The Shat Birder

Raptor Feast

2012-01-15T20:00:00.012Z

Given Saturday was so clear and crisp, a few texts in the morning to Gonzales and Machete and we were M62 bound, on our way to Blacktoft Sands for what we thought would be a good raptor day. The early signs were good. Nearly every bush on the way there had a Kestrel, poised for anything that moved.

Blue Tit

Once there, as with most people, the plan was to start at the top end and work our way down, finishing at the best hide for the harrier roost. The hide was packed though, at one point totalling 30 birders. We couldn't even get a seat by a window. Instead birding from a bench at the back, through the back of peoples heads. Hence no pictures! The roost itself was good though. Around 15 Marsh Harriers came in whilst a very distant Barn Owl quartered the reeds, often out of view. The definite highlight though and the main reason for the journey, was both male and female Hen Harrier drifting in at dusk, at times in the same field of view through the binoculars. The female was picked out first and when the cry of 'ringtail' rang out, you could feel the buzz around the hide. Unfortunately due to persecution they are getting harder and harder to see, so it was a moment savoured.

Tree Sparrow

Second time lucky for the Great Grey Shrike wasn't to be, although it was a fleeting visit rather than a detailed search of the area. A skein of Pink Footed Geese were a nice sight though.

A shrike free zone, for me anyway!

Castle Hill shrouded by low cloud

A setting sun from Langsett Reservoir dam wall.

A short afternoon stroll yeilded Crossbill, Siskin and Coal Tit in the treetops and Red Grouse on the adjacent moor.

Sadly the places visited and birds seen haven't been too camera friendly to be fair. Distant harriers in the Blacktoft twilight, flushed partridges that were away like lightning and finch flocks in the highest pines! Ah well.

European Greenland From Tundra?

2012-01-09T19:46:00.018Z

As per recent Christmas breaks, we headed over to Filey on the 28th to see the New Year in over there, before returning on the 2nd. Partly due to my return to work but more importantly to watch the World Championship Darts Final! Much to Miss Piggy's disgust.

A late afternoon visit to Bempton Cliffs on the 30th was the only pre New Year birding done. I was rewarded though with a stunning male Desert Wheatear, hence the visit. A bird that has been present now for some weeks. The only disappointment was the time it took for the bird to show, by the time I had locked eyes on it the light had faded fast. It ended up showing down to a few metres but it was simply too gloomy to take any reasonable photos. If it hangs around I may have another go?

The New Year came and I spent a small amount of time on the Brigg, at the Dams, and with the kids in Scarborough. Filey Bay was actually very quiet on the bird front and the tide times weren't favourable either. I nearly ended up on my arse twice trying to negotiate the mud slide down to the seawatching hide, in the end to see fuck all. The wind was howling in making the sea far too choppy for the sea ducks and divers, so it was a cold and empty handed trudge back compared to recent years.

Although I wasn't technically 'birdwatching' the binoculars came to Scarborough along with a quick stop off at Holbeck car park for the Mediterranean Gulls.

A nice adult Mediterranean Gull coming in for the bread

A first winter bird

The lobster pots dotted around the harbour seem alive with House Sparrows, a great place to hide from the gulls! A male on the lookout.

Herring Gull

A first winter Shag...ironically seen the day after my first winter shag. Which as always, ended in stale mate. Neither of us could think of anyone?

Once back from the East coast and sadly back to work, the following weekend saw me round the reservoirs. Huddersfield is in a purple patch at the minute thanks to some eagle eye local observers. Great Grey Shrike, Tundra Bean Goose, European White Fronted Goose and Whooper Swan were to name a few, not to mention the high possibility of the returning Ring Billed Gull still being in the recording area? So all in all some real quality. I have so far dipped on the Great Grey Shrike and the Bean Geese were second time of asking, so hopefully the Butcher Bird will come good?

Record shot from Ingbirchworth Reservoir, one of two Whooper Swans

The resident flock of Greylag Greese have played their part in what's turning out to be a great 'goose' winter by pulling in European White Fronted Geese. The remaining bird being present for a few weeks now at Royd Moor Reservoir.

A first winter European White Fronted Goose in with the Greylags

Pugney's and Angler's Country Parks, both in the Wakefield area have also done well with wildfowl this winter, but the best sighting of the day came in the form of a Red Kite drifting over Pugney's Nature Reserve. Angler's Country Park is currently sporting a nice male American Wigeon and Smew along with this White Fronted Goose of the Greenland variety.

Greenland White Fronted Goose

It's been an educational weekend comparing two differing varieties of the same species in fairly close quarters.

Welcome to the life of a sad bastard! I can hear my friends now.

Happy New Year

2012-01-04T20:22:00.008Z

Well, after limping to 178 species with the addition of Desert Wheatear at Bempton just before the new year, my annual goal of 200 fell somewhat short. Boss Man's birth in February came with the dreaded news that the poor little mite would have to spend his first month or so in the Special Care Unit and unfortunately he's been back since, but nearly a year on he's looking as good as ever thanks to his doting Mother and Big Sister. So when I say limped to 178, it's tongue in cheek (as this blog always is), as some things are so much more important....I'm going to get to 200 this year though, you may just have to bare with me!

Better Late Than Never?

2012-01-04T19:53:00.004Z

Given we went to Lanzarote in October I have been somewhat lacklustre in getting the few 'bird' photos I took onto the blog. It was two weeks of chillout, so very little birding was done, although I did keep my eye out. If I wasn't laid on a sunbed judging people through dark glasses I was in the sand pit arseholing kids at French Boules. A feat that earned me a certificate, a certificate that was presented on the show bar stage in front of 500 pissed up Scots by Dizzy the Dolphin and Shades the Shark. A proud moment.

Berthelot's Pipit

The hotel had a decent garden area which became a regular route if Boss Man needed settling. It was very good for migrants in particular, with flycatchers and warblers being present every day. The scrub around the hotel itself also bagged me Southern Grey Shrike, Berthelot's Pipit, Hoopoe and Trumpeter Finch.

Spanish Sparrow

Yellow Legged Gull

Keeping Miss Piggy Up At Night!

2011-11-07T20:43:00.004Z

Miss Piggy would pass out just looking at these photos!

House Spider

Motion Sensitive Camera

2011-11-07T20:23:00.003Z

In light of the recent 'sightings' I thought it best to check the images from the motion sensitive camera I had placed at Shepley Train Station. The results were astounding!

Eurus Doesn't Come To The Party?

2011-10-10T20:24:00.019+01:00

Filey's ringing week started this weekend so fingers were crossed, but Eurus the Greek God of the East wind just didn't want to play ball. To the degree where on Sunday they made the decision to postpone it for a few days. Not only were the westerlies not helping in the slightest, the wind was so strong the risk of the mist nets getting damaged was just too high. This handsome male Great Spotted Woodpecker was the bird of note during my time with the ringing team.

My thanks go to Chris the ringer, who's hand took a barrage of abuse whilst letting me take a photo! Apparently 'Pecker Rash' is the official term when a woodpecker's gone to town on your hand! Miss Piggy took some convincing though that I'd put a ring on a woodpecker's leg when I once got pecker rash on a stag do in Amsterdam?

Having enjoyed the previous Skua and Shearwater Cruise so much, mainly helped by a Sabine's Gull, I decided another trip, the last of the season, could easily be fitted in. It also looked like I wasn't going to miss much at Filey Country Park either? It was another superb trip. Three skua species were seen Arctic, Great and Pomarine with Little and Mediterranean being the pick of the gulls.

Gannets were never far away for the entire trip.

Pomarine Skua

Great Skua

A mixture of Herring Gull and Great Backed Gull of all age groups hung around for the fish bits being thrown overboard, to try and lure in an opportunistic skua

This juvenile Great Black Backed Gull actually looks dead! The photo captured it shaking excess water off after it had dived in for scraps!

A Kittewake trying to get in on the action whilst avoiding the bigger gulls.

A number of Redwing were on the move, migrating over the North Sea, with one poor individual getting picked off by a Herring Gull a mile or so from land. Spare a thought for these two though. A male Chaffich and Meadow Pipit flying perilously close to the waves and spray, avoiding the gulls, into a strong headwind. Sunday was probably the fist time I've wanted to shout at a bird! A 'go on son...you're nearly there...keep going' was just what the moment needed. Having seen it first hand, miles from land in the wake of another bird being unfortunately killed, my admiration for these birds making the crossing has risen ten fold.

Pectoral Sandpiper

2011-10-06T20:08:00.007+01:00

Given that this little beauty was first found nearly two weeks ago it's only now Ive been able to get these photos online! My computer has been to see the doctor, due to a virus? A virus from one of my subscription sites, so tomorrow morning the support staff at Birdguides and Big Black Naturals will be getting a piece of my mind.

In the past I have mocked phrases such as 'showing well but distant' so when I read that a Pectoral Sandpiper was 'showing well' on the main lake at Pugneys my first thought was 'how could this be'? A bird with any sense whatsoever stays well clear of the main lake at Pugneys as it's like Walthamstow dog track. Fair enough the birds that can swim out of the way do so, but anything feeding on the fringes surely can't stay for long? And surely can't be showing well? It will be a bag of nerves! The dogs will have scared it off long before I get there?

Showing well was an understatement! I honestly couldn't believe how confiding this bird was. It was feeding obliviously, at times 3 or 4 metres away. It was actually one of the best hours birding I can remember. Not only that, the weather was superb.

Given how it seemed to prefer the company of humans and it's reluctance to fly, I am not against the idea that due to the physicality's of being blown of it's migration course, it kept humans at an arms length to avoid predators while it recharged it's battery?

East Coast

2011-09-21T12:17:00.013+01:00

I like my cricket but the last few games of this season just seem to have dragged? The birdwatching this summer seemed to have ground to a halt also? So as the first cricket free weekend arrived, a trip to the East coast seemed inevitable. An hour in, and the bug was well and truly back. It was just good to get the binoculars around the neck and head out to see what could be found. Living in Huddersfield the chance to watch seabirds is limited, so a favourite pastime on any weekend away is a good session scouring the sea.

Filey Brigg

The only way to hone those ID skills is practice, and practice with skilled observers is like birdwatching in a classroom. Small bits of advice and knowledge as birds are located and shared, are absorbed like a sponge in a learning curve that will never end. As I took my seat in the Filey seawatching hide though, the immortal birding phrase was uttered….’you should have been here five minutes earlier’. Why is it always me? And why am I always five minutes late? I should have learnt by now that over the years if I had set off five minutes earlier I would have seen a hell of a lot more birds! I had missed a Balearic Shearwater, a bird I would have loved to have seen, and birds aside, the few lucky sea-watchers, albeit a week earlier, had witnessed a breaching Minke Whale, which was likened to a canon as it crashed down! That would have been something to see…and hear! In the two hours I was there though a number of great birds were picked up, most notably Manx and Sooty Shearwaters, Sandwich Tern and Arctic Skua.

Although the official ringing week starts in early October, two ringers were in the country park and had processed a Pied Flycatcher and Whinchat before I arrived. A Garden Warbler was the pick of the birds in the nets, which was duly photographed.

Garden Warbler

Birding time sadly is (and some will say rightly so) compromised with family time. Miss Piggy dishes birding hours out like coupons, coupons I have to redeem in the afternoons of any weekend away. Fortunately Bridlington Leisure Centre isn’t a million miles from Hornsea Mere so naturally a ‘stop off’ was factored in! A worthwhile stop it was too as Little Gull, Red Crested Pochard and Egyptian Goose were soon notched up before Junior could even finish her Cornetto!

I actually didn’t want to go back, as I knew what was coming. Miss Piggy, Junior and new addition ‘Boss Man’ have passes to Reighton Sands Holiday Park, as they use the facilities when they come to Filey in the summer holidays. Junior wanted to go to the kids disco? I personally would rather trap my cock in a door but Miss Piggy had birding hours in the bank and she was determined to cash them in. Kids tear-arsing around with glow in the dark wands and guns that blow bubbles was made even worse by a pint of Guinness that was closer to Worcester Sauce than Irish nectar. The ‘Fun Team’ entertainers worked the kids into a frenzy whilst the bar area was how I’d envisaged the Jeremy Kyle show green room. As I’d coo cooed Boss Man into a deep slumber, Junior returned dripping with sweat and blue tongued from a Slush Puppy that’s E numbers were starting to take effect like mind bending drugs. The scene was far from illegal rave though, and as the Fun Team crecendo’d into the final throws of ‘I am the music man, I come from far away’ I really couldn’t give a shit what they could play. The stage was cleared for more fun and at precisely 9:37pm, as Gary the Gorilla called number 34, and ‘house’ was subsequently called on a distant table, I really can’t say what was worse? Leaving the Fun Works Mega Prize Bingo empty handed? Or the sinking realisation that at 31 years old, this was actually my Saturday night?

Sunday morning couldn’t come quick enough, I awoke early and with Miss Piggy & co wanting a lie in, I sloped away and chanced a seat on the Yorkshire Belle Skua & Shearwater Cruise departing from Bridlington Harbour. I didn’t have a ticket so was prepared for a ‘no room at the inn’ scenario, but dropped lucky as the cruise wasn’t fully booked. I also dropped lucky by bumping into a fellow Huddersfield birder so had good company for the 3 hour foray into the North Sea. My experience of ocean going vessels is limited so there’s always an element of apprehension with the unknown and that apprehension was cemented when a guy got on with a Violin? All I could think of was Titanic? It seemed a random item to take on a boat trip solely for birdwatching?

Common Tern

Given the style of the cruise, birds can easily be missed. Should they appear on the opposite side of the boat, its pure luck if you get a glimpse? 20mins in and we were questioning whether we had selected the correct side, as everything seemed to be behind us? An Arctic Skua was picked up fairly quickly, as too were feeding groups of Common Terns but if anything the weather conditions were just too good. The sun was beating down and the sea was very calm. Only Great Black Backed Gulls responded to the fish bits that were being thrown overboard, and they were in dwindling numbers. After an hour and a half the only excitement had been from the RNLI using the cruise as part of their practise routine.

With little wind, the trip was completely devoid of shearwaters and it looked like we may have a quiet cruise on the bird front. All was not lost though! Out of the blue, a superb adult Sabine’s Gull was picked up in full summer plumage, a stunning bird. It fed in the chum line for about twenty minutes giving both sides of the boat excellent views. Due to abnormal weather systems, 2011 has been a great year for this species and it was the third of the season seen from the cruise, an adult in this condition was a real highlight though.

Sabine's Gull

This picture isn't particularly a great one but shows clearly the size comparison between the dainty Sabine's Gull and a Great Black Backed Gull, along with it's striking wing markings.

Garden Wildlife

2011-07-28T20:11:00.008+01:00

Despite visiting Blacktoft Sands last Sunday, these photos are my latest outing with the camera..the garden being the outing! The weather was poor as I parked up at Blacktoft, so I opted to go armed with binoculars and telescope instead, and left the camera behind. Sure enough the sun eventually broke, but with hides packed to the rafters I decided a trudge back to the car would only loose the seat I had waited for? The birding was class! Marsh Sandpiper, Spotted Redshank, Wood Sandpiper, Spoonbill, Bearded Tit..the list goes on! A superb afternoon.

