North Cave and Blacktoft

Thursday 10th March
With news coming through of the reappearance of a Kittiwake at North Cave Wetlands, I made a slight detour on the way home from our weekly swim. Unfortunately, Toby had forgotten his Mothercare bins, so it was up to me to relocate it with nobody else in the hide. The adult Med Gull was also still present.

Kittiwake

Mediterranean Gull

Friday 11th March

With the Hen Harriers regularly being seen at Blacktoft, I thought, I'd get my first crack at the species this year. First stop was Ousefleet hide for any waders. Since my visit last week, a flock of up to 100 Black tailed Godwits had returned.

Black tailed Godwits

Walking down towards Singleton hide, a Cetti's Warbler was heard calling from the reedbed, which was new for my Yorkshire life list. In the hide, there was no sign of any of the previous nights 3 Hen Harriers but a Short eared Owl was a bonus for the year.

Yorkshire Life List: 277

British Year List: 132

Yorkshire Year List: 126

North Cave Year List: 70

Out and About

Half term meant little birding other than on day trips out but managed the regular Grey Wagtail at Welton duck pond while feeding the ducks.

A flyover Yellowhammer on a trip to Rand Farm in Lincolnshire was a welcome bonus.

Next up was an afternoon drive to Spurn for the lingering Tundra Bean Goose in the Triangle. Also managed Knot, Golden Plover, Whooper Swans for the year as well as Dunlin, Pink Footed Goose, Little Egret and Brent Goose for the Yorkshire Year list.

 Tundra Bean Goose (right) and Pink footed Goose

Tuesday 23rd February
With the kids back at school, I took a trip up to Scalby Mills as the American Wigeon had returned from Castle Howard, the second I've seen at this site. On the way down to Wykeham, I stopped off at Hackness and had a drake Mandarin on the lake. Up at Wykeham a pair of Goshawks displayed in the cold afternoon sunshine. Heading home I stopped off at Wykeham Fishing Lakes where a single Barnacle Goose was amongst the goose flock.

American Wigeon

Wykeham Raptor Viewpoint

Friday 26th February
Today was a trip up to the Lower Derwent Valley, a place I hadn't visited before but was really impressed by the amount of birds about. Three new year ticks included Skylark at Bubwith Ings, 4 White fronted Geese at Ellerton Ings and a single Scaup at Aughton from the churchyard.

Monday 29th February
With the relocation of the Long-eared Owl at Blacktoft RSPB, I had a quick drive out, close views were had as it roosted in the bushes to Ousefleet Hide.

Long-eared Owl

Very little else on the reserve as yet but a single brief Bearded Tit out in the reedbed kept the yearlist moving along.

Tuesday 1st March

Today saw another new site for me, Potteric Carr. A great place with so much fantastic habitat spread over a huge area. The main target of the day was Bittern but despite spending a couple of hours in Piper Marsh hide, there was no sign, although a squeaking Water Rail was some compensation. Stonechat was seen flycatching out in the reedbed from Beeston hide, Willow Tit from Willow hide and a Kingfisher along Mother drain

Monday 7th March

No sign of the previous days Kittiwake at North Cave but a Green Woodpecker and the first returning Avocets of the year were nice, also seen was the drake Mandarin which was new for me for the reserve and a Mediterranean Gull was seen from South hide.

Tuesday 8th March

Today saw the longest "twitch" of the year so far for a year tick, Long-billed Dowitcher at Egleton Nature Reserve at Rutland Water, Leics.

 Long-billed Dowtcher

Heading round to the North Arm, I soon managed to pick out the wintering mixture of grebes, Slavonian, Red necked and 3 Black necked. Also seen were 2 Red Kites driving between the reserve and the A1.

British Year List: 128

Yorkshire Year List: 122

North Cave Year List: 69  

Catching Up With A Few Bits

Thursday 11th February
A quick detour on the way home from our weekly swim in Beverley and Toby and I managed to catch up with the drake Green-winged Teal at North Cave, also managed to get my first Great crested Grebe of the year. Also on site was the redhead Smew again

Drake Green winged Teal - Main Lake

Smew (redhead)

Friday 12th February

First stop today was Southfield Reservoir for the drake Red breasted Merganser, but unfortunately there was no sign, great views were had of several pairs of Goosander on the canal alonside the access track.

Next up was the Ferruginous Duck at Pugney's Country Park nature reserve, it was on show on arrival, mixing in with the small Pochard flock.

1st Winter Female Ferruginous Duck

Stopping off at North Cave, on the way home before school pick-up, I added Red Kite to the Yorkshire year list.

