Welcome to my birding blog - first launched 12th March 2012...
8th April - 24th April 2014
My World Tour
Summer in Lapland, A Mediterranean Spring and a walk with Mandarins!
[.......and other bits and pieces]
Tuesday 8th April: North Cave and North Cliffe Wood
Although there are no photos, North Cave held a yellow wagtail and a blackcap - my first of the year - along with the little ringed plovers and ringed plovers. North Cliffe Wood seemed deserted apart from this pheasant on the verge near the road.
Wednesday 9th April: Kildale and Saltholme
Barry and I set off bright and early for Kildale in search of reported ring ouzels. Strangely we could find nothing at first apart from a wheatear and various red grouse. Nonetheless some obliging birds posed for me...
He came nearer on the fence post.
A meadow pipit was close by near the red grouse.
Eventually another birder put us onto the ring ouzels. We saw a pair but the female perched high in a tree with lots of twigs in front of her and I couldn't get a focus lock. But here's the male.
We finished the day at Saltholme. Record shot of a garganey from Phil Stead's place and a goldfinch from there too.
Thursday 10th April: Buckton Cliffs and Hornsea
Some more precise information about the location of lapland buntings near Buckton led me to try again to find these summer plumaged birds. I knew the area around the Heligoland trap well by now and was thrilled to locate one stunning male in the company of a Scarborough birder I have met once or twice.
On the walk back I couldn't resist one gannet photo.
I decided to come home via Hornsea Mere but found little new. The long-tailed duck was close by but out of worthwhile camera range. A tame common gull was in the car park.
Saturday 12th April: Blacktoft and North Cave
Blacktoft was very quiet. Unusually a female pheasant was balancing on a round pole perch.
A blackcap cheered me as he sang out in the open down at Ousefleet.
After that a visit to North Cave YWT produced a very smart lesser black-backed gull...
...followed by a very aggressive, territorially-minded Mediterranean gull by the name of Putin!
The idea was to take over one of the small islands for himself. So, you lot, clear off!!
While all this was going on, a coot and a black-headed gull were quarrelling.
If things aren't quite going your way, time for dirty tricks! Really dirty ones!
Calmer waters!
But he'll have to have the last word!
Sunday 13th April: Flamborough
Hoping for crag martin. Total failure. Saw tawny pipit. Photographed just this meadow pipit at the fog station. Oh well, that's birding!
Tuesday 15th April: Bolton Abbey, Nosterfield and Saltholme
Time for our first Bolton Abbey visit of the year. A bit early perhaps for wood warbler and flycatchers but I hoped for mandarin and willow warbler at least. Barry also wanted to see his first dipper of the year. We soon came across a pair of grey wagtails.
Very casually I snapped at a great tit in a bush in front of me. Funny how shots like that sometimes seem just perfect when others that you spend time over are rubbish!
We soon had our first sightings of dipper...
... and, soon after, of mandarins. One drake was defending his female from a determined interloper.
To our surprise we heard and found that pied flycatchers were present.
Barry spotted a treecreeper and as he walked on I lingered, watching him circumnavigate the tree. The next picture is the right way up!
At the stone shelter about two-thirds of the way along the eastern path we met more mandarins and this blue tit.
We eventually had more encounters with the pied flycatcher.
House hunting!
And we met more dippers by the aqueduct bridge.
We drove north to Nosterfield where we saw just the usual culprits... plus a brimstone ready for take-off...
...so we headed for Saltholme. There were no great surprises here either. Just an appealing avocet close to the main hide.
Thursday 17th April: Blacktoft
All quiet still. Sedge warblers heard but not seen. Only birds I got close to were the avocets at Marshland...
...and this pied wagtail by the new pool at Singleton.
Friday 18th April: Blacktoft
Finally on a much brighter and calmer day I saw some sedge warblers... and a pair of gay mallards. But before that on my walk down to Ousefleet hide a robin posed for me...
...and cowslips were growing on the bank.
Sedge warbler: one of my favourite birds
Saturday 19th April: Deer Hill Reservoir and Wintersett/Anglers CP
Barry and I headed west into the Pennines to Deer Hill Reservoir near Huddersfield to visit the twite feeder area. On the walk up to the reservoir Barry spotted some golden plover in the fields.
Later we found the twite. Year tick for Barry.
After that I thought we'd try Wintersett. Great birds: common sandpiper, arctic tern, grey plover, whitethroat and we heard Cetti's warbler. Barry took some photos, so see his blog at http://barryjohnbishop.blogspot.co.uk/ I just photographed Barry photographing a whitethroat [I think] near the dam outfall.
Ready?
Shoot!
Pity about the squashed nose!
Thursday 24th April: Blacktoft and Wintersett
Sheila and I set off for Blacktoft hoping to photograph a little gull at Marshland. See the photos.
We also saw some displaying sedge warblers and heard the gropper quite clearly. On to Wintersett again where we saw a black tern and a common tern out on the reservoir - beyond the lens' reach of course. I was pleased to photograph this willow warbler...