As the weather and temperature has improved these last few days, I could spend the evening hunting wildlife in the garden. Not sure if this is a young Wood Mouse or House Mouse? It gave a good hours entertainment though, in and out of the logs.

Hamstead Heath

2011-07-06T11:30:00.010+01:00

Well…. apologies to the few who keep checking! The posts have really dried up! The addition to the family and hectic cricket fixtures have meant birding has taken a back seat and the year list has suffered immensely. Hopefully come September I may be able to catch up with a few species I’ve missed on the East Coast. There has been a few ‘local’ goodies too which have caught my eye, but I simply haven’t had the time, most notably, what would have been an after work twitch straight to Old Moor RSPB for the Stone Curlew.

Common Tern

I have however added three new birds to my list when I recently took a ‘non birding’ stroll around Hamstead Heath in London, as part of a long weekend in the big smoke. I say non birding…I mean we went for a walk but I didn’t have my binoculars….not that I was ‘dog walking’ at 4am and accidentally bumped into a few guys, like one or two ‘married’ celebrities have claimed in the past?

It’s a shame that Hampstead Heath is more famous for other stuff than it is the scenery, as it was really nice. Given it was a scorcher, there were plenty if families picnicking, yoga classes etc and people swimming in the designated pools. Once you get off the beaten track though the nature was superb. Plenty of woodpeckers, swallows and swifts and one of the lakes hosted Mandarin with ducklings and a pair of Common Terns which were very confiding, probably used to the vast numbers of carp fishermen lining the banks.

A bonus tick for the year was catching up with a female Ring Necked Parakeet, certainly not a bird I see annually, and it’s normally fleeting views from the car should work ever take me to west side of the M25. Incidentally my first ever record was a flock of 20 or so heading over the motorway near to the Twickenham area which nearly caused a pile up as I hunched on the steering wheel as far forward as possible to look at them go over the car!

Ring Necked Parakeet - a poor record shot!

The weather stayed fine for the entire weekend, which made the weekend in actual fact as the main reason for the visit was two outdoor concerts in Hyde Park. Thursday saw me head nodding away to Mumford and Sons and Arcade Fire whilst Sundays gig was the eagerly awaited comeback for Jarvis Cocker’s, Pulp. It was two hours of solid jumping, finger pointing and singing! Absolute class……naturally, they’re from Yorkshire! At least they let you sing along! You should have seen the looks I got a few years back when I took my Mum to see Pavarotti! Wouldn’t mind, but I know nearly all the words to Nessun Dorma…in a fashion?

Condolences

2011-05-01T19:18:00.002+01:00

I was sad to hear this week that fellow Huddersfield birder Melvyn Collinson unfortunately passed away. Not only was Melvyn a genuinely nice guy, we also shared interest's in cricket as well as birdwatching. Melvyn had played for Skelmanthorpe Cricket Club and since his retirement, supported us both home and away. Our boundary edge chats about all things birds will be sadly missed. My sincere condolences go out to all his friends and family.

A few from the week off

2011-05-01T18:20:00.014+01:00

The various walls, fences and fields surrounding the local reservoirs provide a great opportunity to see some of the commoner farmland species.

Goldfinch

One of the many Bee's visiting the bushes at Broadstones Reservoir

Meadow Pipit

Pheasant

During the Easter break we managed to fit in a couple of days on the east coast. Although I didn't do much birding, I did manage to sneak in a quick twitch to get the Woodchat Shrike which had been found. And a cracker it was too, just too far for any acceptable photo. All these were taken either at Scarborough, whilst flitting from Dodgems to arcades or during a quick clifftop walk at Bempton Cliffs.

Gannet

Fulmar

Kittewake

Turnstone

Good Friday

2011-04-27T21:21:00.012+01:00

Thanks to William and Kate, booking time off work meant with the Easter weekend the fastest fingers first got eleven days off for the price of three. A bargain to say the least! Miss Piggy had girl shit planned on Good Friday so the week or so off got kick started with birding at Old Moor. A few migrants were on offer and were quickly picked up whilst on the connecting paths. Sedge Warblers sang from the reeds while Whitethroat and an elusive Lesser Whitethroat belted their songs out from the hawthorns. The Lesser Whitethroat got personal though, luring me into a test of will. I had narrowed the song down to a patch a metre square at most, but you just couldn't’t see it. Patience prevailed though and the bird broke first, showing itself briefly and gifting me the victory. It obviously knew I was prepared to wait!

Guess the duck! Feel free to leave a comment if you know what it is. If not, I will post the answer in a week or so. Sadly I don't have any prizes if anyone is successful!

Other year ticks came in the form of a pair of Common Terns and a late drake Pintail. I thought given it was a bank holiday it may be busier but the hides were quite sparse, which to be fair didn’t bother me in the slightest. A couple of hours though and I was ready to move on.

The plan was to finish off at Blacktoft Sands but given time was on my side, a stop off at Hatfield Moors could easily be factored in. I am quite a fan on Ten Acre Lake, a picturesque area which has been home to a Red Necked Grebe for the last few summers. Getting there though meant skirting around Doncaster, which is always a treat. It has been said that Doncaster isn’t twinned with anywhere in the world but has a suicide pact with Scunthorpe? There is a great sense of community though. It seems common practise for parents to leave longer gaps between children and it was great to see 14 and 15 year old girls helping mum and dad by taking their baby brothers and sisters out for a while, a caring and sensitive side to Doncaster that the hoards of tourists traversing the A1 simply don’t see. It’s touching in a way.

Small Tortoiseshell

The Red Necked Grebe showed well, as too did a three foot Grass Snake which in simple terms scared the fuck out of me, as I saw it quite late. This record shot is out of focus due to my hands trembling!

I have a severe dislike of snakes, but if knowledge conquers fear, experiences like this should go somewhere towards becoming a metre away from one, easier. I have been fortunate enough as a teenager to spend time in Mozambique and if the vivid memory of a Green Mamba falling from a thatched roof onto a table in a beach bar taught me one thing, it’s that they are far more scared of us than we are of them, if that’s possible? The snake took off amidst screams and breaking glasses as people trampled each other to flee the bar. An alarming couple of seconds to say the least! The speed of the thing was frightening, as too the Grass Snake. It disappeared as fast as it appeared but when a bramble tugged on my trouser it had me jumping like my shoes were on fire, even though I am fully aware they are harmless. An area of dead bracken though was a different story, the only way past was through, and it was like Snakesville!

A male Adder

I went slowly but loudly and tails were disappearing into the bracken left right and centre, and these were Adders? Again, they hate human contact, but it’s just the thought of walking through an area where there are snakes? If the experience taught me to be more relaxed around them, it also taught me that adrenalin is brown?

Grasshopper Warbler reeling his heart out.

Back to the car and Blacktoft bound, I had picked up two more year ticks before I had even entered the reserve. A roadside Yellow Wagtail by the entrance and a female Marsh Harrier hunting the adjoining fields got me off to a great start. Once inside, superb additions of a summer plumaged Slavonian Grebe, a showy Grasshopper Warbler and 100+ Avocets made for a quality finish to an already eventful day. I dipped on the Bittern which had been booming throughout the day, but I can’t grumble?

Avocet

Synchronised Swimming

Ingbirchworth Reservoir

2011-04-19T13:53:00.010+01:00

A quick evening stop off at Ingbirchworth Reservoir provided a lucky opportunity to get some cracking views of a basking Little Owl. The little fella kept his eye on me though! A wooden post provided an ample vantage point to survey the neighbouring fields. As nice as this encounter was, unfortunately there was some disappointment. During recent works at the reservoir it appears that the tree I photographed last year with the Great Spotted Woodpecker nest has 'disappeared'? Shame, as I spent many a happy hour sat watching them come and go?

Puffing up in a 'what you looking at' manner! Obviously you can't see from the pictures but their constant shuffling and head bobbing make them very charismatic birds to watch.

Some of the smaller wildlife

Peacock Butterfly

2011-04-13T13:21:00.008+01:00

An nice encounter with a Peacock Butterfly, getting up close and personal.

View from Cheesegate Nab

Back Out Birding

2011-03-30T12:30:00.004+01:00

Well, after a couple of months on the sidelines, Monday night saw the binoculars finally get draped over the neck with a moorland walk planned to take advantage of the extra hour of daylight. It’s been a busy period, with absolutely no birding being done since my last post as Miss Piggy came to the party on February 11th and brought into the world a bouncing baby boy. So it has been all hands on deck. Unfortunately the poor little lad couldn’t come home straight away and had to be expertly doted on in Barnsleys Special Baby Care Unit for nearly three weeks, making days seem to blend into each other, so birding as you can imagine took an obvious back seat. The good news is though he’s home and fighting fit. The biggest concern is surviving the onslaught of cuddles from his big sister, who is nappy changing, feeding and bed time story reading like a trooper.

I let Junior lead the way in a cracking hour or so walk on the moorland fringes. Curlews were plentiful as were Lapwings and the walk was accompanied by chortling Red Grouse and the spiralling flight song of displaying Meadow Pipit’s, which given the recent circumstances and lack of birding was a year tick! As too, a Short Eared Owl quartering the moor and a telegraph pole hugging Little Owl. Great sightings for me but more so for Junior who has a thing for owls.

As good as these were though, a sighting of a partially moulted Mountain Hare took some beating. Mountain Hares were introduced to the Peak District for hunting and remnants still hang on, with this area on Huddersfield’s border being one extreme of their range. It’s not a bad time of year to be out searching for them either as in a few weeks time when they have full summer coats, their colour against the heather will make them virtually undetectable if they remain still.

Meadow Pipit

I don’t know how successful a team we will be, but after adding a Macro lens to the armoury, Junior has taken on the role of finding the subjects. Hopefully in the coming months if the birds don’t play ball we can hopefully get some wildlife shots of the miniature variety?

Woodlouse

Fairburn Ings

2011-02-03T20:12:00.003Z

An early Sunday morning drop off at Wakefield train station in order to get the folks down to the Emirates Stadium for Huddersfield Towns FA Cup draw meant I could get a few hours birding in before Miss Piggy would even realise I was missing. Junior had stayed at her Grandparents so unless there was a comet strike it was unlikely Miss Piggy would stir? Given I was half way there; I decided to carry on to Fairburn Ings and have a couple of hours birding around the various hides and viewing screens. My first stop was Lin Dyke, as recent sightings had included a now regular Long Eared Owl roost and a small party of European White Fronted Geese. The latter were still present, grazing amongst a handful of Canada Geese but the Long Eared Owls weren’t showing. Due to the popularity of the owl roost with local birders, which for years has provided the opportunity to catch up with an otherwise elusive species, has meant that the viewing area is basically now a mud bath. So wellies are a must for any would be owl bagger. No owls, but a fly over Peregrine complete with quarry meant all was not lost. What looked to be an unfortunate Feral Pigeon would surely be a valuable catch as far as survival and re population of this once threatened species goes.

Mute Swan

The visitor’s centre is a maze of screens and feeders so with all the pools frozen, the bulk were a hive of activity, attracting all the common species along with a growing colony of Tree Sparrows. The stand out sighting though was a Mealy Redpoll, which was amongst a flock of 40 Lesser Redpolls. Redpoll ID has been put under the microscope lately on various websites and forums and plumages scrutinised to the finest of detail. Sifting through photos on various birding websites has given many people, including myself, a far better understanding of these birds but there is no substitute for field skills. A constantly moving treetop flock, coupled with the low winter sun flaring my binoculars meant identifying any of the key features would be tough. And it was. To the point I nearly walked away. My neck was aching from following flitting birds above me back and forth and sometimes it’s as though you’re actually trying to make birds into what they are not. That’s a Mealy! No it’s not it’s a Lesser. That’s a Mealy! No it’s not it’s a Lesser over and over. And that’s without throwing a recent report at Fairburn of Coue’s Arctic Redpoll into the mix! Even though you are confident you know what you are looking for? Its mind games of the modern birder!

Greylag Goose

A handful of birds eventually ended up on the ice, feeding below over hanging branches and although they weren’t stationary, they gave a far better, uninterrupted opportunity to study each bird individually. A good scan identified one of the birds as a stand out classic ‘frosty’ Mealy Redpoll, and to be fair, there was little deliberation. Luckily it was a stone waller. There may have been others present in the same flock but if you’re not sure, you’re not sure?

Langsett

2011-01-30T17:06:00.007Z

Although icy at first, Saturday shaped up to be a cracking day. I headed out mid morning and racked up a healthy 6 miles around Langsett Reservoir and its surrounding areas, albeit at a very leisurely pace. The bird life was pretty much what you would expect for this time of year with nothing seen that I would class as out of the ordinary. One thing that did surprise me though was the number of Goldcrests seen, flitting around the canopy. They appeared to be thriving given the recent cold snap, you somehow think that the smallest birds would be the first hit by the harsh conditions but this just didn’t seem the case. Siskins were also numerous but never really showed that well, constantly calling but generally always out of view.

One bird that did give itself away was a Treecreeper and not by its call, its claws were grating on the bark as it moved, but the volume of the noise didn’t fit the size of the bird? If I hadn’t of seen it, I would have dismissed it as an evasive Squirrel! Talking of bird calls though, I was alerted to a bird that simply had me scratching my head, I couldn’t see it either. There’s an old bird watching saying that if you don’t know what it is, it’s a Great Tit and after stalking the source of the sound for five minutes in bemusement, it finally showed itself. A Great Tit. So technically I did know what it was!!!

Partly iced over, the reservoir itself looked very inhospitable. Only three Canada Geese and a handful of Mallard were present favouring the fringes of the water with the moorland area having good numbers of Red Grouse but little else. Serious amounts of tree felling have taken place, which are part of long terms plans to make the area more suitable for a variety of woodland birds, so watch this space?

Given that this is just a personal diary of basically just being out doors, I decided to use a Global Positioning System to record the walk. As a trial run I found it quite interesting so will probably us it for future posts? Even if it’s just to look back on in a couple of years time? To view the walk, just click on the link below.

SCREENMEDIA SPRINTGPS & PEDOMETER PRO - SHARING

The calories burnt got vanquished in the cafe with a nice slab of Cornflake Cake! Absolute class!

A Bit of Local Stuff

2011-01-23T18:38:00.009Z

With nothing planned for the afternoon I decided to head off for a few hours and visit a few differing habitats around the Huddersfield area. The first stop was Holmfirth, Last of the Summer Wine country. I had only been out of the car for a minute or so when the distinctive call alerted me to two Dippers powering down the river. Although they kept their distance they really were great birds to watch, flitting from stone to stone before submerging for a few seconds then flying off again. Very entertaining….if you’re into that sort of thing!

The other highlights were three Goosander and further up the river a pair of Mandarin's mingling with the Mallards.

