Wheldrake looked glorious with drifts of Cuckoo Flowers across the meadow and a patch of Snake's Head Fritillaries, which I suspect has been planted...Not much water left, but some in front of Swantail and on the Sanctuary. On reaching the pool hide a buteo went low across the Sanctuary away from me. To my surprise it seemed to have a pale uppertail with a dark end and what I could see of it's belly looked solid and dark. As it went out of sight, I ran down the path towards Swantail and saw it intercepted by two other buzzards which hassled it until it disappeared to the east. Almost a Rough-leg, but just not enough to clinch it. Bugger! The two Buzzards circled round for a bit before dropping back into the trees. The other bird never reappeared.
Little else of note apart from stacks of Willow Warblers and two Sedge Warblers.
Down to Duffield where water was non-existent and hence no birds at all.
Tried a new place, Heslington Low Lane, to view over the big lake that has been created in front of the new university buildings. Looks awesome, with lots of scraped earth, muddy puddles and a big linear lake to attract migrants. A large flock of hirundines, mostly Sandies were over the water. Shortly I picked up a largish pipit next to a muddy puddle, nice, a Water Pipit. Not the brightest I have seen, but nice nevertheless. Later, a pipit and wagtail flock revealed 2 White Wags and my first Yellow Wagtail of the year. Another largish pipit appeared briefly, looking suspiciously like a littoralis Rock, but sadly it disappeared behind a ridge and didn't reappear before I had to go. Definitely a site to keep an eye on. Other birds of note inc a flock of c50 Linnets, a dead Shelduck, with two Great Crested Grebes and two Tufties on the lake.

Up with the chat

2011-04-06T05:02:00.000-07:00

Despite a desperate urge to stay in bed, fell out of it at 6am in order to get up to the north of the area. Following some really helpful directions from a mate, I walked into a beautiful birdsong-filled woodland not long after 7am. After a short distance, I heard the distinctive refrain of a Redstart, which I located singing from near the top of a pine. A smart bird and my first in the York area.

No sign of any Wood Warblers, though it is a little early, with just one or wo migrants reported in the south of the country so far. Plenty of other stuff noted, including Willow and Marsh Tits, Nuthatch, Treecreeper, Siskin and Blackcap. Later, stopped in at Castle Howard lake, where there was c40 Tufties, 4 Pochard and a Barnacle Goose.

Wood Anemones

Great Spotted Woodpecker, blinking apparently

Redstart, fresh in from Africa.

Osprey

2011-04-05T12:45:00.000-07:00

p.s. from yesterday; 5 Goosander on Bank Island at dusk.

So after much deliberation, I decided not to twitch the Alp Swift as I decided that due to the bad weather it would probably stay in it's roost late and therefore would be a bit dull and I would have to leave for South Cave before it decided to have a fly.
Sadly for me, the weathermen got it wrong a bit and the rain passed through overnight and the swift left it's roost at 7.30am and gave good views over the railway station. Nevermind.
Went to North Duffield Carrs on the way to work, where I got cracking views of a couple of Wheatears and a Brown Hare. Not much else of note despite grilling the hoards of Teal and Wigeon.

Tonight, went up to Wheldrake. Virtually the first bird was a Sedge Warbler chattering away by the riverside. On reaching the tower hide I noticed a large dark bird circling the flood, flushing all the ducks in the process. I lifted my bins to find an Osprey! Nice, only my second in the LDV. A good start. Unfortunately, I had peaked too early and apart from a solitary Blackwit on the refuge, there was little else of note. A good gull roost assembled, mostly Herring and Great Black-backs, with several Lessers, but I couldn't squeeze anything better out of them.

A few pics from NDC this morning:

Hang in there

2011-04-04T13:50:00.000-07:00

Wheldrake after work. Checked loads of likely fields on the Crockey Hill road looking for grounded migrants, but none visible. Lots of Red-legged Partridges and several Lapwing noted. On to the Ings; the light was stunning, with big black clouds over the Wold edge and the vivid greens of the fresh hawthorne and willow leaves. Really stunning in the golden light.