Yorkshire Life List: 273

British Year List: 104

Yorkshire Year List: 93

North Cave Year List: 65

Dodging The Showers!!

Had a quick trip out to North Cave today, torrential rain for most of it but still managed a couple of year ticks and a few Yorkshire year ticks, also started my North Cave year list!!

Siskin and a single Ruff for the year list. Marsh Harrier, Brambling, Lesser Redpoll and Coal Tit for Yorkshire.

British Year List: 100
Yorkshire Year List: 88
North Cave Year List: 59

Gulls Galore!!

As I'm more than happy to tell most of my birding friends, I don't do gulls. I've never had a good track record of twitching new gulls, so far I've managed to dip Ross's(several times), Ivory, Audouin's (several times), Thayers, Slaty-backed and Glaucous-winged, even though I've managed to catch up with all but the last 2, you can understand my lack of desire to travel too far for gulls full stop! However, as I'm trying to do a bit of a year list, I've got to at least have a go and with the vast number of gulls present at Rufforth, on the outskirts of York, I thought I'd have a go.

Having never visited the site before, I did a bit of internet trawling and it seemed that the airfield itself was a good bet so I headed here first. On arrival there were only a few Herring Gulls so I headed to the fields near the tip.

I could immediately see the massive flocks of gulls flying over the tip itself and roosting in the adjacent fields.

The search begins!

Despite the huge numbers of gulls present, I was fairly confident that I'd be able to pick out one of the many Caspian Gulls that had been present in the area recently and if I got lucky, hopefully one of the Glaucous Gulls would still be about. Unfortunately there were no other birders around when I first arrived but started to scan. Viewing from the adjacent footpath, the gulls were easily spooked but soon settled again. Within half an hour, I'd managed to pick out a Caspian Gull in one of the smaller side flocks so was quite pleased.

Caspian Gull

After a while, several other birders arrived and soon more Caspians were picked out, none of which I actually managed to get on, but also a Glaucous Gull and apparent 'Viking' Gull, that one I definitely had to leave to the experts, as distinctive as it was.

Glaucous Gull (second bird from back)

Apparent Viking Gull (Herring x Glaucous) 

central bird above adult Herring Gull

Having to be back for the school pick up, I thought I'd better make a move and headed off. With the Great Skua still present nearby at Wheldrake, I thought I'd have time for a little detour! 

Having never visited the reserve before, I was fairly lucky to bump into some locals who could point me in the direction of the first hide, where it had last been seen. I headed off along the muddy paths as quickly as I could without slipping over, with one eye constantly on the watch, worrying I wouldn't make it back in time for pick ups! On the way I bumped into Duffbirder, it was good to talk to Alan, if only briefly, hopefully catch up one day on a twitch. He said the skua was still present, so I carried on. Although not on view straightaway, the Great Skua soon flew in and rested on the water in front of the hide, also present were huge numbers of duck which included quite a few Pintail. 

All in all a good day, four more year ticks to keep the lists going, 2 of them gulls and I even made it back in time to pick the kids up, phew!!

British Year List: 98

Yorkshire Year List: 82

Yorkshire Life List: 271 (Caspian Gull and Glaucous Gull)

A Busy Year Ahead?

Although 2015 was for many, a fantastic year birdwise, with most birders getting at least one new bird and most getting a lot more than that, for me it was my worst since I'd started birding 31 years ago. My only new bird came in May with the Hudsonian Godwit in Somerset after a frantic drive from Yorkshire having just got off the ferry from a family holiday to EuroDisney. I'd made plans to go for several of the other birds but for one reason or another, it never happened, most of them will come again as with all birds but some I already regret not trying a bit harder for. The biggest one of these was the Wilson's Warbler on Lewis, even though it was the second British record, proving that they all can come again, this was the first (British) record since the Rame bird in 1985, that could really be hard to get another crack at. It wasn't just the fact that I didn't get more lifers but that I didn't actually get our that much at all so I've decided to have a go at a British and Yorkshire year list, crazy eh?

I've set myself a target of 250 British and 200 for Yorkshire, relatively modest targets but I'm hoping it'll motivate me to go for things that I've already seen before and at the very least, get out a little more.

Sunday 3rd January
Being down in Norfolk for a few days over New Year, gave me an opportunity to make a start on the year list. We started at Weybourne for the large mixed Redpoll flock before moving on to Kelling, Salthouse and then onto Choseley. As we had to be back just after lunch, we weren't able to connect with everything we'd intended to but had at least made a start.

Friday 15th January
First stop was Filey Brigg, where the Surf Scoter was soon found close in shore, being flushed by a group of birders down on the rocks, it then flew further into the bay, giving better views.