Male and female Mandarin's

Stunning little ducks, which captivated the children who had stopped to throw bread? I’m always dubious though regarding these birds as although they are not ringed, they just seem too comfortable around people. Whether that’s the influence of the Mallards which have now become accustomed to the hand outs, I’m not sure? But they don’t seem ‘flighty’ in the slightest. I don’t have a vast experience of Mandarin’s but others I have seen seem to avoid humans very much in the same way as other species such as Smew and Goldeneye? That said, given the recent conditions I’m not surprised they are taking advantage of a free meal.

Mallard - Fair enough, the oriental Mandarin has the colour, but the Mallard can be equally as exquisite.

From Holmfirth I headed out towards the moors and was soon parked up at Harden Reservoir for a walk along the tops. Other than a few overhead gulls I think Red Grouse was the only other bird species I saw? This gave me time though to concentrate on my new interest in tracking! I did find a couple of interesting things along the way; I may need some expert advice though to nail identification?

This pellet was next to the remains of what appeared to be a pigeon. The breast areas had been eaten and given the feathered content of the pellet it may have come from a Peregrine?

I will take any offers on this one? Haven't a clue what it could have come from? It looks like mould but it was actually full of white hairs. I wondered if Mountain Hares produce hair balls in a similar way cats do from grooming? Or is that just nonsense!

Red Grouse droppings

Lichen on a memorial stone - not sure why I've put this photo on given it has no relevance to anything mentioned! Just quite liked it?

The final stop on my mini adventure was High Hoyland. A dogleg walk from the church down to Jebb Lane produced a nice little flock of Brambling’s, which were perched in a tree along with Chaffinch, Yellowhammer and Reed Bunting. A light shower though put an end to a nice afternoon of local birding and I retreated back to the car before it could get heavier. Wimp!

Lords of the Ring...Bill?

2011-01-12T21:16:00.009Z

Its funny how the turn of the year reignites that little spark when it comes to getting back out there birding. Eagerly looking for birds you know you will see hundreds of throughout the year but getting that little buzz all the same, as another year tick gets added. Seen as its only Yorkshire’s second twitchable record, its no surprise that for many a local lister, Mirfield’s Ring Billed Gull was one of the better birds to bag early. A county crowd puller and easily the best bird on offer regionally at the dawn of 2011. I headed down this weekend like many others and after sifting through the comings and goings of small numbers of Black Headed and Common Gulls, I finally locked on the main event. My own error probably got me in the wrong place as the birds were front on, and with a number of them sleeping, I may have gone past the gull in question once or twice before getting on it for definite. A change of angle proved fruitful, offering much better views, as the now ‘awake’ Ring Billed Gull had un-tucked its head and become more active. A great bird.

Black Headed Gull

It was time though to move on. The Machete and Gonzales who I’d picked up en route were getting restless. As much as they like their birding, they also like a good walk, and as good as Sands Lane Gravel Pits has been for pulling in the rarity, it unfortunately lacks on the walking front. Going for a walk though with Gonzales is very much a blank canvas. Signs, walls and fences simply don’t faze him. His past adventures have seen him toe to toe with a farmer who claimed he’d looked into his bedroom with binoculars, going through a hole in a fence only pop out dodging machinery in a Biffa refuse site, and birding his way through danger signs into the middle of a paintballing game at the Bullcliffes outdoor adventure Delta Force camp.

Dunnock

Incidentally I once got taken out at a game of paintballing on my mates stag do, as I momentarily stopped because I thought I’d seen a Spotted Flycatcher! We were mixed up with other groups, put into teams, and packed off to storm our opponent’s base with a William Wallace style send off from the marshal, claiming that this would be the closest simulation available to modern day warfare. 20 minutes in to the game it got stopped, only to be then told that you couldn’t take hostages? Isn’t that modern warfare? And for the kids dad to then say we had ruined his sons birthday was a little over the top. Granted the swearing and pistol whipping was probably excessive, but he simply wouldn’t tell us where their base was? And who takes 12 year olds paintballing anyway?

Moorhen

Like Huddersfield’s answer to Ray Mears, Gonzales had us off along the river at Horbury. It was good too. The definite stand outs were a cracking male Red Breasted Merganser and a pair of Willow Tits in the Navigation Pub beer garden. I tried my best to get the drake Red Breasted Merganser, Goosander and Goldeneye all in one shot, but sadly that meant getting all the crap in view that’s stuck to all the riverside foliage.

Certainly not the best photo I’ve ever taken but the hope and vision was there. It’s just a shame that the tanks in the adjoining sewerage farm seem cleaner than the river? That said, there must be something in there? It attracts the sawbills every year.

I'm currently half way through a field guide to animals tracks and signs, so was hoping for some footprints to photograph so I could try and identify them later, sadly nothing. Not even an area of felled trees leading to a Beaver lodge! I seem to be swatting up on things I may not encounter in Huddersfield? The book features every little thing, but if anything sways more towards continental mammals. The following should be invaluable advice if venturing out in North America.

New Year

2011-01-05T19:45:00.008Z

Well I can’t believe it has been a year since my first post! And judging by the hit counter, someone must be reading it? With just over 3000 hits to date, my Mum has admitted to 2995 of them, so I would like to personally thank the five or so other people who have taken time out to have a quick read. Hopefully I can count on your support in 2011! This year will hopefully see much of the same, birding both local and afar, tongue in cheek reports and a fresh year list.

A foggy start to the year

The only thing I will be changing for the coming year will be the actual bird’s names on the list i.e Gannet to Northern Gannet etc. I don’t know how, but my shit jokes and deranged imagination have attracted followers from abroad, hence the bird names going international!! Hopefully I can get one or two new names on it too. In 2008 I wiped the slate clean and started a Yorkshire and UK list from scratch, mainly due to taking a few years out to concentrate on women, drinking and sport, and losing all my previous records! I did find a scribbled year list from when I was about 10 years old but entries such as Bar Headed Goose at Newmiller Dam and Black Swan at Fairburn Ings may not have referred to genuine vagrants? So at least my current lists leave me plenty of room for improvement in 2011 and the forthcoming years.

Ruddy Turnstone

Sanderling

Juvenile Greater Black Backed Gull

After a great Christmas we spent the New Year in Filey, I got to go birding, Miss Piggy got a lie in and Junior had the run of the sea front on her new bike, so all in all everyone was a winner. I got one or two nice birds on the list too. It seems strange but due to returning home after dark on the Monday and two subsequent days at work, I haven’t actually seen a Great Tit! Yet I’ve managed to see Red Necked Grebe, Velvet Scoter and two diver species?

Black Headed Gull

Herring Gull

Those certainly were the highs from the last few days, but the lows were flushing a Woodcock on the 31st but failing miserably the next day and missing the Iceland Gull in Scarborough Harbour completely. Sanderling’s charging around the car park by the Lifeboat Station and Holbeck’s wintering Mediterranean Gulls were a little compensation though.

Mediterranean Gull

An afternoon in Scarborough was the only time we left Filey out of the four days, so other than that, all my birding so far this year has been in the Sea Watching Hide, on the Brigg and Country Park or at the Dams. It’s been great too. Overcast quite a lot of the time and at points very cold by the sea but all in all very pleasant.

Purple Sandpiper

Great Northern Diver

I had to feel sorry for one poor photographer whom along with his partner, slightly mistimed their return from the Brigg and unfortunately got cleaned up to the knees with an incoming wave. It’s a trudge back to the car park anyway, nevermind with wet shoes and jeans. They appeared to see the funny side though.

Mallards - Waiting for the thaw at Filey Dams

Fairburn Ings

2010-12-29T17:33:00.006Z

Firstly Happy Christmas, I hope everyone got what they wanted! I feel like I’ve put on about three stone over the last week. It’s just been eating, drinking, Ashes Cricket and World Championship Darts, with a few nature documentaries thrown in, but isn’t that what Christmas is all about? A few long walks are going to be on the menu, to burn off the effects of the festivities. Unfortunately, due to a hectic lead up to Christmas, birding has taken a slight back seat but the fire was rekindled on Christmas morning when a few bird books got unwrapped! Come January 1st I should be fully recharged and firing on all cylinders with the list reset at zero.

Just quickly going back to the nature documentaries, this may come across as a bit of a rant but whilst watching a re-run of Life, the BBC’s flagship series of nature programmes, I was amazed to discover a creature called the Fried Egg Jellyfish. The resemblance was uncanny, but Fried Egg! Come on. Surely there’s something more respectful than that? I actually feel sorry for the Jellyfish! And there’s something I thought I would never actually say! How is thousands of years evolution rewarded by the name Fried Egg? I can only think that the pinnacle of any Naturalist’s career is to discover a new species. And let’s be fair, Marine Biologists have a very high chance of doing this with such vast areas of ocean still to be discovered and the ground breaking technology to assist them. But as pulses race at the possibility of unearthing a world first, who then decides to call it Fried Egg! It’s as though they’ve had a party at Scarborough Sea Life Centre and done a guess the name of the Jellyfish competition for the kids.

I just hope these jokers don’t find anything else! For the animals sake! It’s a good job the majestic Orangutan has already been discovered. If these clowns had have found it, it could have been the Baked Bean Monkey or something?

Rant over.

Robin

The only birding I’ve done recently was a run out to Fairburn Ings, which saw me doubling up with my equally bored Dad. He was suicidal after Towns home defeat to Hartlepool so needed to get out of the house, so asked if I fancied a run out to Fairburn. Anyone who is familiar with Fairburn Ings will know the Village Bay area, and that’s where we started, we knew it would be frozen but felt the river may be worth checking out. Upon parking up we were met by two fire engines and two police cars. Why? You may be thinking, and so were we? The answer left us both in sheer disbelief. A family had decided to go for a walk on the ice! This was seen and reported to the emergency services by one of the residents whose garden looks out over the bay. We were just shaking our heads? Its one thing to do something that stupid, yet take a child with you is utter madness! Fortunately they made it back un-harmed, yet when confronted by the Police and Fire Crew’s, they couldn’t understand the “fuss” that was being made!

Goldeneye

That aside, the birding remained to be as expected. Good numbers of Fieldfare and Redwing were overhead, with Song Thrush and Blackbird feeding in the bushes. Sadly, one of the Mute Swan’s, which were now confined to a small area of ice-free water, along with various other species, had succumbed to the conditions, and perished. A sad sight. Yet a visible reminder of the elements taking its toll, with even the largest of British birds suffering. The river held Tufted Duck, Goldeneye and Great Crested Grebe along with plenty of Cormorant and Gooseander which were all taking advantage of the ice free waters.

Coot

Shoveler

The feeders near the visitors centre were also busy, with Chaffinch and Goldfinch mingling with Great and Blue Tit. The pick of the birds had to be a brief visit from a Willow Tit and a flash of brilliant blue from a Kingfisher, stunning birds! Tree Sparrow’s were also plentiful with Dunnock and Pheasants doing the hoovering up on the floor.

Pheasant

I even made it into the shop and only purchased a drink, which for me is unbelievable! I can’t remember the last time I went to a reserve and didn’t come away with a magazine at least. Must be getting tight in my old age! That, or I’d got most of the books already?

Kingfisher

A Bit of Huddersfield Scenery

2010-12-02T21:12:00.011Z

These are just a few locations around the Huddersfield area, taken over the last few days. I did a lap of Langsett Reservoir on Sunday in the hope of tracking down a Great Grey Shrike that had been reported, no luck on that front but to be fair it's one of my favourite places locally, so it was by no means a 'dip'. It was nice just to be out there in glorious sunshine, albeit with a very chilly breeze! There are a few felled areas now which look perfect for the shrike, the largest area though isn't viewable from the path so it could have been lurking anywhere, if it was even still present? These picture may be better clicked on to enlarge them slightly?

Langsett Reservoir

Red Grouse

Castle Hill with a distant Holme Moss

A view down to Bretton Lakes

The view from the garden - now you see it!

Now you don't!

Pied Bill to Parakeet's

2010-11-21T19:30:00.007Z

The last few weekends have produced some nice birding but very limited opportunities to photograph anything, I'm a birder foremost, that said, it's always nice to show off some of the sightings. Last Saturday morning I made the trip over the border to Hollingworth Country Park to see the Pied Billed Grebe. Over 100 people were present but the bird wasn’t half as obliging as it had been reported and photographed the previous days. It kept its distance, favouring the far side of the sheltered bay in which it had taken up residence, maybe due to the swelling numbers of visitors? I stayed for around an hour and a half but it never came anywhere near as close as some of the locals were saying it had done previously. Having seen some of the photos taken on other days, I would be embarrassed to post the record shots I took, which merely show it as a speck! They are up there with my King Eider photo!!!

I am normally chained to my desk at work, very rarely getting the chance to get out. This week was different though, I had to meet someone in London. To save the hassle of the Monday morning rat race I made the trip down on the Sunday night and stayed at my sisters. To cut a long story short, I had a meeting in the centre but then had to head out to Kingston Upon Thames. It was this drive that got me another sighting for the year, Ring Necked Parakeet. A few small flocks flew over parklands as I made my way out and I also saw a few perched in a dead tree quite close to the M25. It was a bonus year tick really.

Castle Hill

When two tectonic plates collide big things happen, so when I got invited out with two stalwarts of the local birding scene I was expecting a feast. With combined experience of 130 years, I am merely Daniel to their Mr Miyagi. They mentored me and chauffeured me as boy, passing on identification tips and local knowledge. They still do to this day. There isn’t a stone unturned by these two in Clayton West, Emley and Bretton. Both ex gang leaders, their paths met whilst sharing a cell in the big house, it was this chance meeting that would later fuse the foundations for a local birding super power. Whilst inside, the pair found the Christian faith, which would in time, carve the way for a premature release. Years on and they are still known in some circles by their gang names and bare visual reminders in the form of tattoos of the underworld life they have since left. Mick ‘the machete’ Sellars was arrested in the late eighties when his human trafficking ring was infiltrated by undercover agents and brought to the fore. For years he had made a tidy sum smuggling people from Flockton into Emley and was seen by some as a martyr, a modern day Robin Hood who risked it all to try and give these people from Flockton a better life.

Ian ‘Gonzales’ Rank, a Gambian bird expert, fell foul of his own fear as minutes before boarding a plane to Banjul, ‘Gonzales’ reacted badly to a patrolling sniffer dog in his close proximity. His phobia of dogs caused unease and his fidgeting behaviour was picked up by airport security. He was later found with three tins of snuff taped to the inside of his leg.

My mentors

The Machete and Gonzales are old school and that’s what I like about them, they are still phoning Birdline North East, I’ve tried my best to get them into the internet side of birding but to no avail. To be fair though, it was only a year ago that I thought a blog was an online diary for an American family to chronicle the trials and tribulations of their three sons Chad, Buck and Randy. I actually saw pro bull riding recently on ESPN and one guy was called Pistol! How tough is that! I best not upset anyone over the pond though as my brother in law is American. Luckily he’s one of the cool ones. He doesn’t clap and cheer when a plane touches down.

Great Tit trying to dislodge a nut

I tagged along with Mick and Ian to Bretton Lakes, taking in the High Hoyland church area, where finch numbers appear to be building again. Bramblings were amongst Chaffinch and Greenfinch, and small numbers of Reed Bunting and Yellowhammer were also present.

It was all the ‘usuals’ on the lakes, however three Gadwalls were present, not a species I have come across at all regularly in this area.

