Welcome to my birding blog - first launched 12th March 2012...
Thursday May 3rd & Friday May 4th
May the 4th be with you!
N.B. All photos taken on May 3rd.
May 3rd began badly. Five reported dotterel on Pendle tempted me to get up very early for my annual pilgrimage climb up the big hill. Conditions were by any standard very, in every way. Let me explain. Very windy, very cold, very dark and very cloudy, very miserable and very quiet. I saw skylarks
and meadow pipits, a pair of wheatear, a red grouse and no trace of any dotterel. Others were up there looking. None of us could find them. After a couple of hours and feeling very cold I went down much more quickly than I went up! So, to make something of the day I decided to walk the Strid again from Cavendish Pavilion this time as far as the aqueduct bridge and back. Main hope would be for wood warbler. I don't think I'll write much more other than to say it was all wonderful. The female pied flycatcher performed for me. The nuthatches seemed tame. Just look at the photos and enjoy!
This pair were on a fast little stream running into the Wharfe.
The pheasant and nuthatches seem to congregate around the stone shelter half way along the walk. Various visitors leave seed here.
The grey wagtail was seen on the river far below.
A selection of pied flycatcher photos...
...and a male to finish.
Finally I did hear what I hoped to hear, about half-way up the slope from the river to the stone shelter near some large holly bushes, my friend phylloscopus sibilatrix...
Sorry dippers! I nearly left you out!
207
May the 4th!
N.B. Photos not taken today, I'm afraid.
Sitting having my breakfast the pager announced a potential lifer, a black-winged pratincole at Burton Mere Wetlands better known to me as Inner Marsh Farm on the Wirral in Cheshire. Grabbing scope and bins and lunch I set off. I never saw the bird as it had already left. However all was not lost as within minutes of my arrival at the old reserve I had seen several whitethroats and a great white egret!
I then went to the new reserve centre where I heard the news about the 'prat', saw yellow wagtails, house martins, swallows, blackwits, dunlin and the great white again.
I was told the spoonbill would be down at Parkgate so off I went. There were lots of little egrets but the spoonbill wasn't in view although a birder told me where it had gone down.
It soon came up! The same birder told me there were sandpipers at Donkey Stand Flash [great name!] and he told me where that was.
I spotted what for a moment I thought might be a common sandpiper but when a swallow landed on the mud beside it and I saw this bird's yellow legs and lack of white shoulder wedge I realised this was probably a Temminck's stint. I went back to the car to get my bird guide to double check. Convinced I reported the bird to the new reserve staff and set off home. I was relieved when it came on the pager confirming my id and even more pleased when it was again reported this morning [5th May] at the same location.
211. Four ticks in a day!
Tuesday 1st May
When you're lost, get an Atlas!
Not a very nice day and when I got to Flamborough Head and parked above the gorse field by the lighthouse at 7.30am it was cold and windy. The ring ouzel I had come to see didn't seem to mind. I couldn't change any of the linnets into whitethroats or whinchats and the air felt damp. Suddenly the pager came alive with instructions to go directly to South Landing at Flamborough to see the possible atlas flycatcher which was, as the old cliche [can't do accents on the blog it seems] goes, 'showing well.'
I was soon there. Only a handful of birders present at that time but more drifted in like loafing old crows - plus a number of smart guys who clearly wanted a quick look before going to work. The bird did show well but at a distance that challenged my 400mm lens even with the 1.4 extender. Oh for a 600mm lens [with extender!]
This is the best I could do for an atlas flycatcher - I posted one photo on Bird Guides but in the notes I appended I referred to it via a typo as an alas flycatcher!! It will be if it disappears before those coming from afar get the chance...
Then the rain came. The weather was back to normal. So unpleasant did it soon become I considered going home. Tophill Low came to mind. I figured that inland might be better. It was - no rain and less wind but still cold. Hundreds of swifts plus swallows, sand martins and a lot of house martins too. Barry texted swifts at Millthorpe School, York. I hope they stay. I went into the wood hoping for some new warblers. Blackcaps and chiffchaffs everywhere but no whitethroats.
Reed warbler heard at North Marsh hide but not seen. A pair of little ringed plovers were at the Borrow Pits. I didn't take the camera on my walk but a patch of cowslips caught my eye and I snapped them with my iphone.
Then I headed home. Dentist at 3.15pm!
206
Monday 30th April 2012
A crest, a pair of long legs and a violent end...
First stop on Monday, after an early start, was to be North Cave where I hoped to catch a corn bunting. It's a long story but some months ago I helped a men find a red-necked grebe outside Scarborough harbour that was proving extremely elusive. Not the harbour, the bird. Harbours don't usually hide. Anyway a week ago I met him at North Cave and he remembered me [I didn't recall him at all until he told me where we had last met]. To cut a boring story short he told me where to look early on in the mornings. QED. Bird seen. Blackcaps, chiffchaffs but still no whitrthroats.
The plan was to then heasd south over the Humber Bridge and sto pat Far ings to see if I could catch up with the red-rumped swallow. A few other friendly birders had similar ideas but there were very few hirundines to be seen and I don't think the bird was seen again. Nice view of a sedge warbler from Chowder Ness hide.
Final destination was to be Frampton Marsh RSPB to see the long-staying black-winged stilt. Or so I hoped. Having arrived safely I was told to go down the far end near the sea wall. A crowd of scopes could be seen down there. En route I was distracted by a reed bunting and a confiding skylark which I photographed through the rails of a fence. I think it felt safe with the wooden fence between us.