...and a very ragged speckled wood. Once again we heard Cetti's warbler but couldn't find him.
And that, as they say, is your lot. 70 photos covering half of April.
Current year total: 190
Saturday 29th March- Saturday 5th April
Late start, black start
- and other tall tales!
Saturday 29th March
Barry and I squeezed [if freeze is froze, why isn't it squoze? Sounds nice!] squoze in an afternoon at North Cave. General birding, general bird photos...the grebes were showing signs of courtship...
...the long-tailed tits were exquisitely difficult to lock onto as a party hurried through the trees. I was very pleased with this one...
...and a couple of types of sparrow...
...house and tree!
Sunday 30th March
During the morning we were amazed to see two new birds for the garden. The weather had not been extreme in any way [which normally brings something different such as brambling or reed bunting] but suddenly we had siskin [the first for many years], lesser redpolls [never seen before in the garden and upto 6 present] and a pair of bullfinches. I grabbed the camera and sat some way off the feeders in my dark green hat and anorak....
I missed the bullfinches - they proved too cautious.
In the afternoon Sheila and I drove to Boston Park Lake near Hatfield Woodhouse in the hope of a reported pair of garganey. After ten minutes we found the pair swimming happily around just beyond the central island that splits the lake into two halves. The birds were well seen in a scope but too far for our lenses. We decided to finish the afternoon at Blacktoft. It's always a good place to end up!
For some time a flock of twite have been in and around the car park at Blacktoft. We caught up with 19 of them.
Monday 31st March
Flamborough was calling us - in fact deafeningly so as we stood near the fog station looking for the black redstarts. We set off quite late because of the fog. No sign: the birds probably couldn't stand the noise either! Walking back I peered into the big hole on our right as we headed back up to the lighthouse. Something flicked. Movement. Bird!
Next stop: Bempton in the fog! Foolishly we walked all the way to Buckton Cliffs looking for the reported lapland buntings. We found a man asleep on a bench by the Heligoland trap. Lots of reed and yellow buntings [aka yellowhammers!]. I took a few holiday snaps in the fog.
Might as well sit it out!
Back at the visitor centre things looked relatively normal.
Wednesday 2nd April
Black-necked grebes were the order of the day. A relatively local sighting at Southfield Reservoir spurred me on with Covenham Reservoir as a a back-up. Southfield proved barren however so I drove on to Covenham. Thick fog there made the situation look hopeless. I climbed the steps up to have a look anyway. Lots of tufted ducks near the shore. The odd gull loomed out of the mist. One bird looked different and swam differently. I put the scope up. I had only walked perhaps 200m along the reservoir's north side and I was watching a black-necked grebe in summer plumage. Lucky me!
Yet again I finished the day at Blacktoft where I took the only photo of the day.
Friday 4th April
Another redpoll session in the garden.
Mr. Orange
Mr. Pink
Love this photo!
Whilst I was sitting photographing the redpolls a female blackbird was drinking in a stone trough just in front of me.
Saturday 5th April
Barry and I set off early for a trip to Spurn but starting with an hour at North Cave. We saw the LRPs but no sandpipers. The great crested grebes were sending out a heart-shaped message...
Between the Crown & Anchor and the Blue Bell Cafe we viewed a wryneck. Good start. I pulled the car over when I spotted a deer.
After a good look round at the normal sites and spending some time looking at the damage from the winter storms [see Barry's blog at http://barryjohnbishop.blogspot.co.uk/ Just click on this!] we walked to Kilnsea Wetlands and Beacon Ponds.
On our walk I spotted a white wagtail.
I spotted what at first I thought was a marsh harrier heading towards the wetlands. Barry confirmed it as a red kite. The geese and waders were off!
When I said the waders were off, the avocets had slightly different ideas. The exocets as I sometimes call them went on the attack!
Right at the end of the sequence another avocet joined in the act - I only noticed this one when reviewing the photos later.
Good day!
Afterthought: whilst thinking of avocets and exocets I remember once [I think Barry was there so he may remember where this was] a lady told us how much she liked the ocelots [meaning avocets] - so clearly a bird of many names but a bird instantly recognized by birders and non-birders alike.
173 UK 2014
23rd-25th March 2014
Aerial photography!
When I first retired and proudly took possession of my big lenses I had one main ambition in mind: to photograph birds on the wing. It has been the source of much pleasure and fascination over the past four and a half years to enjoy doing just that: capturing bird flight.
This blog is not exclusively of birds in flight by any means, but there are a lot of flight pics and I think they show what can be done with a bit of practice. Sunday's shots were taken with my 400mm DO lens on the Canon 1D Mk III. Tuesday's were taken with the same set-up but with my new extender twixt lens and camera. See what you think.
On Sunday 23rd March Barry and I set off for Flamborough bright and early. A quick drive along Bempton Lane soon located the reported hooded crow but it was too far away to photograph.