The aptly named Turkey Tail fungus

Back to the Patch

2010-11-01T20:17:00.005Z

With a recent report of a Yellow Browed Warbler on my very road! It was clear I probably wasn't giving the surrounding area my closest attention. That said, a 9 to 5 job makes sure that many slip the net! So a few walks locally have been the weekend's agenda, mainly for Junior, who's autumnal school topic has fortunately prized her away from Tom and Jerry and got her out there, looking, listening and collecting.

The mist was thick but the leaves broke through, with the only noise other than bird song being the miniature steam train, as it passed below a few times. We didn't hit on anything rare, but the resident Little Owl certainly livened things up for Junior! With her response being "it can't be an owl, it's too little"? Too much Harry Potter I think?

King of all he surveys!

Birding Gold

2010-10-17T20:01:00.008+01:00

This weekend was to be a quiet one, with absolutely nothing planned. Birding would feature though but I decided with the few hours I had to get out I would stay local, or local ish? I actually ended up at Anglers Country Park. It was quiet on the bird front with the only tick for the morning being a female Scaup, a powerboat went out though which more or less cleared the top reservoir of bird life, so I headed back to the main hide.

Every once in a while it’s a pleasure to be in the presence of greatness, bird hides give you the opportunity to meet a wide variety of characters, some blend into the background as mere pleasantry’s are exchanged, others are immortalised in my mind as sheer one offs. Guy’s who are amusing, guy’s who are great storytellers, guy’s who are generally wrong or guys like I met this weekend, blinkered towards their own superior field skills.

Nuthatch

By his own admission he was a top top birder. A couple who were also in the hide were beginners, eager to learn, but had asked for a few birds they were uncertain about confirming, nothing out of the ordinary, just birds that had differing plumages, particularly at this time of year, to the pictures in their book. Now if someone asked me in a hide to take a quick a look at a bird to see what my thoughts were it would be a pleasure. That’s to say I would know what it is! There’s a lot more I don’t know about birds than I do! Unfortunately they didn’t ask me though; they asked the guy to other side of them? His response naturally was positive “of course” he said, “it’s your lucky day, you’re probably sat next one of the best birdwatchers in Yorkshire” he meant it too! And who am I to disagree, I just thought it was quite a bold statement?

Blue Tit

To prove this, he not only identified the Tufted Duck in question, he gave a breakdown of its plumage in a manner to which I had to have a quick look around to see if I hadn’t somehow found myself in a zoology lecture. All of which was completely over the couple’s head. He was on a roll though, and I was privileged to be a part of it, I had a box seat for a birdwatching master class. Every bird was now being identified, along with comments like “what you find with the aythya's is…..”? Obviously they didn’t have a clue what he was talking about, the second they went to say something he went “sshhh” whilst holding his finger up towards them in a don’t interrupt manner, and after a short silence would say “Linnet”. The best though was yet to come. He then went on to point out to the couple what he said was a Meadow Pipit, perched on a wire. You could hardly see the pylon the wire was connected to, never mind call the speck on it a Meadow Pipit! It would have had to be the size of a Woodpigeon to be even seen at that range! I actually felt like the couple were getting duped? So I enquired politely “how the hell can you tell that’s a Meadow Pipit from here” to which he simply replied “jizz”. For my family and certainly my friends, “jizz” is a word used for the outline shape of a bird. Jodrell Bank wouldn’t have identified this fucker never mind the pair of RSPB branded 8x32’s he was using!

Great Tit

I was actually toying with the idea of going to Spurn Point today but decided in the end to go to Bretton Lakes instead, the main reason being I slept in! The weather was as good as it gets for this time of year, which seemed to bring the place to life. It was the usual suspect’s bird wise however a very brief highlight was a sighting of a Water Rail, which flew from the island straight towards the hide, once it landed though it was more or less invisible. The odd rustle kept giving away its location but it was never in view. A Cormorant put an appearance in, as did two drake Pochard’s, but the rest was pretty much what you would expect. A very peaceful and pleasant two hours.

Robin

Ringing Week

2010-10-11T19:53:00.017+01:00

Miss Piggy had made it clear earlier in the week that I may as well not exist come the weekend. With ‘girly’ things planned on both days and the start of the shit factor live shows coupled with Strictly Come Dancing, I was neither going to see them nor get the TV at any point come 6:30pm. Filey then! I had already had my appetite whet earlier in the week by Ian Robinson, a Filey birder who was in town giving a talk on Sea Birds of the Southern Oceans for The Huddersfield Birdwatching Club, and thoroughly enjoyable it was too.

Filey’s ringing week was to start, heightening the chances of something rarer being found and a quick look on the Met Office website suggested the winds could conjure up a biggy? I set off late morning on Saturday, getting up to the ringing area around 2-00pm. Ian incidentally was the first person I bumped into, and he quickly alerted me to a Radde’s Warbler sighting from earlier in the day. It hadn’t been seen for a few hours, but plenty of birders had now congregated and were spread out around a 10m x 50m area of scrub just north of the caravan park. It was very dense in places giving the bird, if it wanted, plenty of cover. Now I don’t have a self found list and to be fair this wouldn’t get itself on there, but if I had a ‘re-found’ list this would be top of the pile. I was the lucky sole to find it again! I had wandered away from the building numbers of birders, just to have a look in another area, and guess what I found! A Radde’s Warbler! In a clump of nettles, fly catching from the stems! Some vigorous hand gestures and pointing alerted the only other person in view - a local Filey birder, to its location, which he duly put out on the walkie-talkies. As he approached it showed well for us both, for a matter of seconds, before alighting in front of another birder approaching from another direction, giving off three sharp “takk” notes, then ditching into some undergrowth. Excitement over though, as for the remainder of the weekend it showed in ten second bursts for the few lucky ones who happened to be in the right place at the right time. Many many birders were led a merry dance and from the general feeling it seemed more missed out than actually saw it, I was one of the lucky handful.

The ringers had been kept busy too, processing over 300 birds in the two days I was there. Goldcrest’s and Robin’s were everywhere! Redwing’s tumbled out of the sky and small flocks of Brambling's crashed into the trees. An awesome sight!

Chiffchaff

Garden Warbler

Blackcap

Meadow Pipit

A great sighting was a Jack Snipe coming in off the sea onto the country park, which was shouted out by a small group of guys who were still holding out for the Radde’s Warbler. My sincere thanks; as without the tip off it would have completely passed me by un-noticed?

Redwing

Song Thrush

Redstart

Goldcrest's

A feeding flock of Siskin which must have kept me captivated for the best part of an hour.

It wasn’t just the Radde’s Warbler though that was causing a stir, the ringers had trapped and rung a Yellow Browed Warbler which never got relocated after its release and a Pallas’s Warbler had also been found in the area known as Church Ravine. Both birds evaded myself and many more in the hunt, I couldn’t get too down heartened though given the sightings that I’d had of the other birds this weekend.

Black Redstarts

2010-09-25T17:51:00.006+01:00

With a failed attempt already under my belt it only seemed right that part of this weekend should be spent trying to locate one of the Black Redstarts at Langsett. A quality bird anyway! Never mind one in the Huddersfield area. I’d given it my best shot previously but wasn’t helped in the slightest by the weather so I was hoping for something a bit better and this morning was, clear blue skies just a bit chilly. I just headed to the right area and waited. It’s a strange one. Is the track leading up to and through the farm buildings where the birds have been seen private? Should I be there? Am I trespassing? I went for it anyway and strolled straight up. After twenty minutes though, my questions were answered. A 4x4 slowed to a halt beside me and the interrogation as to my reasons for being there begun. He was the typical old farmer, flat cap, bedraggled wirey grey hair, side burns like steel wool. I explained the rambler’s right to roam but he wasn’t having it. The exchange of words soured and he got out of the Land Rover. Luckily I got the first punch in which stunned him somewhat but he came back well catching me twice with a couple of beauties. He was one of the toughest seventy year olds I’ve ever fought, the hardest though being an extra on The Last of the Summer Wine a few years ago in Holmfirth, he was like a Kelly Doll, he just kept getting back up?

If I was to have any chance though against this enraged septuagenarian landowner, I had to fight my way, and get him to ground. Once we were grappling in the mud I just had to bide my time and let all the things I’d learnt as a teenager watching countless Royal Rumbles and Smackdowns come to fruition. It wasn’t long either before I had the old boy in a Figure Four, gradually forcing him into a submission. He soon tapped out and the whole thing was ended amicably, I dusted off and returned his flat cap before offering him my lens cleaner in a bid to stop the blood. He went on his way, leaving me free to bird watch.

Shortly after, I got my first glimpse of the Black Redstarts, two females flitting from dry stone wall to field and back, gradually working their way around the perimeter of the field, just sadly always out of range. I decided to have a slow walk back to the car and hopefully catch up with them again further round as it was that direction they were heading. A female Merlin came into view though, which diverted my attention for a good few minutes as it whizzed through the area. As I neared the opposite end of the field to which I’d started, the Black Redstarts kept gradually edging closer, so it was sit and wait time and after 10 minutes or so they were close enough to get some nice record shots. Lovely birds, and a nice Huddersfield tick too.

Sooty and Snow

2010-09-20T17:30:00.018+01:00

Well it’s been a good weekend on the birding front with a nice few additions to add to this years sightings. A couple of Black Terns at Pugneys got the ball rolling before heading over to Filey for the weekend which had been planned months ago by Miss Piggy as a celebration of the cricket season coming to an end!

I was out of the house on Saturday morning before Miss Piggy and Junior awoke, in the hope I could get a few hours birding in before the start of Miss Piggy’s weekend of fun. I headed straight to the Brigg. Over the next few hours clouds gave way to sunshine and it turned out to be a cracking morning, the waves crashing into the Brigg making it spectacularly so. I enjoyed the company of two other sea watchers during my stay, although one guy was more into the photography side than the actual birding so I will be keen to see his images from the morning.

Check out his website @ www.yorkshireartphotography.co.uk which I have added a link to.

It started well with a good movement of Red Throated Diver and I had a Great Skua within minutes of setting my scope up, but as the clouds parted it seemed the more scarce sea birds just dried up. Gannets were constant and the odd Sandwich Tern put in an appearance but the single skua already mentioned was it, and no sightings of any shearwaters? Lapland Buntings had been seen further up along the cliff top and as much as fancied scouring the area it was time to head back. I did walk the long way back which took in part of the area they had been seen within, but to no avail. The numbers that have been recorded in the Western Isles though recently makes me think there will be other opportunities to catch up with this species in the coming months as they gradually disperse.

The bonus sighting of the weekend came when I wasn’t actually meant to be bird watching. The last time we went to Hornsea Mere we were literally just stopping off but Junior had fancied a go in the rowing boats, always the peacemaker, a ride was promised the next time we came to the east coast, hence our visit this time around. Steve Redgrave can sleep easy in the knowledge that I won’t be a threat to his record anyway. It was knackering. Junior loved it though so I suppose that was the main thing. As we headed back to the car though, a few birders looked poised, and not one to miss out I got my binoculars and headed straight over. They were on a Snow Bunting, it was a cracker too, the local Pied Wagtails wouldn’t let it settle though and it eventually took to the air flew out of view. It was one of those ‘right place at the right time’ sightings.

Sunday I was off early to meet a friend of mine, Mick, in Bridlington for the RSPB Skua and Shearwater cruise which heads out on the Yorkshire Belle. The weather was awful; anyone who saw us queuing up at 8-30am in Bridlington Harbour in the pouring rain must have thought we were out of our minds.

Sooty Shearwater

Arctic Skua

A Great Skua (bottom right) harassing gulls

As we got out beyond Flamborough Head the rain did start to bait but it remained very overcast the entire trip. The birding was good though, with 3 Sooty Shearwaters, 2 Great Skua’s and 1 Arctic Skua being the birds of note with Pink Footed Goose, Red Throated Diver, Sandwich Tern and Common Scoter also being seen. Gannet’s were plentiful and Great backed Black Gulls were constant, hanging around for fish scraps, which were being thrown in to draw the birds closer.

Gannet

Waiting to plunge in!

Great Black Backed Gull - Adult

Juveniles

One bird of interest, which followed the boat for a short while, was an adult Herring Gull, this bird though showed characteristics of the Scandinavian race Argentatus, which are a slightly darker tone of grey (albeit on a very dull day) and show less black to the tip of the wings in contrast to larger white patches on the finger tips? The hardcore gull enthusiasts out there might disagree though? A few of the photos hopefully capture some of the characteristics mentioned so it’s out there for debate!

Possible Scandinavian Herring Gull?

Back Out And About

2010-09-16T18:51:00.008+01:00

Well it has been a month or so but this weekend I finally laid the cricket season to rest and finally got back out there. Thought I’d ease myself back in with a run out to Old Moor. I had a good couple of hours too. I managed to pick out 4 Curlew Sandpiper, feeding in a fairly secluded area, and 2 Spotted Redshanks resting on a spit. The big challenge though was to sift through numbers of Teal to find a juvenile Garganey. I had to wave the white flag in the end and admit defeat. I’m fairly confident if it was still there it was one of the birds asleep by the waters edge. I must have checked every bird on the water ten times, it became like a magic eye picture, and the more I stared the more I started to see things! Just not a Garganey!

If I’ve learnt one thing though this weekend, it’s that I need to brush up on Dragonflies and Damselflies. They were buzzing around the paths to the hides and in most cases offering good photo opportunities, but a book is needed I think? When it comes to nature I am always up for broadening my horizons so will get swatting and hopefully strengthen this chink in my armoury! Like a fool I walked obliviously past the bookshelves on my way out where I’m sure there would have been a book to answer all my questions? I will post the photos anyway but will welcome any identification advice. Think one of them is a Common Darter but that’s as far as I’m prepared to stick my neck out?

Not sure what this is either?

Red Admiral

After that I headed to the area of Langsett where the pair of Black Redstarts had been seen a few days before, I hung around for an hour or so but the windy conditions made sure I was always against it so I came away windswept and empty handed, anything with a brain would have been out of the way sheltering. Plenty of Meadow Pipits and Swallows went over but other than that it was fairly quiet.

Pheasant

Dunnock

Time was still on my hands and apart from the wind it was a very nice day so I decided upon a lap of Scout Dike before returning home. Again, not a vast amount of birds but a pair of Greenshank and a Yellow Wagtail made up the quality where the quantity was lacking.

A juvenile Pied Wagtail

A record shot of the Yellow Wagtail which was loosely associating with its pied cousins.

Scout Dike

A Few Days Off

2010-08-10T20:21:00.011+01:00

With the cricket out of the way, thought I best post something bird related!

In an attempt to keep the youngster entertained this summer holiday we enjoyed a few days in Filey last week. The weather wasn’t up to much but I suppose it beats being at work.

Over the duration I managed to sneak in a few hours birding in here and there, visiting Wykeham Forest, Bempton Cliffs, Flamborough Head and Hornsea Mere. My trip to Wykeham Forest was in the hope of seeing a Honey Buzzard from the designated viewpoint but it was very quiet, mainly I think due to the overcast conditions. I did see a Goshawk though. A few guys hit on a distant bird of prey which they were sure was a Honey Buzzard but the views I had of the bird were non conclusive. There are Common Buzzards regularly in that area too and the range this bird was at I would be guessing if I said it was a Honey Buzzard.