Gave the place a good grilling and found my first House Martins of the year. At least two Willow Warblers now singing. Only three Blackwits on the refuge. Alan texted to say there was a bunch down at North Duff, which explains their absence. A timely flypast by the local Sprawk pushed all the Teal on to the open water - now is my chance to find a Garganey or better I thought, but sadly not. Decided to follow-up Russ's news of Wheatears on Bank Island having failed to find any of my own. Headed down there worrying that the light was going, but fortunately two male and one female Wheatears were showing well around the scrape. Smart birds as always - thanks Russ. A couple of others have been found down at NDC by Andy, so obviously a few grounded by the bad weather.

Found a four-part article in Yorkshire Birding about yearlisting in the York Recording Area. The author, Darren Starkey, amassed 170 during the year. He had 120 by the end of March. So, my paltry 116 is way off the pace. Nevermind, there are plenty of months to go.

Following one at Flamboro' yesterday, I received news of an Alpine Swift in Harrogate, which has roosted on the Copthall Tower. Now, I have seen several in the UK and even one in Yorkshire before, but this has got to be one of my favourite birds and I am beginning to feel a little twitchy...

My last Alpine Swift in the UK. At Seaton, Dorset in 2006. One of three. The other two were much more active!

Sunday

2011-04-03T12:58:00.000-07:00

Not much doing, despite a good look round the LDV this afternoon.
NDC: Peregrine, 2, Swallow, Sand Martin, several.
Wheldrake Ings: Swallow, Sand Martin, Willow Warbler, Black-tailed Godwit, 40, Blackcap. A Little Owl on the way home was the only year tick.

Kes

Spring morning

2011-04-02T10:30:00.001-07:00

Had a quick walk at Castle Howard with Solomon in a rucsac. A large flock of c100 Sand Martins over the water plus 3 Swallows. When the sun came out, a Willow Warbler started singing close to me in a hedge, my first of the year. Not much on the water of note, apart from two Goldeneye. Several Buzzards noted around the area. A beautiful warm Spring morning, with vibrant green exploding all around.

A few migrants

2011-03-30T12:34:00.001-07:00

A singing Blackcap by the river in Bish this morning was my first of the year. On to Spurn for work where I met Andy Gibson and Adam. A few migrants about including my first Swallow of the year which flicked over the Warren mid-afternoon. A fine Black Redstart was flycatching from the cottages on the Point and an equally smart male Wheatear was on the fence by the Warren. Other migrants noted included a couple of Redwings, several Goldcrests and a female Brambling. 30 Fieldfares were seen near Patrington on the way home. Lots of Tawny Owl activity by the river tonight with at least two families making a right racket. The wind has gone southerly again so eyes on the skies for the prize, Apus melba perhaps.

Flaming bog horror

2011-03-29T09:01:00.000-07:00

Day off #2 so we went off to Flamboro'. First stop at South Landing to admire the soon to be Yorkshire Wildlife Trust Living Seas Centre, which is currently a burnt-out cafe.
Amazed how much the gulley down to the beach has become wooded - seriously needs some clearance. Very murky conditions down at the beach. The only migrants were a couple of singing Chiffchaffs and a Buzzard which went east mobbed by two crows. Following a spot of beachcombing we went to Bempton. Lots of Tree Spugs around the centre and then on to the cliffs. One of the best spring wildlife spectacles in the UK, the 400 foot high cliffs teeming with seabirds. We were greeted by the sounds and smells first, before getting cracking close views of auks, Gannets, Kittiwakes and Fulmars. Lots of smart Razorbills around, exhibiting their yellow gapes when calling. Probably my favourite auk. Only one Puffin seen - it is definitely better at YWT North Landing for this species. Adelaide was happy with the one though!

Misty morning

2011-03-29T02:21:00.000-07:00

Another early start at Wheldrake Ings failed to reveal anything much, though a Little Ringed Plover on the pool was a pleasant surprise. Four Great Black-backs loafing, 41 Blackwits, 15 Ruff and 3 Dunlin on the refuge. Several Willow Tits seen along the river and near Swantail Hide today. Nice to see these guys which have gone virtually extinct in East Anglia and the southeast.