Surf Scoter (Honestly!!) - Filey

Other birds of note were several Great Northern and Red Throated Divers, Shag and a Rock Pipit. I then headed up towards Scarborough, stopping in at Holbeck carpark for the regular Mediterranean Gulls, which were nearly run over when parking the car!!

Mediterranean Gull - Holbeck

Onto the Scarborough harbour, the Black necked Grebe was soon picked out, fishing in between the fishing boats.

Friday 22nd January
Basically, the wettest I've ever been whilst birding.  No sign of any of the Richard's Pipits at Flamborough in driving rain for the 2 hours I was there, of course by the time I'd driven home and the rain had stopped, they were back!!

British Year: 90
Yorkshire: 73

Friday 29th January
After last weeks wash out, I headed back to North Landing, Flamborough in much drier conditions, even if it was a little windy to say the least. Arriving on site, I opened the car door, only for everything to be blown out by the gale force winds, not to be put off, I grabbed my bins and coat and headed to the first field along from the carpark. However, within about 5 mins I was again soaked to the skin by the torrential downpour that was streaming down the coast. I carried on but struggling to stand up, I decided to head back to the car. 15 minutes later and the rain had eased so I decided to give it another go, now with my waterproof trousers on, I headed back. Immediately, I was greeted with one Richard's Pipit flying into the next field and one still showing in the main field. Although I was a little disappointed not to get all 3 pipits together, I was just relieved to finally connect.

"The Field" at North Landing, Flamborough

3 Richard's Pipits (Photo by Andy Hood)

Next, I headed south to Barmston, hoping to connect with the Kumliens Gull, but with the wind as strong as at Flamborough, there were very few gulls on the beach, a lone Sanderling kept the list ticking over.

Needing to be back for school pick up, I headed home, getting a large mixed flock of Redwings and Fieldfares on the way.

British Year List: 94
Yorkshire Year List: 78

Fair Isle At The Second Attempt!!

After a particularly unsuccessful trip to Fair Isle for the Siberian Rubythroat, several years back, I vowed to never return. That was all set to change back in July 2013, with the trapping of not one but two Swinhoe's Petrels, the second bird was retrapped several times, allowing 20-30 birders to twitch it, with the final trapping occurring in early September. At the time, it hadn't really occurred to me to actually consider going for it, but after a successful twitch for the American Herring Gull in Campbeltown earlier this year, it seemed that there were several other people who may also be interested in giving it a go.

Fast forward to 7.30am on 9th July 2014, I was just getting the kids up and ready for school, when my phone started going crazy:

MEGA ALERT 
Shetland - Swinhoe's Petrel again Fair Isle re-trapped at 1.45am, individual first trapped in 2013

Aaaarrrrggghhhhh! That threw a spanner in the works, panic mode, that was nearly two weeks earlier than last year and not what we were expecting just yet. With the kids finally sorted, Amy off to school and Toby out with mummy for the day, plans were hatched. With the new BTO regulations in place, making the birds welfare the priority, we knew that things weren't going to be as straight forward as last year. After several telephone conversations with FIBO, it seemed that it was do-able but would require a lot of luck.

Things came together and with a couple of retraps, we decided that it was now or never, we had to do this before the entire petrel ringing season was cancelled for the year.

We all met up at an airfield in Nottinghamshire on Tuesday 15th July and flew up to Fair Isle, arriving just a couple of hours later, where we were met by David the warden of FIBO, who kindly transported us to the observatory. We still weren't sure that there would even be any actual petrel ringing that night as the weather wasn't perfect. At 11.30pm, it was decided that the weather had improved sufficiently and the conditions were now looking ideal, game on!!!

The Havens - the large stones on the grass are used to weigh down the nets

We all assembled in the generator hut and waited for the petrel ringing to start, several European Storm Petrels, were trapped in quick succession, but as the time passed, the tension grew. As a part of the sessions, members of the public are allowed to release the birds once they've been rung, so I volunteered to have a go. While letting the stormie rest on the palm of my hand, before flying off into the night, David announced that the Swinhoe's was calling and by using your bins, you could make out it's larger shape, flying around the nets, it was here and we just needed it in the nets. I ran back into the hut and just minutes later it was caught and  processed.

Swinhoe's Storm Petrel (Photos by Mark Rayment)

Swinhoe's doing it's thing!!

What a truly amazing trip it had been and couldn't believe we had pulled it off. Massive thanks have to go to all at the observatory for all of their fabulous work and patience with the daily phone calls. Hope to be back soon, perhaps to lay the ghost of that Rubythroat!!!!