When I got there I saw the stilt distantly immediately. I was distracted by a commotion beyond the stilt. It seemed a very large bird was attacking some coots. The stilt flew off high. 'That's the last we'll ever see of him!' someone said. Everyone set off to climb up onto the sea wall and walk round to see what this big bird was. It was soon apparent it was a great skua and it was thrashing around killing a coot.
Then it took off and landed again near another coot. The coot dived under water but the skua grabbed it and killed a seond coot. This caused a degree of horror and disgust among the birders present. One man went on and on about how awful it was as he continued,nonetheless, to watch. In the end I said: 'It's nature. It's only doing what it was made to do.' 'But it's cruel,' he continued. Finally, before leaving him to it I said: 'You can't impose a human set of morals on a wild bird, you know.'
Here it is, a bit battered and the worse for wear may explain why it came looking for easy pickings: 
As it seemed to mantle its prey the black headed gulls tried to attack with diving swoops over the bonxie.
So on I walked. You can walk a long way at Frampton Marsh. A little egret flew past...
... as did some Brent Geese. It was a very pleasant day. Even the wicker spoonbill was happy!
When I was approaching the centre again having done a circuit of the reserve by then, a man said the stilt was quite close to the reception hide.
The next shots made my day!
205 and counting.
Thursday 26-Friday 27th April 2012
You never do know what's about to happen!
Thursday
On Thursday 26/4 I headed north again hoping perhaps for a few arctic terns that may have come up from sites like Old Moor. However that was not to be. I did see a few [probably 6+] common terns but was very thrilled to spot a little tern as well. A yellow wagtail and little ringed plover were seen too. Swallows, sand martins and house martins were present.
I headed back to Hummersea. No-one can say I'm not persistent!! I got soaked and saw no ring ouzels. I headed home. The satnav was set to 'shortest route' just to entertain me. She [she has a female voice] did well and only tried on two occasions to send me down cart tracks. We came home via the old airfield at Harome, then through Nunnington and Hovingham.
In Hovingham a number of guinea fowl were at the roadside so I stopped and got the camera out. They come, apparently, in a range of colours.
Two ticks on Thursday - guinea fowl don't count!! So, 199 so far this year.
Friday - an amazing birding day!
Arctic terns were reported at Fairburn Ings on Thursday so I got up very early and was there in village bay [well not actually in it!] just after 7am. There were a few terns but they all looked common to me. I went home and planted sweet peas. Then as I was having a coffee break a black tern was reported at Thornaby Ings.
Rush upstairs for scope and bins. Off I go. Adult bird spotted straightaway. Watched it do its dipping, graceful flight for a quarter of an hour. Bird number 200.
Back home for lunch. Just as I was finishing lunch a female bufflehead was reported at Covenham reservoir in Lincolnshire. I've seen some good birds there over the years like the American black tern and little stint.
I went outside and checked with TomTom [real name Tomasina] how long it would take to get there. About two hours. I went, I saw and I concurred: it was a female bufflehead. Quite a tiny duck amid the tufties. A bit too far for a photo but good views in the scope. After a while I decided to scan the reservoir properly and soon found a swift. Once I had my 'swift eye' back in I found more. A clever man who knew he was clever told me knowingly: 'There's fifty of them.' How does he count them?
On the walk back - only about 400m, a lot less than it usually ends up being at Covenham - a man said he'd seen two arctic terns but hadn't seen them again. I decided to have another look. He said they were in the middle with the gulls. They were indeed. I found them both and, happily, they both alighted on a white buoy so I could have a good look.
Four ticks in a day, one lifer. 203. Brill!
Tuesday 24th April 2012
Blacktoft & North Cave
A fairly early start got me to Blacktoft Sands RSPB by 10am and I loaded myself up with camera, bins and scope on hide clamp only. A wood pigeon was not going to give up his perch on the picnic table very willingly. In fact he never did. They are quite handsome birds - imagine how we'd feel about them if they became very rare...
There were some very smart shovelers about and lots of avocets.
I wandered along the hides starting with Xerox. No sign of the little gull but I didn't mind. I thought I might see a sedge warbler and within minutes I saw three.
At Marshland the avocets were put up by a sparrowhawk that someone else spotted. I was too busy trying to get a focus-lock on the birds as they whirled round!
The marsh harriers were pretty active too and some were coming in a little closer than usual. I was quite pleased with some of the images as the following examples will show.
At Marshland two of the islands had clutches of eggs. In this photo the eggs are unattended. The script goes like this:
B-h gull1: They aren't mine!
B-h gull2: Well, whose are they then?
B-h gull3: They might be his [looking at the avocet].
Avocet: Hmm. I'm trying to remember.
Off to North Cave
I knew there was a pair of black-necked grebes there and hoped they might come a bit closer than the ones at Hatfield. They did.
Spring was carrying on regardless even if spring does seem a bit unwilling to get to full throttle. A mute swan kept a close eye on me from her nest. A pink-billed coot did likewise from her island retreat.
There is a display board at North Cave showing arrival dates of migrants this year with last year's dates to the left. It's interesting to see that most birds are late although the swallow and common sandpiper came in quite early. See for yourself:
A female house sparrow perched on the gate I needed to open. They must be just about the least photographed British Bird. So let's rectify things a little. Can't imagine things changing much!
Finally for this post a pair of great crested grebes were clearly prospecting for a nest site. One of them was getting very cross as can be seen.
197. Yorkshire 92