Twitching

2011-03-28T10:17:00.000-07:00

Finally relented and went for the Green-winged Teal at Newburgh Priory lake. A smart drake, feeding constantly with c30 Teal and allowing good comparisons. Darker grey body noted and yellow border to green head patch only along the bottom edge. When actively upending and hence low in the water with a high tail, it was interesting to note that the top end of the white breast stripe could still be seen.

Too early

2011-03-27T12:04:00.000-07:00

Got up too early, was as Wheldrake Ings by 6.45am (5.45am in old money). What was I thinking?! Greeted by a Barn Owl and a collosal flock of Teal which just had to contain a Baikal, or possibly a Garganey. But instead, the flock contained a bunch of Wigeon. Great. Wandered round the back, where Andy's (AW Birder) wader flock was still present, containing c40 Icewits roosting in a tight huddle along with some more active Ruff and Dunlin, one of the former sporting a fine white head. Mind you, from what I have heard, the blonde lads don't get as lucky with the Reeves...Corking close views of a Roebuck and doe just near Swantail was all I could manage apart from a pair of Goosander and two Goldeneye. Narrowly missed an Otter on the way back that another birder had just seen in a ditch. Doh! Several Chiffchaffs about, but no other migrants of note.
Down to North Duff where the best bird was a Grey Partridge by the side of the road near Skipwith. Not much doing really, so after a chat with Alan (Duffbirder), I went home sleepily. Curlew over the house in Bish made cutting the grass for the first time (ever) worthwhile, though it took a lot less time than in Strumpshaw which used to take me 2-3 hours. At the new place, 2-3 minutes.

The best night of the year

2011-03-26T15:00:00.001-07:00

This is the best night of the year as tomorrow, getting up early for birding will be an hour earlier as far as the birds are concerned, and even better than that, those of us stuck in the office til 5 next week can start birding after work - fantastic! And combined with the ratcheting up of Spring mig, could it be any better?
The clock's go forward. Ace.
See you at 7am. Or is that 6?
Night night...

Bike

2011-03-26T14:57:00.000-07:00

Friday: 3 Chiffs now in, in trees round Bishopthorpe Ings. Buzzard over the house.
Then on the way home on the bike after work, 14 silhouettes, high up, lumbered out of the southwest in a hazy sky. Could these be Cranes? Panic! Shot back home, grabbed the bins and dashed back out, causing worried glances from the visiting in laws. Found the giants. Whooper Swans! Not quite what I was hoping for, but pretty cool for a house tick in the middle of an estate.

Shrike

2011-03-23T12:45:00.001-07:00

Waxwings still on Knavesmire Road today.

A couple of photos of the GGS from Skipwith Common taken by my Dad today. Nice one Dad!

Go home!

2011-03-22T13:02:00.000-07:00

25 Waxwings in elms by the burger van on Knavesmire Road today on my way into work. Not sure what they were eating - buds maybe, or insects - but it is about time they cleared off. With their stupid spiky crests and twee trills...

Solomon's first twitch

2011-03-20T12:34:00.000-07:00

Checking my phone whilst waiting for the veg to steam revealed that momentary sight that all birders dream of and also fear - three texts from three local birders all within the space of two minutes. The reason - three Cranes had been picked up by Russ over Wheldrake and then again by Alan and Andy over North Duffield before dropping on to Bubwith Ings. This was a species I had missed several times in the LDV in my yoof, so the chance to catch up with this majestic species which had been a regular sight in my previous locale, Norfolk, was too much to miss. So, a very quick dinner was had, before packing up the bairns and Vicky into the car and pegging it down to Bubwith.

I noticed a lot of headlights coming towards me in the gathering gloom and was convinced it might get dark before we got there. Fortunately, Cranes go to roost late and I pulled into Bubwith bridge car park at about 6.15, to find a sizeable crowd had gathered. I nearly ran over some guy who decided he wanted to walk in front of me just as I was skidding in - not wise! And there were the Cranes - cracking!

