Rag, Tag and Bobtail

                                                  - a mixed bunch

Nothing negative or derogatory intended. Just reasonably easily encountered birds. The first image dates back to my trip to Hornsea last week - the memory card never got downloaded as there was nothing special to download. But the Black Swan makes a nice image  - or pub sign! There's so many Black Swan inns [or there were until recently!] that you realise that the first birds to arrive from Australia must have made a huge impression.

Black Swan

A cormorant motored past me too that day.

Cormorant

More up to date: today [21.1.14 Tuesday] I went to Askham Bog as the forecast hadn't seemed fit for anything further afield. Glad I went however: saw a good range of birds: 5 tit species...long-tailed tits, blue tits plus these three...

Great Tit

Coal Tit

...the best being a good number of marsh tits...

Marsh Tit

Marsh Tit

...plus bullfinch, chaffinch, treecreeper and 16 siskin high up in the alders.

Bullfinch

Thursday 23rd January saw me at Blacktoft in the afternoon where I saw the first-winter drake scaup. Otherwise things were very quiet. Rather than stay for the roost I went up to North Cave and saw just how much water there is on site.

Friday 24th took me to Hartlepool in search of snow buntings. A pleasant walk out to Seaton Snook in sunshine before the wind got up [as it did later] produced none of the 20 regular snow buntings. Perhaps the Durham birders' ringing session the day before had encouraged them to move on? I saw a white horse on the beach...

Seaton Snook

Tidal rubbish, Seaton Snook

North Gare access road was alive with curlews and a very mobile flock of linnets. The road from there to Saltholme is still closed at Greatham Creek, so I worked my way the long way round to the reserve and set out to find the barnacle geese. At the Wildlife Watchpoint initially a reed bunting posed for me...

Reed Bunting

Sudden movement in front of the hide and I realised a water rail was shuffling about at the base of the reeds. Shots of the day!

Water Rail

Water Rail Water Rail

...and I did eventually find the barnacles. Being quite small they were hiding in a dip quite near to some canada geese.

Saturday 25th we could only be out for the morning so we set off before dawn had even thought about cracking, following my wife's advice to be outside B&Q Scarborough for 8am. Not for some one-off d-i-y offer but to see the  waxwings that have been 'doing it themselves' in the trees there.

No sign so we set off for Reighton Gap where we saw scoter, red-throated diver, black-throated diver and, eventually, a velvet scoter with some commons. Where next? We opted for Carr Naze/Filey Brigg. This didn't turn up the grey phalarope but we saw gannet [a basic year tick], more divers, eiders, and a really good fly-past of about 10[?] velvet scoter. Really good.

Then to Filey Dams where the highlight was a goosander. Then the pager announced that the waxwings had come in to feed. Off we scampered.

Waxwings

I noticed that one bird was bending over almost parrot fashion looking at something. I can guess what he's thinking. Just how hungry am I? Do I want to eat spider?!!

Waxwings

UK 2014: 129