My trip to Flamborough was to do a bit of sea watching, I got there quite early and enjoyed clear blue skies for the couple of hours I was there. I got my chair and scope set up and basically just relaxed. Kittewakes and Gannets were moving in large numbers with the odd Fulmar thrown in but the number of species seen was quite low, the wind direction was wrong though, pushing them out rather than pulling them in. The highlights for the morning were 30 Common Scoters and a single Great Skua all going north.

My chair and scope poised for a few hours sea watching, it was that warm I even took my shirt off! Birding at its most relaxed!

With gloomy but fairly warm afternoons we were always searching for things to do away from the beach and seen as we had already done the rides and arcades in Scarborough we decided to take junior to Bempton again as she’d enjoyed it so much the previous visit. The cliffs were much quieter with only Gannets, Kittewake and Fulmar left. Small rafts of Puffin congregated on the sea and a Corn Bunting sang its heart out from the stubble fields.

Gannet

Fulmar

A nicely marked juvenile Kittewake

This ominous silhouette is a juvenile Peregrine just as it tucked up to stoop on Kittewakes coming in from the sea. Unbelievably entertaining in a morbid way.

The only other place I visited over the few days was Hornsea Mere, a regular haunt at this time of year for Little Gull and it didn’t disappoint either. There were five individuals present mixing with the Black headed Gulls, the number gradually builds during the day as birds come into roost. A local birder said that between 15 and 20 had been present the last week or so but numbers later in the year have been known to rise to around the 800 mark.

Little Gull

Common Terns getting a rest in on their journey south.

Skelmanthorpe CC - Sykes Cup Winners 2010!!!

2010-08-10T12:41:00.006+01:00

I've often referred to cricket in this blog like another woman in my birding love life, but the punishing fixtures and subsequent lack of free Sundays to get out locally paid off this weekend when we beat Delph to be crowned champions. We knocked off a competitive 240 runs with two wickets down clawing our way back from 19 for 2 to sneak it off the penultimate ball of the game. Great game and a great night followed, hence writing this today, yesterday was a complete write off!!!

Blacktoft & Pugney's

2010-08-02T18:46:00.006+01:00

I’d put my first cricket free Sunday away for a run out to Blacktoft Sands, somewhere I like to visit at this time of year, if only to try and see Bearded Tit. This Sunday didn’t disappoint either as I had five minutes watching a female feed a juvenile at the base of the reeds by the waters edge. Add to that, ten Spotted Redshank from the same hide, and as you can imagine I had a great morning.

Green Sandpiper

As birders were packed in along benches like battery hens silently peering out of the windows, in came Alan. I didn’t know him, I just picked up after twenty minutes of hell that that was his name. Everyone squeezed along to make room for him and his mate, Don. If it wasn’t a tight fit already, it was now, as the eighteen stone Alan took some sneaking in, I say eighteen stone? His beard probably accounted for two stone of that. Is it just me or are the loudest people in the hide generally wrong? I don’t know if it was the sheer stillness of the hide and all its occupants prior to the larger than life Alan’s grand entrance, that just made him seem extra loud, but the guy wouldn’t shut up. He kept referring to birds by shortened knicknames too which started to niggle.

Small Skipper

I got the impression that Don wasn’t as birder either as Alan pointed out even the most common of birds. It wasn’t long though before Alan was in full swing, “I’m on a beardy Don…..told you I’d get you one”. He spoke with a posh, Port drinking, Quails egg eating, North Yorkshire landowners twang, the kind you hear every year in Harrogate at the Yorkshire Show. He was barking directions out at Don to get him on the bird, “bottom of the reeds going right…..come down from the pylon Don…that pylon…now come down to the waters edge……still going right…..see the lapwing Don….no the one in the water, the one with the black head, the one with the tuft on its head….got it?.....right look in the reeds behind it……it’s coming ….it’s coming….now! It’s straight behind the Lapwing”. The bad thing is you just can’t help yourself looking either. Alan was still bellowing though, “are you on it Don…..are you on it?” Don confirmed it then Alan took it up a notch, “did I not tell you I’d get you a beardy…did I not tell you”. Now as a witness to all this I was stuck between a rock and a hard place, do I point out to Alan that the ‘beardy’ he has just tracked is in fact a Sedge Warbler or keep quiet, thus gifting Don a lifer that never really was. No need to worry, someone else piped up, “It’s a Sedge Warbler”. Alan back tracked. He was adamant it was a different bird. Alan was quick to re find it, barking its whereabouts once more only to have it confirmed again “yep….its a Sedge Warbler”.

Common Tern

With my eye to the telescope I couldn’t help but smile, it was sheer comedy. Much to the pleasure of the entire hide, the mighty Alan had been silenced. Naturally I’m perfect, the last time I was wrong was 1985 when I thought I’d made a mistake.

A bit of birding luck was on my side today too. Firstly, a Spoonbill had been present at Blacktoft for the last few days, and it had been seen that morning, but had decided to come to rest behind an island out of view. It had not been seen for a few hours, but within ten minutes of me being in the hide, a Marsh Harrier came in close over the reedbed, alighting everything underneath it including the Spoonbill. It circled for no more than 30 seconds before returning to the very same place, out of view again, once the Harrier had passed through. It was such a brief showing that birders looking through their scopes in other directions completely missed it. Some of which were well into the third hour of their Spoonbill vigil. Fortunately I was one of the lucky ones, as I’m sure that if it stayed in the same place for most of the day that plenty of birders would come away empty handed. There can’t be anything more demoralising than being one of those birders who have sat for hours, only to miss it when it briefly shows, then watch all the ones who did see it stand up and piss off…job done!

Common Blue Damselfly

The second element of luck that day was a promise to Junior that I would take her round Pugneys on her bike later that afternoon when I got back. I followed her on foot, taking a few photos of the Common Tern, which was on the boating lake and anything else really of interest. It was a bit gloomy for anything decent but after 10mins in the hide all was well when I landed a Black Necked Grebe, and the afternoon was well and truly brightened up. Was it too much to think I had found this scarce bird? Yes it was. Apparently it had been posted on Birdguides a few hours before so obviously other people had already seen it. For the walk back to the car park though until being told by other birders about the Birdguides post, I was happy to think I’d found it!

Sandal Castle

Got home to find this little fella on the lawn too.

East Coast

2010-07-26T21:30:00.018+01:00

An untimely sporting injury to my foot provided me with a cricket free weekend and a rare summer opportunity to get out in the field and do some birding. It also gave me an excuse to get over to the East coast and try and catch up with the King Eider that has been hanging around the Brigg for a couple of weeks. Friends of ours were also making the trip, but heading there via Spurn Point on the Saturday so I eagerly tagged along, although bird wise I always knew it was going to be quiet, and quiet it was. A healthy number of butterflies graced the point along with an obliging Roe Deer while Little Terns relayed from fishing expeditions from sea to lagoon. A nice find were four Sandwich Terns feeding close in, providing me with at least one year tick for the day. It will be another few months or so till Spurn Point starts hotting up so I’m sure another visit will be on the cards later this year.

Common Blue

Common Frog

Just let me sleep!

Juvenile Black Headed Gull

Common Seal

A colony of Sand Martin's which are nesting on the side of the Brigg

Fortunately the King Eider waited for me! To be fair it may be around for a while anyway as it is coming into moult. The in joke amongst the Filey birders is that it could yet turn out to be a hybrid!!! Thought I best ‘insurance’ tick it to be on the safe side! Due to it’s positioning on the rocks I got decent views through the scope but photo wise it was fair to say they were crap. I’m going to try again in a few weeks so hopefully I can do a bit better. To say this is a birding blog, this last week has produced very few photographs of birds! What I do have is a collection of black dots bobbing on the sea and trust me, one of them is a King Eider, the photos wouldn’t stand up in court though. This photo at least shows the difference in size and pinky orange tinge to the beak. Still a cracking tick! Just for the record, it's second from the left on the water! It's so bad when you have to describe where a bird is on one of your photos!!! Might have to click on it to enlarge it!!!

Rutland Water

2010-07-19T19:37:00.007+01:00

The birthday bash of a relocated school friend saw us donning fancy dress and hitting Market Harborough this weekend. I’d love to say I had a cracking night but a combination of ‘silly’ shots and cocktails saw my condition rapidly deteriorate around the 1am mark leaving the last hour a blur. I could have done with a black box recorder to help piece the night together?
On Sunday morning I was poor to say the least, so fresh air and a stroll were the order of the day, this came in the shape of Rutland Water. Rutland Water in recent years has seen the reintroduction of Ospreys with the programme itself being a huge success. Two breeding pairs are now in the area, with one nest viewable from a series of hides within the Lyndon Nature Reserve. Sixty Four Ospreys were released at Rutland Water between 1996 and 2001 with around ten of these birds returning. This year’s pair has successfully raised three chicks which can’t be far off fledging? One of the birds released here has already had six successful broods at a reservoir in Wales, with a Scottish born female, so the expansion is taking effect, albeit year by year. It was also a sad fact to learn that around 70% of juveniles die in their first year with the bulk of this statistic perishing on their migration back to Africa. With £18m from Anglian Water though, money and time is on side to hopefully dramatically increase the English and Welsh populations, so fingers crossed.

The views today were distant with the sheer size of Rutland Water sadly meaning they were always going to be. The three chicks could be seen through the scope, with the watchful adult close by. It took to flight twice whilst we were there with the following photo’s being the best I could do, nothing more than record shots really.

Still a great couple of hours though and the paths between the hides gave me a good opportunity to photograph some of the various species of Butterfly on show.

Gatekeeper

Ringlet

Comma

Small Tortoiseshell

Another Skelmanthorpe Lifer

2010-07-01T12:18:00.002+01:00

Tuesday night had the not so rare treat of watching our Indian cricketing genius Wasim Jaffer amass yet another century, this time putting Thongsbridge CC to the sword in the Examiner 20/20 competition. As I was sat padded up awiating my bat though, a flock of 10 Crossbills flew over the clubhouse! Their distinct call making my ears prick up and alerting me to their presence. I've never seen Crossbills in Skelmanthorpe before ever? They came from the Bretton direction, straight over the club, then on towards the windmills at Ingbirchworth. No doubt heading towards the Langsett area? The only place I have ever seen them locally. Not entirely sure where they could have come from, maybe one of the wooded areas to the south of Bretton Lakes? Possibly a dispersed feeding flock on it's return to Langsett to roost? Either way, a great sighting in Skelmanthorpe!

The Summer Solstice

2010-06-21T21:58:00.002+01:00

A Few Of The Locals

2010-06-20T10:20:00.002+01:00

Bank Vole

Brown Hare

Best Garden Tick Ever!

2010-06-19T12:04:00.002+01:00

Whilst rummaging around through pads, gloves, whites and cricket jumpers I noticed a streamline silhouette ducking and diving over the field at the back of the house, the very field shown on the header to this blog. It took the appearance of a large swift and immediately got my pulse racing, even more so when I’d sprinted inside to find my binoculars? How come there never close to hand when you really need them!!! I nearly fell down the stairs from trying to get back outside too quickly, with ‘don’t fly off, don’t fly off’ echoing in my mind, I was in time. With binoculars raised my suspicions were confirmed, a Hobby! Get in! Best garden tick I’ve ever had, fact! It hung around for a few more minutes before drifting off in the direction of Shelley High School. It was a real treat. It was the uplifting moment I needed, to raise spirits from last night, after enduring 90 minutes of the worst football I have ever seen!

Outer Hebrides

2010-06-06T10:23:00.019+01:00

It has been an eventful week or so on the birding front, kicking off with a trip to Old Moor last Friday night (28th) for the organised walk to try and get a glimpse of the elusive Savi’s Warbler which had been heard singing from one of the hides. 150+ birders arrived at 8pm as planned for a chance to go within the reserve to the area where the Savi’s Warbler had been singing. The RSPB had taken a large group out the night before but sadly the bird didn’t show. It could be heard clearly, but never came out into view. On Friday we were lucky, at about 9-30pm the bird started to get more active and after an hour and half of staring into a bramble thicket, it eventually came into view. Nothing more than short flitting flights low down from reed to reed, but for mere second glimpses it was clear to see. By his own admission of pure luck, the guy next to me got it clearly in his scope as it sang from the base of a reed and unselfishly gave everyone in his proximity the chance to have a look before it moved on. As dusk approached more reeds moved as a Grasshopper Warbler came out to sing, which at times were yards apart, giving a very rare chance, in the UK at least, to hear and compare these two birds side by side. I had a great night so my sincere thanks go to the RSPB for the opportunity they provided.

A few months ago when I asked Miss Piggy if she wanted to do anything over the half term I wasn’t really expecting the answer I got. She asked if I fancied the Outer Hebrides! A few years ago we took the then four year old junior on a pilgrimage to Tobermory on the Isle of Mull, the setting for the CBeebies programme Balamory which at the time was her life. They both loved it, and so did I, as the wildlife was superb. With that in mind I didn’t need asking twice to head up there again. Without boring everyone with the details, this last week has seen us take a ferry out from Oban to South Uist then drive (assisted with one more ferry crossing) all the way up to the Butt of Lewis, the most northerly point in the Outer Hebrides, staying in a different bed and breakfast every night over the course of the week. The weather and scenery has simply been amazing. Clear blue skies, white beaches and great wildlife have made it a superb holiday. The ferry crossings have also given a chance to see birds such as Great and Arctic Skuas, Manx Shearwater and Arctic Terns. The real highlights though were a pod of dolphins feeding amongst plunge diving Gannets and a pulse racing sighting of an adult White Tailed Eagle flying over the Sound of Mull. I was lucky enough to get talking to another birder on the ferry who unbelievably watched areas such as Langsett and Midhope Moors. He was a great guy, superb company and another pair of eyes as we scanned the sea, making the 6 hour crossing fly by.

The pick of the trip without doubt in my eyes was the White Tailed Eagle, a real close second though was a summer plumaged Black Throated Diver, a stunning bird. We had stopped at Loch Awe just east of Oban to stretch our legs when it swam into view, quite distant but a real treat none the less. Even Miss Piggy marvelled at its markings! Huddersfield had been lucky enough to host one last year and as good as the sighting was, a summer plumaged bird is really something to behold.

A poor record shot that doesn't do it justice!

Black Guillemot's

Common Gull

Lesser Black Backed Gull

Corn Bunting

Rock Pipit

Raven

Redshank

Meadow Pipit

Oystercatcher

Arctic Tern

Ringed Plover

Common Seals

Shag

There certainly hasn’t been any disappointment but if I could have changed just one thing it would have been to get a glimpse of a Corncrake. On three occasions I narrowed singing birds, nestled in Iris beds and nettles, down to areas of only one square metre, but I just couldn’t see them! The second you got close they stopped calling. I had my binoculars poised at the area where the sound was coming from, taking small steps to edge closer and closer but nothing, it was so frustrating. One bird was in someone’s garden too so what they must have thought of me as they looked out of their window I don’t know?