Three adults, clearly a pair and an interloper. One bird frequently chased the singleton away and a bit of dancing was seen; three is clearly a crowd. I called Andy to thank him for updates - he was in the Geoff Smith hide and told me the shrike was showing. I mentioned this to the crowd who all, and I mean all, promptly ran to their cars and drove off. How to clear a car park!

After Adelaide had had a look at the subject of the panic (she wasn't so impressed- "they're very small"), we all jumped back in the car. Solomon hadn't really been bothered with the Cranes - trying to play it cool no doubt and was too busy dismantling my scope, rather than looking through it. Down to NDC we went to find a packed hide. Andy kindly let me have a quick squizz at the Great Grey Shrike which kindly had stayed up late and put on a fine show on top of a small Hawthorn at the back of the scrape. Just beyond, three tall, grey shapes strutted about on the other side of the river, a fine finale for a special weekend in the LDV.

Big thanks to Russ, Alan and Andy for the news!

Getting otter

2011-03-20T01:06:00.000-07:00

Sol woke at 5.30am, as is sort of usual for him. I dozed for a bit then fell out of bed and had a mental conflict about whether to head over to Newburgh to twitch the Green-winged Teal, or to make the most of the early start and hit the LDV. Shortly, the shock of having to buy petrol at £1.30 a drop, made the decision for me, and I sacked off the 50 mile round trip for the teal, and decided the 8 mile trip to Wheldrake would be more sensible. I could after all find my own down there.

Thorganby first, which was disappointingly dry, with one rather miffed looking Oystercatcher wondering where it was going to get breakfast from. Some Tree Spugs in the hedge reminded me that I am not in Norfolk any more. Phew!

On to Wheldrake Ings, with Curlews bubbling in the dawn sun. After quick looks in the tower and pool hides, I went round to Swantail where I knew the early morning sun would be behind me. The only migrant I noted was a singing Chiffchaff, though my thoughts of a Garganey did not bear fruit. 37 Whooper Swans came in from the north, a spectacular sight as they glided on to the water in front of me. Simply stunning! An Eyptian Goose sitting in a tree was slightly bizarre.

I wondered back enjoying the spring sunshine and thinking where I would go next. As I neared the bridge I noticed a brown thing on the track ahead suddenly move - an Otter! It trotted through the grass on the verge down the bank towards the river. Not believing my eyes (it was only 10 metres away, I ran towards the bank and sadly it had gone into the water and away. I found these prints on the mud at the edge of the water. Having seen quite a few Otters recently, I think this was a female as it didn't have the bulk or large head of a male. I carefully checked all along the river and watched from the bridge for a bit, but to no avail.

On to North Duffield stopping off nearby to admire Woodlarks, which were singing beautifully.

Not much at North Duff, apart from 7 Ruff, 60+ Dunlin and a lot of ducks. A lovely morning, LDV style. Later, an Osprey flew over Wheldrake and the Great Grey Shrike was back at Skipwith, but you can't win 'em all.

The Ides of March

2011-03-18T13:02:00.000-07:00

Mad, mad busy week at work, but totally inspiring with the Wildlife Trusts' Living Seas Conference in Birmingham being the highlight. Spring is most definitely here, with Blackbirds singing at dusk, migrants all over the place and vivid greens bursting out in hedge and undergrowth. Lovely! Last Sunday, popped down to Wheldrake and clocked Marsh Harrier, 11 Pink-footed Geese and 12 Goosander. The gulls were a long way off and head-on, not conducive to picking anything out. Thorganby was drying out, but still held 100+ Dunlin.

Family birding

2011-03-06T12:00:00.000-08:00

With a weekend of family stuff it looked unlikely that I'd get any birding in. However, with a bit of planning, I managed a quick look on Bank Island and Thorganby Ings (25 Ruff, 23 Whooper Swans, 21 Oystercatchers) on Saturday afternoon, plus a birdless walk around the loop at Skipwith Common.

Whoopers. Not sure if these are migrants or part of the LDV flock having a wander.

Oyks: Could these guys be any noisier?

Redwing looking listfully northeast towards home. That Dusky Thrush is out there somewhere, I keep checking...

