Welcome to my birding blog - first launched 12th March 2012...
27th June 2017
Two 5-star Birds in one day!*
*according to DOGS [Downesian Ornithological Grading System]
I had a plan. Get up at 4a.m. and drive south to East Leake quarry to see some bee-eaters. So I did. I was in position at the viewpoint by 6.30. I saw the birds [plus great spotted and green woodpeckers] and took a few photos and went home for lunch.
Oh yes, here's the pictures...
Odd man out! On the same branch as the bee-eater on the next photo.
This one is deliberately over-processed to produce an effect. You'll probably hate it!
So I had lunch at home. I mentioned that a Sabine's gull was still at Nosterfield on Flask Lake. [I can never remember which lake is which!] Sheila said I should be able to get there and back in time for tea. I checked on Flask Lake and guessed I could shorten the walk by parking in a lay-by in the village and walking along Flask Lane...
...the bird was miles away on a sandbank out in the lake over the far side. From the left: avocet; great crested grebe; black-headed gull and Sabine's gull! [If you can see it!]
![Sabine's Gull [small gull on the right]](https://chrisdownesbirds.com/img/s/v-10/p2393367521-5.jpg)
I'll zoom in a bit - heavy crop. [To the right of the black-headed gull]
![Sabine's Gull [small gull on the right]](https://chrisdownesbirds.com/img/s/v-10/p2393367529-5.jpg)
For the next hour and a half it barely moved. I watched a family of wrens. Some birders I know from Barnsley area decided to try to get nearer by going round the lake. I said I would stay put. I spotted my first pyramidal orchid of the year.
I could stay, I calculated, until 4.15. Eventually the gull stirred and flew around but always very distantly.
Then, according to the camera's Exif info, this happened at 16:10:39...
It came and landed in front of me! What luck!
Eventually it was time to say goodbye and head home.
A great day out.
238 UK 2017
20th June 2017
Blacktoft Harriers and Dusky Maidens
Late morning arrival at Blacktoft hoping for spotshanks on the tide and some more shots at a perfect marsh harrier if only they'd come that bit closer...
I went to Marshland first to check if anything had dropped in. A sedge warbler showed well just before the hide.
The male harrier showed very distantly over towards Alkborough church but the female patrolled the reedbeds in the Townend/Singleton area. Here are some more attempts at better marsh harrier photos...
Eventually I headed back. Good but fleeting view of a cetti's warbler en route. First comma of the year too.
Spotted redshanks x4 were on Marshland but well over the far side. The avocets pushed them about a lot but later let a magpie take one of their eggs.
Distant spotted redshanks looking nice and black!
Treat of the day came when a bittern climbed into view on the reeds to the right hand side of Marshland lagoon.
9th June - 18th June 2017
Here, There & Everywhere!
June 9th - 18th
[omitting June 15th at Bowesfield Marsh as already featured in last entry.]
June 9th I called at Saltholme for birdseed and popped into Phil Stead's. An egret was among the equisetum [or similar] and another was inspecting the pylons.
June 11th took me to Billingham in the afternoon on the off-chance of a rose-coloured starling at number 45 Cayton Drive. It was photographed from number 37 - many thanks to all the hospitable folk at both addresses! A very unusual twitch! Here's the bird.
June 13th at Bempton for a turtle dove that failed to show. So you'll have to make do with this fine fellow...
...and a pair of collared doves!
Tame jackdaw - I like jackdaws - must be those blue eyes!
June 14th at Blacktoft. First bittern of the year seen. Main purpose was to try to get good photos of marsh harriers. Didn't quite achieve the level of detail I should like but some of these are ok.
Later at Marshland I watched the avocets.
A heron was catching tiddlers.
Konik pony.
First meadow brown of the year.
16th June: Scaling Dam. I went for a very distant scope-only spotted sandpiper. Afterwards I went for a stroll down Boghouse Lane. I wonder what this is?
A small trainer aircraft zoomed low overhead...
...whilst meadow pipits kept a watchful eye on me.
I called at Fen Bog on the way home. Common spotted.
Train spotted.
BR Standard Class 4MT 2-6-0 number 76079. 60 years old this year. Now, where's my anorak?
Last lap: June 18th - Open Day at Tophill Low - and no admission charge. However that wasn't why I went...
There were orchids, common spotted and bee...
...and a pair of distant first summer little gulls on South Marsh East...
...and a ragged common blue butterfly.
But there was another reason for going.
236 UK 2017
15.06.17
The Persistent Birder Rides Again!
After trying in vain to really properly observe the marsh warbler at Saltholme another turned up at Bowesfield Marsh nature reserve, Stockton-on-Tees. The reserve is not easy to find. I went four times. Heard and saw it [fleetingly] each time but no photos. So, decided to get up early...
...and on June 15th I arrived on site at 5.58, walked to the area I knew so well by now and waited. The bird began to sing, and sing, and sing. First photos at 6.26 am. Finally the bird did really show well - and repeatedly. Here comes the marsh warbler!
As I left I could hear [not for the first time] a grasshopper warbler. Several of us had tried to locate it on previous visits. This morning at 6.38 I spotted it and was able to photograph it from various angles as I moved around it without getting too close...
By 10.30 I had been back home to York, driven to Tesco to do the weekly shop [spotted by Barry at around 9.44] and was sitting at home drinking a cup of coffee.
Game, set and marsh, I think!!
31.05.17 - 06.06.17
Hey June - don't let me down!
Always hoping for something really good...
I begin with a left-over from May 31st. A trip to Fen Bog for whinchats drew a blank. Did see small copper and this dingy skipper.
On the way home [well, a bit out of the way] we called at Swillington Ings to see a black tern which duly obliged as I had missed out on the large influx earlier in the month.
June 1st - another catch-up exercise. I got to Whisby by 8 o'clock in the morning and was soon listening to the nightingale by the railway bridge. Lots of brief sightings but usually deep in the bushes so no photos. A fledging of long-tailed tits amused me as I sat on an adjacent bench in the sun.
Quite clever: balancing on a wire with one foot while having a good scratch with the other foot up round the back of its neck!
I moved on to my prime location for the day: a session with the marsh fritillaries, I hoped, at Chambers Farm Wood and Little Scrubbs Meadow. I knew they were having a good year and I was not disappointed even though their season was coming to an end. I saw one as soon as I arrived by the butterfly garden!
There were also at least 8 broad-bordered bee-hawk moths on the valerian. See the pollen on some of their heads. Here's a few of my better efforts - much more tricky to photograph than the docile fritillaries.
There were more of the moths out on the meadow too. A common spotted orchid - one of many...
...and a female common blue which I just failed to get with wings open.
Marsh fritillaries
Just as the moths preferred the valerian flowers, the marsh frits were often on ragged robin.
I called at Blacktoft on the way home just for an hour. It was pretty quiet. A yellow wagtail was on First.
June 3rd we went to Saltholme to walk the Wilderness Trail to see a marsh warbler. Heard it plentifully and saw some warblers but couldn't be sure it was the bird itself.
Flashback: : here's a marsh warbler from Blacktoft a few years ago.
On the way back a painted lady dropped onto the path.
June 4th: I went back, saw the bird as it flew at the end of a singing interlude. No photo even though I keep reading reports of it ''showing well.''
A common tern at Paddy's.
231 UK 2017