Miss Piggy and Junior taking advantage of entire beaches to themselves

Local Reservoirs

2010-05-24T18:32:00.015+01:00

The last few weekends have been cricket overload so the birding has had a bit of a back seat. I have managed a few nice additions to the year list though with Temminck’s Stint being the most notable. It was a twitch! I had seen a Hobby flying close to the road earlier in the day whilst driving through Lincolnshire so had basically got the buzz. When I got home to find that a Temminck’s Stint had been found at Wombwell Ings I thought what the hell, and headed out. Certainly not a bird for photographing, it was a mere speck in the telescope, never mind the camera lens. If it didn’t move it could have easily been dismissed as a stone on the shoreline. Fortunately two guys were already there on my arrival, die hards who had been to Frampton Marsh in Lincolnshire in the morning for the Oriental Pratincole and Potteric Carr in the afternoon for the Iberian Chiffchaff. They were already on the Stint so basically I had it handed to me on a plate, easy! The only disappointment was dipping on four Yellow Wagtails, which had been feeding close to the hide moments before my arrival; I think they saw me coming!

Before the games I have been getting out for a few hours and scouring the local reservoirs, a Wood Warbler and Spotted Flycatcher were nice finds at Langsett, with the Wood Warbler showing far better than my previous record in Denby Dale. It didn’t come too close but close enough to admire its markings as it sang away on exposed branches.

Wood Warbler

House Mouse

Green Veined White

Small Copper

Speckled Wood

The Tawny Owls seem to be doing well too. One chick was still in the nest although it had nearly out grown it, while its sibling resided in a nearby bush. The same area had a very vocal Lesser Whitethroat too which oblivious to my presence came to within a couple of meters of me, as I raised my camera though it responded by disappearing into a thicket depriving me of what would have been a prime photo opportunity for quite an elusive bird.

A nice part of an already enjoyable walk around Ingbirchworth Reservoir was the sound of young Great Spotted Woodpeckers calling from a nest and it was only minutes of us being there when the female arrived, beak full, to quickly dive in and out of the nest. Even Miss Piggy enjoyed herself whilst we sat watching and listening!

Ingbirchworth had its alien invaders in the form of ornamental carp, which had come in to the shallows possibly to spawn? There were at least 5 or 6, which varied in markings; obviously re homed by the public when they possibly out grew their garden ponds. The two domesticated geese, which have recently made Ingbirchworth their new home, seem to be basking by the dam wall every time I go. Get too close though and you get hissed at.....bad goose. And still no Black Tern!

I’m probably not alone when I say that due to the recent rise in temperature I’ve been struggling to sleep, tossing, turning, kicking the cover off etc. The other night I was awake at around 3-30am when through the slightly opened bedroom window I heard a Cuckoo? It was quite distant and called on and off for around 20 minutes. What made it more interesting was a post on the Calderdale Bird Blog from someone reporting the exact same thing in the Halifax area. He’d checked it out and it’s correct that Cuckoo’s occasionally call through the night? You learn something new every day! Just wish I’d seen it, I haven’t seen a Cuckoo in Skelmanthorpe for years.

Cricket 1 - Birding 0

2010-05-10T19:22:00.006+01:00

Telling Miss Piggy about my forth-coming cricket fixtures was never going to be easy. First round victories in two-cup competitions, added to the existing league programme had made the next three weekend’s double headers, playing games on both Saturday and Sunday. A punishing and potentially relationship-threatening schedule of matches to say the least! In hind sight I probably did broach the subject the wrong way, phrases like “it’s probably best if you sit down” and “there’s no easy way to say this” may have set her up for a family bereavement rather than my impending cricket fixtures. She took the news fairly well though and in just over an hour we were back speaking. The hour flew as I busied myself with boarding the front window up and taking out the stains my bloodied nose had left on my t-shirt. Removing the word “prick” etched into my car bonnet with a stone took the bulk of the time but all in all a productive morning.

Rother Valley was hosting a Red Rumped Swallow and as much as I fancied it, time just wasn’t on my side so I spent the remainder of the morning checking out a few of the local reservoirs and their adjoining fields. There was a good mix of farmland birds including Curlew, Skylark, Yellowhammer and Lapwing, with the dry stonewalls supporting Meadow Pipits, Pied Wagtails and Wheatear.

Yellowhammer

Brown Hare

Lapwing

The good news is that the Tawny Owls mentioned in an earlier post have at least one chick hatched and I’m fairly confident there was at least one more. It will be a week or so though till they are big enough to be seen, so I can get an exact count on the clutch.

I did have a walk along the River Calder for an hour and chanced upon a nice pair of Common Terns, but due to cold and gloomy conditions I only managed the following pictures. It was a shame too, as a nice blue sky would have lit their plumage up brilliantly; the grey cloud backdrop just doesn’t do them justice. They really are great birds to watch though, I just hope they stick around so I can try again on a better day.

With the next few weekends featuring cricket, cricket and more cricket, future posts may only feature ducks and golden ducks. I am only too familiar with the noise a cricket ball makes as it hits the stumps behind me! I’ll just have to leave it to the others!

Bank Holiday Birding

2010-05-05T20:24:00.007+01:00

Well it has been a quiet one in fairness; it was always going to be compared with the highlights of the previous weekend. That said, I have mustered another four names to the growing 2010 tally. With a few nice evenings in and amongst I had promised junior a night riding her bike around Pugneys. I set off on foot whilst she peddled ahead, occasionally stopping to see if I was still in sight. It gave me a good opportunity to scour the water, something that was rewarded with a pair of Common Tern’s resting on a wooden frame out on the boating lake. A few singing Whitethroat and Blackcap added a soundtrack and tick number two, Reed Warbler, belted its tune out from the reed bed by the hide, so all in all an enjoyable hour.

Male Reed Bunting

Female Reed Bunting

My Saturday morning was a strange one. Although I had fallen asleep the previous evening in the comfort of my home in Skelmanthorpe, it appeared I had woken up in Basra. Miss Piggy was pissed off, but for what? Had I cried out another woman’s name whilst asleep? She was answering me short and clearly flustered, her behaviour was begging me to ask what the problem was, and she would have been devastated if I had not asked. Turns out I had said something that really upset her…..in a dream! She was mad with me for something I had done in a dream!!! What the! You can’t carry it on into reality! She wouldn’t even say what I had said; just that it had upset her. I was like “but I haven’t actually said it? You can’t be mad with me for something I’ve done in a dream”? Unbelievable! She once busted me putting the bedside clock back a few hours when I had come home really late one night, so being mad with me for that is fine, caught red handed. Being mad with me for something I’ve done in a dream is just beyond my comprehension. She’s still funny about it now! For my own sanity I needed to head out and Ingbirchworth it was. The last few years around this time I have had a straggling Black Tern as it makes its way from the Gulf of Guinea, across the UK to its Eastern European/Russian breeding grounds. On this occasion there was no joy, I will keep trying though so watch this space. The Lesser Whitethroat was still singing in the hedge and the numbers of Swift had risen to around thirty so there was at least some compensation.

Great Tit

Sunday morning was freezing! A walk around Royd Moor Reservoir was cold, gloomy and miserable. This reflected in the bird life seen, the only birds of note were my first Garden Warbler of the year and a vocal male Whitethroat. Due to the stiff cold breeze a bird with any sense kept itself concealed, as did the Butterflies. Unfortunately there wasn’t much to write about from this outing.

It’s fair to say that should I get an hour to myself, I will quickly nip out, pick a local area and go birding. This attitude is reflected in the state of my garden, which I am trying to palm off as a Nature Reserve, just so I don’t have to cut the grass. It’s like Jurassic Park. Still being made to feel like I needed to make it up with Miss Piggy for something I hadn’t even done she “advised” me that I best do something about it. It did double up for some quality father daughter time though; junior brought out her Garden Wildlife book and wrote a list of what we found, ordering me take photos of them all, hence why there’s a few creepy crawlies thrown in.

Speckled Wood

Garden Snail

House Spider

With the grass under knee height, my work here was done, time for a quick run out somewhere. I ended up nipping to Harden Reservoir for a stroll, and I’m glad I did. Minutes after getting out of the car, my Dad who had come along for the walk, spotted what he thought, for the split second it was visible, was a Sparrowhawk, as we flushed it from the gorse. It flew out of view, and as we headed in its direction it became immediately apparent, as we rounded a small mound it was a male Cuckoo, which had now perched on the wall and begun calling. I slowly raised my camera, but it flew, like identical twins, the dejected sigh of ‘bastard’ emanated from our mouths. It was a great sighting though. A Snipe was drumming in the sky above us too, something you have to hear to believe, it is a vibration of sorts of its stiff outer tail feathers when it descends from its display flight. It’s like blowing a Kazoo, really strange.

Collared Dove

Dusk approached and my Dad was keen to get back to the Grove Inn back in Shat, a pub in the heart of the village and home to an array of interesting characters. A great pub if you are a local, but certainly an experience to the outsider! It’s probably not as bad as the Slaughtered Lamb in The American Werewolf in London but anyone in there (including myself!) who suffered from Tourettes Syndrome would probably never have their symptoms diagnosed. I’m probably painting a bad picture to be honest; there isn’t a guy in a flat cap playing a piano and a three legged Whippet asleep in front of an open fire, it is a bit more modern than that. That said, one of the locals once got hit by a caravan whilst on his push bike. He said later that it was obvious the car was going too fast but he thought he could beat the caravan!

Migrants Galore

2010-04-26T22:25:00.007+01:00

Well what a weekend this has been, I know I harp on about how good the local bird life is but the last few days have just been class. I’ve managed to get out for a few hours on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and enjoyed every minute of it. It’s really been a weekend dedicated to migrants. Having dipped on the Ring Ouzels the previous weeknights it was third time lucky, and luck was with me, I hit on a male and female minutes from leaving the car as I headed along the track toward Cheesegate Nab. They are very timid birds, always keeping their distance. The rocky patches and gorse give them plenty of cover and the male was concealed the majority of the time I was there, the female did oblige, if only just to get a record shot. The same area held 3 Wheatear, which were the first sightings of the year for me.

Ring Ouzel

I went home via Ingbirchworth and had ten minutes stood by the wall scanning the water when a lone Swift sped past which then mingled amongst the growing number of Swallows. I watched them for a few minutes before a Lesser Whitethroat caught my attention, singing from the hedgerow. It skulked around, occasionally alighting from the hedge to snatch a fly before finding cover again. A female Whitethroat was also metres away in the same stretch of hedgerow offering a rare chance to study plumage differences with both species being in such close quarters. As a Friday evening went, it was a beauty. I didn’t think things could get much better over the weekend either but it just went from strength to strength.

Swallow

Swift - Like trying to photograph a bullet!

Saturday morning was twitching time; a Wood Warbler had been reported on Friday evening in trees behind the In Focus shop in Denby Dale so I headed down there first thing to see if it was around, and luckily it was. Its distinct call is likened to a spinning coin coming to rest on a hard surface, an acceleration of clicks. Fortunately the bird was vocal which helped me immensely when locating it. It didn’t show particularly well, opting to stay in the canopy, but a cracking year tick only a couple of miles from home none the less. With the few hours I had spare before having to depart to Barkisland to play cricket, I opted for a quick walk around Langsett where the trees were simply alive. Good numbers of Goldcrest, Treecreeper and Siskin paved the way for two more additions to the list, Redstart and Tree Pipit. I had been reliably informed that morning of a singing Tree Pipit so knew just where to look. I am lucky enough to have the assistance of a superb local birders eyes and ears and his findings are duly texted. Sadly for him its one-way traffic, I never seem to find anything he doesn’t already know about!

Tree Pipit

On my way to the Tree Pipit site I took the long way round taking in the Little Don Valley with the hope of a Redstart. I could hear a male singing ahead of me but it was a female I actually saw first, perched on a fence post possibly being wooed by the song? As I neared though the male came into view, beating his tune out from a treetop, a stunning bird. With time against me and not wanting to leave Langsett without a piece of mars bar corn flake cake from the café (sheer class) I had to rush back. We got our opening day blip out of the way and recorded our first win of the season at cricket, so it rounded off a great day.

With no cricket on Sunday and Miss Piggy and Junior out for the afternoon, I headed out to check a few local sites taking in a range of habitats. Forgive me for being sketchy regarding the locations of the birds I saw but sadly for every 1000 birders out there who just want to enjoy the wildlife there is a minority who just want to take their eggs.

I had an hour of sheer bliss, sat on a fallen tree in the middle of a wood, watching a pair of Pied Flycatchers flitting around the branches. They even tried out a few nest boxes for size. The male is wearing a ring too, so it would be fascinating to find out where his journey started, who knows?

Pied Flycatcher

As much as I didn’t want to leave, I pulled myself away to drive to an area of moorland to basically just sit and wait. The heather was dry so it was remarkably comfy. Red Grouse were flighty and vocal along with displaying Meadow Pipits and an opportunist Buzzard was mobbed by Curlew and Lapwing as it scoured the moor. All good but not what I had come to see, after three quarters of an hour I had my first glimpse of the main event, a Short Eared Owl wing clapping as it displayed to it’s mate. Superb! I watched it meander along occasionally plunging into the heather until it drifted out of view. The whole thing only lasted ten minutes but what a ten minutes. Something I will never tire of seeing and the icing on the cake to a great weekend.

Out & About

2010-04-18T11:43:00.007+01:00

Being trapped last weekend in cockney land meant I couldn’t get up to Cheesegate Nab to see the Ring Ouzels and Friday evening was my first chance all week. Sadly no Ring Ouzels but a cracking sunset coupled with glorious weather made it a very enjoyable hour. Willow Warblers seemed to be singing from every bush and Swallows weaved through the sky, on a nice night it really is a great place to be.

Willow Warbler

Birding in the summer months unfortunately gets reduced to just Saturday and Sunday mornings, due to playing cricket, so I tend to stay local and check out the local reservoirs. This Saturday morning saw a quick drive up to Ingbirchworth where a nice Common Sandpiper added tick number two for the weekend as it fed on the dam wall.

Common Sandpiper

I also took a walk up to Broadstones in the hope of bagging a Wheatear but true to form it wasn’t to be. With time on my hands I thought one last look at Cheesegate Nab may come up trumps for either Ring Ouzel or Wheatear, but I failed miserably. That’s birding for you! We got hammered at cricket too, so not a good day. To say that some forecasters were predicting snow, whether Iceland’s eruption played some part or not I don’t know? Weather and temperature wise though, this is the best start to a cricket season I can remember. This reflected in the scores too, Honley posted a massive 335 for 6 and we (Skelmanthorpe) fell 30 short finishing on 305 for 6. 640 runs scored on the opening day of the season is just unheard of. Let’s hope this weather is a sign of things to come.

Comma

Whilst out on Saturday I chanced upon a Tawny Owl nest at one of the sites so I will do my best to visit fairly regularly and keep posting updates as to how they get on. There is a slight incline too which gives a bit of a vantage point so I may be able to get some decent pictures once the chicks start to emerge? This photo at least shows how well their markings keep them concealed; if it weren’t for the white stripes on the crown this bird would be virtually invisible.