Today with brighter skies (I have forgotten what the sun looks like) took the family for a surprise picnic - to Thorganby Ings viewing platform! They all had a fun time eating lunch, whilst I scanned the huge flocks of ducks and waders (200+ Dunlin, 15 Ruff, 3000+ Golden Plover).

Hogging the platform

Later, following the departure of visitors (hopefully my regular watch-checking wasn't too obvious - nothing to do with them, just me hoping to get out before dark) I shot across to Wheldrake for the roost. Andy was present in the hide but hadn't had much sadly, though did tell me I'd missed a Grey Plover at Thorganby. Doh. The light was great, but no good gulls pitched in. The big gulls hadn't really made an appearance by the time I left. 37 Goosander and 50 Fieldfare were the highlights.

The March of Spring

2011-03-03T11:07:00.001-08:00

Well, the month came in like a lion, a dreary, damp sort of lion, with quite cold breath. Not a lot going on, though 3 Oystercatchers on Bishy Ings certainly had the smell of spring in their lungs and were making a right old racket. 4 Pochard on the river were slightly less expected. A small number of migrants have been appearing on the south coast, and they are probably appreciating the milder climate down there right now.

Quiet before the storm

2011-02-27T11:51:00.000-08:00

Not Speyside, but Skipwith Common, near York.

I decided that as Allerthorpe is literally bulging with Northern Redpolls, Skipwith would be worth a look. So, under the guise of 'Sunday afternoon stroll for all the family' off we went. Vicky did ask me whether I really needed my scope for a walk with the kids... Anyway, very quiet birdwise, though I managed corking views of a distant overflying Redpoll sp. And a Great Tit. It seems since I have been away that Skippy has been designated as a National Nature Reserve, and as such, all the birds have been rounded up by the Government and sold to help with the National Debt. With it's new credentials, I hope the visitors throwing litter and letting their dogs run amok at this stunning site were ashamed of themselves.

Number 2, The Birch. My favourite tree incidentally.

Later, I nipped down to the Ings to distract Russ in his attempt to find a Franklin's. The big scary female Peregrine was causing chaos by flying around over the flood but didn't seem to be particularly serious about nailing anything. She perched hereself on a twig poking out of the water, looking massive. Russ tried to persuade me that she was in fact a Gyr, but I wasn't having it.

Too many gulls gave me gull-blindness - a bit like snowblindness, but it manifests itself in the inability to pick out anything at all. I pretended to Russ that I was grilling the gulls, but I was secretly enjoying the cute Roe Deer frollicking on Storwood Ings...

Slippery walk back to the car, with a bulging Derwent looking good to burst and the bubbling of Curlews over the meadows signalling the coming of Spring.

February showers

2011-02-26T11:31:00.000-08:00

Managed to forget my bins this afternoon! Fortunately, I was with my Dad and he had a pair, plus our two scopes. We also managed to get a complete soaking courtesy of a rather early April shower. Well worth the dousing though, with the Ings all to ourselves for a couple of hours.

Birds very flighty today, possibly due to the imm Peregrine which spent all afternoon sitting on the grass on the Storwood side. 5 Roe Deer were nice, plus 15 Black-tailed Godwits, 7 Dunlin, a first winter Med Gull, which looked slighter than the bird the other day and with a different mask pattern, 14 Goosander, an impressive 82 Pintail and some Oystercatchers. A bulky palish-mantled Common Gull had me interested for a moment, but the bill structure, broad white tertial tips and covert pattern just wasn't good enough for delawarensis.

First winter Common Gull with a palish mantle.

Golden Plover and Lapwing. Some of the former are coming into breeding plumage, sporting black bellies.

First winter Med Gull

Peregrine - presumed second calendar year female.

You've gotta roll with it...