Tree sparrows at the visitor centre nest in...a building!
Once at Bempton we set off northwards as corn buntings were known to be in the Buckton area. I had mentally targeted the large rectangular set-aside. Meadow pipits were abundant.
Skylarks sang above us.
The wind was enabling birds to hover close to the cliffs. Some had trouble in landing and floated perilously close to a collision.
We spotted a number of puffins on the cliff. Photo strangely reminiscent of a very similar one taken three years ago.
Fulmars too were almost stationary in the wind.
Sometimes a landing was aborted at the last moment.
I spotted a peregrine.
Closer view.
A sparrowhawk appeared as well as at least two peregrines.
Gannets were floating on air.
He's off to his art class. Going to sketch some of those crazy puffins!
Walking on towards the set aside area, Barry admired the view of Carr Naze or Filey Brigg as most people call it. We found the corn buntings - a large group together with an even larger group of yellowhammers in just the area we had hoped for.
We drove north to Sandsend in hope of seeing the long-staying iceland gull [previously photographed earlier in the year]. It was crowded: people, children, dogs. I wondered if it was worth staying. It seemed unlikely the bird would come anywhere near. However it knew its plaice!!
On to Scaling Dam where Barry espied our first wheatear of the year.
I saw two long-tailed ducks come sailing by.
Finally we called at Skinningrove where we saw another wheatear. Given the current fashion for 'selfie' photos I thought I'd have a try. This is me from the pier at Skinningrove - a sort of shadow selfie if you like, taken with my iphone.
Tuesday 25th March
Little ringed plovers at North Cave were the lure to go out for the day. They took an hour to locate [3 of them] plus at least 4 of the bigger kind. I heard chiffchaff. With my new extender all I managed to photograph was a dunnock...
...followed by a greylag doing semaphore. i won't tell you what the message was because it's rude!
I decided to head to Blacktoft for some photos of something, anything.... That's birding for you: little did I realise how the day would become rather special.
Avocets were raining down at Marshland.
I thought a little egret was heading my way. I raised my camera. And look: storming past me [it kept going and never landed] was a ......
Spoonbill!!!
...and shelducks...
and marsh harriers...
...and snipe...and the black-headed gulls chased off a heron...
...and a dunnock again!
...and finally a wood pigeon let me get really close. Must have known he was on RSPB land!
168 UK
March 16th
Bad day, good day...
A bad day on Saturday when I managed to drop the camera and break the 1.4 extender. Fortunately, as far as I could tell, the camera and lens were unharmed. Sunday with Barry was to be a test to check the camera and lens were both working normally. So, no great rarities but some nice images from our day out.
We began at Fairburn Ings. A pair of bullfinches were by the visitor centre. Here's the female.
A pheasant was hoovering up the spilled seed.
Down at the kingfisher screen I heard a chiffchaff. Barry spotted it. Gives a real spring-like feel to the day to hear it sing from the willows.
A kingfisher showed well - a female this time from the coloured bill.
A coot down The Cut at Fairburn.
We went on to Swillington/St. Aidan's and then on to Old Moor.
The tree sparrow farm soon added to our day list. A late redwing was lurking at the base of the hedge in the gloom.
Yellowhammers and reed buntings were present too.
Teal and shoveler came close to the hides.
Male and female pochard: birds often overlooked?
One jackdaw had some white feathering.
Finally just to test the autofocus again, the bulrushes were bursting open and shedding their seeds.
Oh yes, I got two year ticks: sand martins at Fairburn and a lesser black-backed gull at Old Moor.
161 UK 2014
8th March ff
Fairburn dazzles!
A brief visit yesterday afternoon to photograph kingfishers in nice light. What's more, he turned up - albeit not quite as close as I might have wished. Still, here he is.
May go back again later today!
I did. Sheila and I went to look for a [mis-]reported mealy redpoll. We soon saw a lesser on the visitor centre feeders but no sign of a mealy. Sheila soon spotted this siskin however.
Photo ©Sheila Downes Canon 400D with 70-300mm zoom
A pair of bullfinches were beneath the feeders picking off the spillage from above.
Also in the feeder area a blue tit was investigating a new RSPB nest box.
At Pickup hide a female blackbird posed as did the ubiquitous tree sparrows. Met a man the other day from down Birmingham way who hadn't seen one for 25 years.
We walked along the path towards the kingfisher screen. A drake mallard was defending a female from three other drakes. As soon as he swam in their direction they backed off but whenever he left her side they paddled in furiously. Each time the drake turned to return to protect his mate the gang of three turned away.
Sheila was thrilled to see the kingfisher. All black bill = male again.
Arriving back in York, Sheila suggested we go to see if our barn owls were showing. It was a little early and at first there was no sign. Then...
In the hole in the tree. A closer look:-
Latest year ticks: dipper at Knaresborough and grey wagtail nearby.
UK 159