Rainham Marshes

2010-04-13T16:45:00.006+01:00

I try and avoid London to the best of my abilities, but having a sister that out grew the confines of Skelmanthorpe more or less straight after leaving school, it was obvious she would move down there as soon as it was feasible. It is fair to say that we are polar opposites when it comes to rural and city life, she got bored in the village and I hate the city. I don’t mind the odd weekend down there though if it’s a must? Times are changing though and for the worse. I remember getting exited as a kid at the mere mention of a trip to the Natural History Museum, when I asked Miss Piggy and Junior where they would like to go I found myself trudging around London trying to find Pineapple Dance Studio, embarrassing. I did a deal that if we went to Pineapple Dance Studio on the Friday I got to go to Rainham Marshes on Saturday!

Visitors Centre

I’d never been there before and I really enjoyed it. I had kept my eye on the reports from that area during the week and with sightings of Hoopoe and Black Winged Stilt, I was pleading for them to hang around until Saturday. Unfortunately they didn’t, but I did at least add a few migrants to the list in the few hours I was there. The reserve was alive with Cetti’s Warbler too, they were singing at various points on the circular trail. I tried my hardest to photograph one but it’s like taking a picture of a mouse, the second you see it, it’s flitted out of view. If they didn’t sing you would be very hard pushed to find them. They say that if a person entered bushes wearing illuminous clothing and you could still see them, the bushes are not dense enough for Cetti’s Warblers? Rainham Marshes is a combination of pools, reed beds and disused World War bunkers and buildings that were used to train soldiers to spot submarines invading London up the Thames. There is a large refuse tip nearby too, which in the winter attracts huge numbers of gulls, which occasionally draw in a few of the rarer species. The Eurostar is constantly flying past too giving the reserve quite an industrial feel, with the surrounding pylons playing host to a pair of Peregrines.

Peacock

New birds for the year, apart from the Cetti’s Warbler, included a pair of Little Ringed Plovers and singing male Blackcap, Whitethroat and Sedge Warbler.

Wren

Goldfinch

Reed Bunting

If you want to view the Thames River element you have to leave the reserve through a one-way turnstile. After two minutes of being on the “outside” I wanted to get straight back in! I was met by a skinhead who was the typical cockney geezer, bare chested with t-shirt tucked in jeans, he quenched his thirst with a nice can of Stella while being pulled along by his straining Pit Bull Terrier which was aptly named Blade. He actually asked if I’d seen anything decent which broke the ice and suddenly I didn’t feel as vulnerable. The concern being that Blade was desperately trying to sniff my groin and was constantly being pulled back which seemed to rile him? If talking to a stranger with no shirt on isn’t awkward enough, having a Pit Bull Terrier stretching on its hind legs inches from your cock certainly gets the heart beating. We must have bonded though, as Deano departed he offered me an out stretched fist and as I touched my knuckles on his, he muttered the word “safe”. He then reached into his carrier bag and offered me a Stella. I declined but the generosity was very much there, God bless you Deano and Blade.....safe.

Easter East Coast

2010-04-05T20:47:00.013+01:00

This Easter weekend was spent on the east coast with the nature theme running through it like a stick of rock. If we weren’t walking we were trawling rock pools and if we weren’t rock pooling, we were bird watching. If we weren’t doing any of the aforementioned, we were carrying junior back to dry her off after falling in a rock pool! It’s amazing how the medicinal qualities of a Doughnut from Coble Landing’s “Suga Shack” perk a shivering 6 year old up?

Seawatching this weekend had been on the quiet side with no migrating sea birds recorded. A Common Tern which had slipped the net, turned up in Scarborough and birders at Flamborough Head had an early Manx Shearwater. Those two ‘misses’ I can live with, what does grate though is spending Saturday afternoon at Bempton Cliffs, only to find out that a White Tailed Eagle had been seen a few miles further south at Flamborough! What a tick that would have been! I can’t let it taint a great afternoon though, more so for Junior than me.

The RSPB had put on an Easter Egg hunt and combined it with a sea bird quiz, which the kids were loving. Along the cliff top paths were things to collect along with facts about the birds, which answered the questions on the sheets that had been handed out in the visitors centre. During the summer months Bempton is home to some 200,000 sea birds which return from the open sea’s to nest on the cliffs so there is something to see at every vantage point. We were too early in the year to see any chicks but later in the year the sights and smells will be overwhelming. You don’t have to be interested in birds or nature to enjoy this place either.

Start em young!

Guillemot

Kittewake

Gannet

Razorbill

Puffin & Razorbill

Herring Gull

10 minutes after this was taken she was soaking! One day she will realise that kneeling down next to a rock pool and reaching out with her net only ends in tears!

Spring

2010-04-02T14:39:00.005+01:00

Birdwatching - The Dangers

2010-03-30T21:44:00.005+01:00

Well the plan this weekend was to be up and at em with an “early bird gets the worm” zest for life. That was the plan anyway? I was like the Tin Man on Saturday morning. My legs were so stiff I even had to be helped out of bed! The first team were a man short for squash, so being the good sport that I am I said I would stand in and help them out. Now anyone who has played any form of team sport knows that the step up from second to first team, standard wise, is a decent leap. End, deep and thrown were words bouncing back and forth in my head as my opponent, obviously used to playing higher calibre players, had beaten me in the warm up. What made it worse was the fact that after only a few minutes of hitting the ball to each other, warming it up, he knew he was going to kick my arse. The two scenarios available, were for him to have somewhere to go after the game therefore getting the game over and done with or thinking because it was Friday night and he didn’t have anything else on, he may as well have a good run? And run is what he made me do. The bastard had plenty of opportunities to win the rallies yet he kept the ball coming back and back and back making me run and run and run. Let’s be fair, my team mates weren’t holding out, I was doing them a favour, they knew I was the sacrificial lamb. He was clearly going to win so why not put me out of my misery. I felt like a young Elephant Seal being dragged from the shallows by a Killer Whale, only to be played with before the inevitable. As match ball was called and quickly won, I slid down the wall leaving a Snail like trail of sweat, only to look across to find he was hardly perspiring! I lay on the court floor waiting for the stewards to come and put the curtains around me to end it Grand National style, but unfortunately the stewards never came? Like a new born Wildebeest, I did eventually get back on my feet, but due to my lungs needing more air than I could fit in my mouth, words failed me, leaving me to mouth the words “well played” whilst shaking his hand.

With hamstrings so tight that I couldn’t even muster enough energy to push the clutch down, I was left to work the local patch. I took a walk along the railway embankment to search for any summer migrants that may have recently arrived.

Without even getting there I had chanced upon my first Swallow of the summer, seconds after leaving the door, so I couldn’t have got off to a better start and once I had reached the embankment a singing Chiffchaff alerted me to tick number two of the day. It wasn’t long before I had found the bird by the mouth of the tunnel. It flitted around the canopy but never really gave any noteworthy views, there will be plenty of time though this summer to try and get a reasonable photo.

Collared Dove

Apart from that, there weren’t really any other noteworthy sightings. There is still a 30 strong flock of Fieldfare in the area which seem to be feeding frantically. Building their fat reserves up for the return leg of their migration, which will no doubt be imminent? Now it has to be said that more often than not, birding your local patch can be fairly routine, the usual suspect’s week in week out, dependant on season. Unfortunately this weekends change in routine didn’t concern any birds whatsoever, common or rare.

The routine breaking event took place on a fence I have climbed over around a million times. There’s nothing dangerous about the fence nor is it hard to get over, it’s just a fence! As my right leg stood on the bottom rung, my left leg was nearly all the way over when what I can only put down to a moss or an algae of some sort, but my right leg lost its grip and slipped off. In the nano second I had to react for some subliminal reason I opted to save the camera. Probably the right decision but this left my knackers to take the full brunt of the impact. The next two or three seconds seemed to be in slow motion as I hyperventilated, eventually freeing myself from the fence and coming to a slow rest on the other side, laid in the foetal position in wet grass. Fortunately (or unfortunately) my accident hadn’t gone unnoticed as a lady out walking with her children had witnessed it all and rushed over to help. I think she thought I was temporarily disorientated as stagnant tears gave me blurred vision, making me reach out to grab things that weren’t even there, in attempt to get up off the floor. She even mentioned calling the emergency services but I reassured her in a gruff voice that I was fine, I just needed a minute. The poor lady became stuck in the middle as her children who had just seen a grown man broken into a million pieces, had started crying, probably scared? They had probably never witnessed this sort accident before at such close hand and didn’t know how to react? Back on my feet I praised her concern and sent her on her way, with head in my arms resting on the very fence that had so nearly ended such a pleasurable part of my life; I went through all the emotions associated with this sort of blow. Slowly the sense of sickness arrived, which worked its way down my body, morphing into an uncontrollable feeling of shitting my pants? I was experiencing the only known thing more painful than childbirth. I started to walk it off, following sharp intakes of breath with comments like “fuck that hurt”, shaking my legs out like a London marathon warm down. You know you’re hurt when you start talking to yourself! The whole experience showed just how dangerous bird watching is! A little knock like this won’t put me off though. Next weekend I’m going to wear my cricket box as you just never know?

Common Toad - Give us a kiss!

Royd Moor

2010-03-22T19:34:00.006Z

If Saturdays Sand Martins didn’t tell me that spring was well and truly upon us, Sunday’s cricket practise did! Rusty doesn’t even cover it; I had to check I wasn’t holding the bat upside down at one point! With that ordeal over and junior at back-to-back birthday parties I was free to roam. I had a great walk around Royd Moor reservoir.

There wasn’t anything out of the ordinary but a good mixture of birds all the same. Singing Yellowhammers, displaying Meadow Pipits, drumming Great Spotted Woodpeckers, it was a superb couple of hours.

Blue Tit

Whilst watching a flock of Fieldfare go over I hit on a very high bird of prey circling. I did my best to try and make it into a migrating Osprey but as it neared it was clearly a Buzzard, it had the pulse racing though for the minute or so I was undecided.

Meadow Pipit

Goldeneye

Give it a few more weeks and this place will be buzzing with summer migrants, I thought I might get lucky with an early Swallow but will sadly have to wait. It seems funny getting exited about a bird you know in a month’s time you will see thousands of?

The walk certainly took my mind off this coming week’s courtroom battle as I’m trying to win a Trade Descriptions lawsuit. Holidays in the past have been a problem, we can never find suitable care for our pet 750kg bull European Elk – Kevin. Kevin is a handful at the best of times so finding the right people is essential. It seemed all our prayers had been answered when Moose Storage opened only a few miles from our home, by the Sovereign Inn in Shepley. It did seem too good to be true. As we packed our cases and departed for Manchester Airport, the only thing left was to get Kevin into the adapted horsebox and drop him off at Moose Storage on the way through. Imagine our despair as the manager shook his head and refused to take him. It’s fair to say that Kevin’s behaviour didn’t help; I can only think he was disgruntled from the bumpy ride. His antlers kept protruding the sides of the horsebox as he aggressively stomped around inside. Surely though as specialists in this field, the Moose Storage team see this sort of thing everyday? No pet likes being left for two weeks! Either way, they weren’t taking him? Holiday over! As we turned back home, the words “I’ll see you in court” rang out like an episode of Ally McBeal. Should we win? The win will be for Kev!

Dearne Valley

2010-03-22T19:26:00.005Z

Had a run out to Old Moor RSPB reserve on Saturday morning. Probably spent more time perusing the books than I did in the hides, you can never have too many bird books! It was an awful day too, so I was literally scurrying between sheltered areas. I managed to get a couple of additions to the list too. It was all but seconds but I think this is the first year I have ever recorded Sand Martin before Snipe! Both species were there in good numbers too and it seemed to be particularly good for waders. I recorded Redshank, Oystercatcher, Green Sandpiper and another year tick, Ringed Plover. Unfortunately all the RSPB’s one million voices of nature seemed to be in the hide at the same time! I’m not convinced either that Shell Suits and trainers are ideal bird watching attire? It by no means annoyed me, people just need to realise there’s a reason it’s called a hide? As The Foundations – Build me up Buttercup ringtone sounded out I knew it was time for my exit. I was only one of two guys with a telescope too so I think I was giving off the RSPB volunteer vibes. The guy next to me who appeared to have Charles Darwin’s original binoculars, held together only by electrical tape, was starting to test me. “Excuse me what’s that?” “It’s a Tufted Duck”, “what’s that one?” “That’s a female Tufted Duck”, “is that a Tufted Duck?” “No that’s a Coot” etc. Everyone’s got to start somewhere though?

A drenched Little Grebe

Reed Bunting

Unbelievably I got past the book shelves without making a purchase and headed to the car. In only five minutes I was in the hide at Broomhill Flash and suddenly you feel like you’re home, these are my people. Wax jacket wearing Barnsley birders who sit in the hide for 12 hours a day, constantly in touch with their mates with walkie talkies. These guys keep you captivated with tales of past “patch” rarities, using phrases like “fon it” and “tha noz”, cracking cans of Skol open to have with their sarnies. Guy’s who talk of birding like it’s an affair their wife has found out about, constantly looking at their watches as they know that their tea is served at 5pm on the dot, but they just don’t want to go home, what if something turns up? There’s something about a bird hide that offers refuge from the outside world. Sadly it’s this feeling of escape that the RSPB hides are lacking. Commercial it has to be though; they can’t raise the money they need to carry out their work by keeping it a secret. I’ll keep my membership all the same as it’s a great cause, junior has the RSPB Young Explorers membership and the newsletters, games and stickers she receives have really made her aware of what’s around her. I only have to look at her to realise the RSPB are getting the right messages across.

A gloomy Broomhill Flash

I was seconds away from leaving when the decision to have one last scan with the scope came up trumps, a cracking drake Ruddy Duck had emerged from an area where it had been previously concealed. This is a sighting to savour as Ruddy Ducks are currently being culled; they are native to North America and originally came to the UK as part of wildfowl collections. When a few escaped, they bred and began to colonise areas of Britain, such has been their expansion that they have now reached mainland Europe, in particularly Spain, where they are hybridising with the closely related and already endangered White Headed Duck. Measures are now in place to control the species, hence the cull.

Steam Trains and Frozen Tails

2010-03-15T15:30:00.007Z

This weekend has seen no new additions to the list but a nice bit of patch birding around the various woods and fields that border Skelmanthorpe. I’m still frantically waiting to unearth that British first but unfortunately this weekend it wasn’t to be. I did stumble upon a Cockatiel a few years ago but my submission to the British Birds Rarities Committee was unbelievably rejected! Significant points proving this bird was a genuine vagrant seemed to get overlooked,

a) The Cockatiel was un-ringed!
b) The wind direction had been right all week!
c) I actually heard it say the word “Bonzer” in a distinct aussie accent!

What more do the BBRC want?