2011-02-26T03:59:00.000-08:00

Lovely morning spent out at Allerthorpe Common YWT with old friend Jo Thomas. Spent two hours pottering round the site, with highlight being a Woodlark in stubble to the north of the YWT reserve. Later, we finally found the redpoll flock, on feeding on the deck, possibly on heather seeds. Sadly the flock was only 30 or so strong (there are over 100 present on site) and despite containing some cracking frosty Mealies, did not contain the Coue's Arctic, our target. Quite a gathering occurred with Russ, Andy and Alan all arriving, plus a number of unknown birders. 19 Goosander flew southwest late morning and a couple of Buzzards soared over the northern section. Lots of common stuff singing now including Skylark, Reed Bunting, Yellowhammer, Chaffinch, plus a Great Spotted Woodpecker drumming.

Mealy Redpoll with a smart white rump.

Great Grey Dawn

2011-02-21T12:24:00.000-08:00

On 14 February 1986 I saw my first and only York-area Great Grey Shrike in a snowstorm next to the River Derwent at Wheldrake Ings. I have dipped a few more around York subsequently, including a bird that wintered near Fulford Ings that eluded me several times.

So, getting a text from Russell late afternoon yesterday about a GGS at North Duffield Carrs prompted an early start today. I was down at the NDC car park for 6.45am, though it was still very murky, the low cloud and pending drizzle not helping. As the light improved, there was sadly no sign of the shrike along the hedge between the two hides or in the bushes round the scrape. Alan and Russell turned up to join the search but to no avail. At 8am I decided it was time to head for work, having enjoyed c70 Whooper Swans, a Barn Owl and some banter.
I checked the hedges towards Bubwith then headed home.

I got just passed North Duffield village and the phone rang. It was Alan saying the shrike was back. Cue a quick manoeuvre on a farm track and I was heading back east towards Bubwith. I scampered down to the hide with Andy who had seen the bird yesterday and to our collective delight, there was the smart bird atop a bush on the edge of the scrape. Totally cool bird as always, sitting like a sentinel atop the bushes, scanning for victims. After a few minutes it headed into the depths of a hawthorne at the back of the scrape and disappeared from view, possibly to lurk in ambush for some hapless Reed Bunting. A few shaky shots were gleaned in poor light and with a barely-working camera. My first York pre-work twitch a fine success!

Birding in the rain part 2

2011-02-19T10:45:00.000-08:00

A wet walk down to the Tower Hide at Wheldrake was worth the effort, with 15 Pink-footed Geese feeding on the grass with a huge Lapwing flock and c50 Golden Plover.
In the early part of the gull roost, a first-winter Mediterranean Gull dropped in and proceeded to show well sitting on submerged fence posts. Nothing much else in the roost apart from three Lesser Black-backs and one adult Yellow-legged Gull. Just before leaving I turned my attention to the 20 or so large gulls that had dropped in unseen on to the grass, and to my surprise a first-winter Iceland Gull was sitting with them.

Med Gull

Iceland Gull

Train 'em young

2011-02-14T13:00:00.001-08:00

Adelaide adding Scaup to her Yorkshire list yesterday.

Another rainy Yorkshire Sunday...

2011-02-13T12:04:00.000-08:00

Fearing cabin fever, we went to Castle Howard for a walk in a bracing southeasterly and delightful rain. For the first time ever, we were the only people visiting, the masses sensibly tucked up indoors. Quickly found the Scaup, presumably a first winter female, with a fairly subdued white face patch and quite brownish plumage. Also, five Goosander noted, plus a Grey Heron on a nest by the side of the lake. Adelaide's attempts to feed the ducks were to no avail, with all the Mallards flying away from us on sight. Strange. Posh ducks round here.
Saw two Bullfinches on my parents' feeders earlier, something I have never seen before (Bullfinches on feeders that is).

Scaup with Wigeon, Castle Howard.

Day off

2011-02-12T10:20:00.001-08:00

Spent the afternoon in the LDV. Thorganby was busy, but an unseen raptor flushed everything shortly after I arrived. Still a lot of ducks and waders around, including 25 Curlew. An unusual female Wigeon seen, with large white head patches - see photo. Three Pink-feet were in a field near the village with Greylags. On to Wheldrake, where the sun came out for a bit. The Iceland Gull from the other day came in at c4pm, but not many other big gulls had come in before I had to head off. A Barn Owl was by the bridge.

Waterworld

2011-02-08T11:50:00.001-08:00

So the River Ouse is in massive flood. Went south down the river on the east side on Sunday afternoon. It is well flooded at least to Cawood. 5 Goosanders on the flood at Cawood were the only birds of note. Some signs of Spring include singing Song Thrush and Dunnock, with lot of Snowdrops around and some Winter Aconites (presumably planted) along the cycle track.

Whitewing #2

2011-02-05T11:53:00.000-08:00

The heavy rain seemed not to have arrived as predicted, so I headed down to Wheldrake to do the gull roost. It has been difficult getting my eye back in with gulls having missed the last two winters in gull-sparse east Norfolk. Plus, there are few Lesser Black-backs round here and all the Herrings seem to be Argentatus. The views were good tonight, though the light was dreary. Two Egyptian Geese were among the hordes of Teal, Wigeon and Pintail, plus two Shelduck, a Black Swan and several Goldeneye. Four Dunlin were among c50 Golden Plover and c15 Ruff. Highlights of the roost were a close third calendar year Iceland Gull and an adult Yellow-legged Gull.

Kwikfit Waxwings

2011-02-05T11:52:00.000-08:00

40 Waxwings sitting in a tree above Kwik Fit on Blossom Street, York, this afternoon as I made my way to the station. (31st Jan).

Whitewing

2011-01-29T11:38:00.000-08:00

A trip to Wheldrake Ings YWT this afternoon produced a huge gull roost with the star being a smart first winter Glaucous Gull. Sadly the distance and dreary light by then prevented a good photo, but I tried anyway! Lots of Argentatus Herrings noted, and very few Lesser Black-backs, a noticeable difference from the gull roost at Grafham Water, Cambs, that I used to watch. Other birds c30 Pintail, 10 Goldeneye, 5 Shelduck.

Waxing and waning

2011-01-29T11:30:00.000-08:00

Walking out of the door with Willow yesterday morning and I immediately heard Waxwings calling. I couldn't see them, but wondered if they had finally found the only berries left round here near the cycle track. We headed down there and sure enough 11 of the little beauts were sitting in a tree and dropping down on to a guelder rose bush. Later they moved into another tree adjacent to Keble Park South and started dropping on to rosehips on the cycle track. I went home and was pleased to find I could see them from the bedroom window. Today dawned bright, sunny and cold. I walked with Adelaide round there and was treated to fantastic close views of 25-30 Waxwings all flicking about in an ash tree fly-catching, before moving back to feed on rosehips. I was impressed to see that they could swallow big rosehips in one go. Quite often they would pick a hip then fly back to a bigger tree to consume the fruit. I managed a few photos:

Bringing the moustache back

2011-01-25T14:04:00.001-08:00

Ive decided growing a moustache would be a good idea. Beards were like so 2010. My colleagues are a bit worried, and Vicky is thinking of divorce. They just don't understand...

LDV

2011-01-25T12:42:00.000-08:00

Lots of birds in the Lower Derwent Valley now, though nothing out of the ordinary. Deeper water on Wheldrake Ings has led to more diving ducks, with a big mixed flock of Tufties and Pochard, with about 20 Goldeneye (see photo). A lot of gulls loafing around on Sunday morning, with this hooded Common Gull.

Down at North Duffield, a lot of ice still present, with 15 Curlew and 24 Shelduck. 53 Whooper Swans on the fields south of the road near Bubwith bridge. No sign of a Great Grey Shrike reported near Thorganby.

If ever you needed a reason to keep birding...

2011-01-25T12:34:00.000-08:00

This is out there somewhere....
What a bird. Dusky Thrush in Manchester, 8 December 2010 (pic borrowed from Manchester Birding.com)

Happy New Year

2011-01-15T12:26:00.000-08:00

So, finally got online at home. Only took BT 8 weeks. Not much birding been happening, mainly due to lots of domestic activities. Recent notable sightings inc 60 Waxwings in Fulford, one of which was colour-ringed in Aberdeen in November, 98 Pink-footed Geese at Thorganby, plus 2 Goldeneye on the floods. Otherwise, little birding done really so far.