My usual walk basically takes in the Kirklees Light Railway area anywhere from Shelley to Clayton West and although there was nothing too out of the ordinary the birdlife was still very good. I had glimpses of a male Sparrowhawk, a chattering Green Woodpecker and a covey of Grey Partridge. The sighting that really pleased me though was a single Tree Sparrow, a few years ago you were very hard pressed to locate this bird in this area around Skelmanthorpe, slowly but surely they are starting to colonise it again. Other highlights were Siskin, Yellowhammer, Treecreeper, Nuthatch and Bullfinch.

Tree Sparrow

Dunnock

Pheasant

Black Headed Gull

The following picture is actually the steam of the train rising as it enters the mouth of Shelley Tunnel, quite eerie.

The Shat Kennel Club had planned a walk with a difference for Sunday morning, which was teeing off at 8-30am. How the challenge had arisen I don’t know but the sheer stubbornness of the idiots in question meant that no one was backing down. They had to walk our normal route, which runs from Blacker Wood in Skelmanthorpe to the Junction Inn at Clayton West, but this time in the river. It looked freezing. There was no way I was getting in. I have to say that elements of the river were actually deeper than I thought making the whole experience for me, very amusing.

A combination of approaching pneumonia and shrivelled scrotums meant the challenge was aborted just over half way. It made for a long and miserable walk home.

Nice Weather At Last!

2010-03-09T17:31:00.010Z

Another week over and with little planned for the weekend we didn’t take any persuading at all to make the most of the forecasted good weather and head to Filey. It was a case of letting the Friday rush hour traffic go and setting off in our own time, alerting Filey Tandoori to our arrival in plenty of time to pick the tea up on the way through! Mine didn’t even touch the sides! A combination of Onion Bahji’s and Chicken Tarka, which is like Chicken Tikka but a little otter. Boom Boom! Love that joke, sadly its not as good written down so sorry about that.

Back to the birding – Saturday morning had my attention solely focused on what has been reported as a stunner of a male Black Redstart, which had been seen the three days previous by the sailing club. The knowledgeable local birders though had mentioned the weekend surge of people and dogs may force the bird elsewhere as it had been seen most days under the cliff feeding on the tide line. There experience proved bang on as the bird wasn’t located on either Saturday or Sunday so probably fell fowl of the crowds. I was fortunate enough though to be on the Brigg top when a car flushed 8 Brent Geese, I could only see them flying away but was later told by an individual who had seen them grazing on the Country Park that they were of the Pale Bellied Hrota race. Other than a few passing Red Throated Diver and a small raft of Common Scoter and Eider the bay was very quiet.

Miss Piggy had promised Junior an afternoon swimming in Bridlington so I was on chauffeuring duty. Something that didn’t bother me in the slightest as I knew my afternoon of killing time could be spent at Flamborough Head.

By this time the clouds had drifted inland revealing bright blue skies, which made sea watching even better. Kittiwakes were staring to collect into two big rafts offshore but the highlight was a pod of Porpoise feeding which even had the Gannets plunge diving in. Not as extravagant as footage shown on the Attenborough documentaries where bait balls are consumed by tuna, whales, dolphins and birds but the principles are still the same.

I did have the pleasure of at least an hour where I could sit and admire a pair of Kestrels hunting around me. None of their attempts resulted in a catch whilst I was there but breathtaking none the less. Kestrels are one of a few birds that can see ultra violet light; the clever part in all this is that Voles mark their territories with urine, which to a Kestrel stands out like a neon bulb. A hovering Kestrel is merely biding its time, hanging above a clearly marked (to the Kestrel) patch of grass, so should the Vole at that point leave its cover, down the Kestrel goes. Sometimes the Vole makes it and sometimes it’s sadly goodnight. Should nothing appear, the Kestrel merely moves on to the next territory and waits again, it really is fascinating to watch.

Whilst I’m on it I may as well mention another bird that was constantly whizzing past, the Fulmar.

Fulmars are part of the petrel family known as tubenoses due to the tunnel effect they have above their bill. Now not many birds have a sense of smell but it has been proven that Turkey Vultures can smell rotting flesh, thus leading them to the carrion they feed on. Tubenoses are thought to have a similar ability. Without sounding too scientific, when copepods (zooplankton) feed on phytoplankton, the phytoplankton release a chemical called dimethylsulphide. It is this chemical that researches think the smaller tubenoses such as Storm Petrels can smell? The petrels have an uncanny knack of locating concentrations of the plankton they feed on in what is fair to say, a very large and featureless ocean. Interesting or what! To all my mates reading this who think I’m a sad bastard, even they’ve got to be impressed by that and surely proving that bird watching in their words is not “shit”?

I have also waited, like previous years, to add Feral Pigeon to my list when I at least see one of it’s now distant relatives that looks like something of a Rock Dove. A couple of birds there had markings and resemblances of the real deal but sadly you have to travel to the extremes of North West Scotland if you want to see a true thoroughbred.

As we got back into Filey we headed up to the Country Park to watch a group of guy’s paragliding. Junior loved it, especially when they returned a wave.

With the weather forecast looking even better for Sunday and Miss Piggy wanting a lie in, a displaying Meadow Pipit confirmed my movements. Clear blue skies in early March means only one thing, Goshawk watching at the raptor viewpoint in Wykeham Forest. Turns out a few people had the same idea. There were eight people already there when I arrived and an hour and a half later the number had risen to fifteen. The raptor viewpoint is a purpose built area for just that, watching birds of prey. A couple of benches and an information board lie in a felled area of forest, which provides views out over the Derwent Valley.

We all had great views of Goshawks throughout the morning, albeit at range through the telescope. The minute you took your eye away though the soaring birds got lost in the sky and were a struggle to pick up again certainly with the naked eye. I did try taking a photo but the bird was just a tiny speck in the distance. For anyone at a loose end though wanting a trip out, it is well worth a visit and should you wait till May or June, you may even get treated to a sighting of Honey Buzzard?

Back for eleven, and the tide on its way out, junior and me hit the rock pools. I took the telescope and tried to educate her the best I could, we did get a Grey Seal fending off marauding gulls as it fed on a fish just off the Brigg but my efforts to lift her up to the eyepiece to show her two Velvet Scoters which were in with the Common Scoters didn’t seem to excite her as much as myself. My quick talk on how you pick them out fell on deaf ears; she was more taken up with poking a dead fish with the toe of her welly!

The Skelmanthorpe Killer Trout Cam

2010-03-01T18:54:00.002Z

After some weird goings on in the Shat Birder household I began to suspect the Rainbow Trout in the fridge? After fitting it with a camera my worst fears were confirmed. Sadly it was too late to save Miss Piggy and Junior Shat Birder who took the brunt of the attack!

The following footage is not for the faint hearted and shows scenes of a graphic nature.

Ring Bill's & Red Neck's

2010-03-01T18:28:00.012Z

With Miss Piggy away Friday night and all Saturday morning, me and junior shat birder were fending for ourselves. We were meant to get up and go for a walk but the conditions were a mixture of rain and sleet so that got put on hold. The only walking we did was to the co-op and back for supplies which kept us going until Miss Piggy returned at dinnertime. Fresh from a night out on the lash she had the glazed look of Amy Winehouse with the hair of Russell Brand. Apparently she had consumed enough alcohol to tranquilize a Rhino, this was confirmed by a quick kiss which actually stung my eyes as the vapour was so strong. It was like snogging and onion, an onion pickled in Vodka! Afraid to drive as I presumed I was now way over the limit, I put the footy on just in time for the most eagerly awaited handshake or no handshake in recent years. As time passed and the weather seemed to improve I decide on a quick check to see if anything was around. With reports of a Ring billed Gull at Mirfield, and the Red Necked Grebe I had dipped on the previous weekend at Wintersett now seemed to have relocated to Pugneys, it was on, two hours of twitching before it got too dark.

Having never been to Sands Lane Gravel Pits before, I was unsure where to go, I knew roughly where it was but in the end I need not have worried, around twenty people stood at the roadside with telescopes poised, confirming I was in the right place. I was ten minutes too late, the Ring Billed Gull which has been present for a few days now had just been seen flying off north, this wasn’t unusual behaviour though, so it was a case of sitting tight and waiting for it to return, and return it did, around half an hour later. Now this has to rank as a very very good bird, not only is it native to North America and it has been found in Mirfield, the fact is, it has been found! Bearing close resemblances to our very own Common Gull, this bird could have been so easily overlooked. When you actually see it for the first time and study it, you pick the slight differences out, but that’s only because you know it’s there. The finder of the bird couldn’t have possibly known that on that particular day he would stumble upon a North American vagrant on a pool of water behind the Ship Inn in Mirfield. That’s what makes the find so special, rather than scanning a group of gulls and dismissing them as the commoner species which are regularly found, the smallest detail down to the colour of the bird’s iris has been noted, determining a different species all together. Superb birding, and just rewards for what could potentially be years of fruitless visits to the same place. Seek and he shall find, inspiration to all birdwatchers that work a local patch.

With light fading it was time to warm back up in the car and head to Pugney’s, as the Red Necked Grebe had been reported there on the boating lake. This was easy birding, drive in, park up, extend tripod legs, attach telescope, scan water, find grebe! Unbelievably it did happen in that sequence too! Found it almost straight away, it favoured the area just off the sluice gate and congregated with three other Great Crested Grebes, it was a lovely bird. It was a shame that both birds today were in most cases too far away for any sort of decent picture and not only that, it was just so dull!

Sunday morning was better though; it was as if spring was in the air. I spent the whole morning at Bretton lakes, it was cold but very fresh and in some ways very refreshing from the poor weather we have had of late. Grey Herons were busy rebuilding nests and pairs of Canada Geese were staking claims to the best nest sites, one pair even lining an area on the island with downy feathers. I spent a good hour in the hide snapping away at the Nuthatch’s, Blue Tits and Great Tits, which have become very confiding. Birds on the water were Pochard, Tufted Duck, Teal, Goosander, Mallard, Canada Goose, Mute Swan and a very nice summer plumaged Great Crested Grebe.

During my time in the hide I came across a fellow blogger whom I now know as the Bungling Birder, check his site out at the following address or click on the link.

www.bunglingbirder.blogspot.com

His 500mm lens put mine to shame! It was like showering with the West Indian cricket team.

Nuthatch

Blue Tit

Great Tit

The one that got away!

As I completed my figure of eight around the lakes I came across a cracking Willow Tit, a bird you can never guarantee seeing locally so it was a real bonus to the morning along with a striking male Green Woodpecker.

As February closes, the quality of birds, which I have so far recorded this year in a radius of say 10 miles from my home, has been phenomenal,

Ring Billed Gull
Great White Egret
Ferruginous Duck
Ring Necked Duck
Red Necked Grebe
Smew
Red Breasted Merganser

Long may it continue!!!

A Run Around

2010-02-21T15:59:00.008Z

With no game of golf planned and Huddersfield Town away, I said I would pick my dad up at 11-00am for a bit of a run around. As I was wide-awake at 7-00am I thought I would sneak a quick walk in at High Hoyland first. The finch numbers are somewhat down from last year with a complete absence of Lesser Redpoll, certainly on my visits this year anyway. A single female Brambling was the highlight along with Treecreeper and Great Spotted Woodpecker in the church grounds.

We had decided the day before to have a run down to Clumber Park, a place we try and visit once a year. It was very quiet though on the bird front. Hawfinch, which can be occasionally found there are chance sightings at best, but today, we were completely out of luck. A few Goldcrest flitting around the canopy at least got me a year tick so we didn’t come away empty handed, Marsh Tit were showing well around all the feeding stations too. It made for a good couple of hours but if anything it was too busy

We left with the intention of calling somewhere on the way back, I had fancied trying to catch up with the Red Necked Grebe, which had been present at Wintersett for the last couple of weeks. I think it was just one of those days though as when we arrived birders were struggling to relocate the bird as the sailing club had someone out smashing the ice with an oar, trying to free up the launching area. This had caused a handful of Great Crested Grebe to take off so whether the Red Necked was with them who knows? I came away with the consolation of Green Woodpecker to add to the list. We parked up to view an area known by the locals as the Lower Water, but a few scans with the telescope couldn’t produce the Red Necked Grebe, two redhead Smew’s were present though. At 4pm it then became mad dash time, a report of a Great White Egret at Bretton Lakes gave us enough incentive to try and find the bird before the gates closed at 5-30pm. The mission got completed after a power walk back to the car to find the security guard waiting for us so he could lock up. We found the Egret on the bank opposite the hide but could only really view it from a distance. The island that the hide looks onto completely concealed the bird. I thought about returning this morning to see if it was showing any better, which was until I pulled back the curtains to find yet more snow!

With the car safely on the drive and birding on hold, an invite for a mornings stroll with the Shat Kennel Club seemed the only way to beat the cabin fever. The walk through Blacker Wood was very pleasant once the snow had stopped falling and a nice flock of Siskin put the icing on the cake.

The view from the garden this afternoon looks ominous to say the least!

East Coast

2010-02-17T19:23:00.008Z

This Valentines weekend of love was spent on the East Coast at Filey with Sunday blending into the other 364 days in which Miss Piggy is treated like a valentine. I bring her a bunch of fresh flowers home most days. It helps living near an accident black spot. We decided to go Friday night giving us the full weekend at the cottage, at that time the roads are dead so there’s no messing about crawling along the A64 . I was up and at’em Saturday morning and the conditions down on the Brigg were worlds apart from the last time we went when snowfall forced me back. The sun was rising, bouncing off Bempton Cliffs and the tide was out; it was a cracking morning, quite mild too. I was onto a couple of year ticks more or less straight away with Bar Tailed Godwit and Purple Sandpiper feeding around the rock pools. Plenty of Oystercatcher, Knot, Dunlin, Redshank and Turnstone were also present with single Grey Plover and Curlew making up the numbers. The surprise was the lack (on both visits so far this year) of Sanderling, a bird which in past years has been very abundant on the tide line.

Bar Tailed Godwit

Dunlin & Knot

Purple Sandpiper

I made my way straight to the sea watching hide and got settled for a couple of hours, a cold wind was blowing in which I’d so far been sheltered from by the Brigg, so it was nice to get indoors…ish. Small flocks of Guillemot would land on the water along with the odd Razorbill and a Great Northern Diver and two Velvet Scoters fed around the surf. Birds moving south were good numbers of Gannet, a flock of Common Scoter and three Red Throated Divers.

After a few hours I headed back along the top as I had promised Junior Shat Birder an afternoon pumping 2p’s into the Scarborough arcades. As I stopped to admire a singing Skylark I was met by Tony and Joan, day-trippers from Middlesborough whom I am told make the journey at this time every year to see Filey Briggs iconic wader, the Purple Sandpiper. I was stood with my scope poised out towards Scandinavia when they approached muttering those two words synonymous with birders “owt about”. They stayed for a while and we had a good chat. I would guess they were both late sixties, Tony looked like he could be the face of Fishermen’s Friend, should they ever have an ad campaign? His crooked nose suggested he was probably more at home in a Teeside working men’s club bar brawl than out birding with his wife. He had more tattoos than skin. I knew he was tough by the way he sported a short sleeved shirt and flimsy cotton body warmer. The wind howled in off the February North Sea and this guy was stood chatting away in a short sleeve shirt! He was either incredibly tough or clinically insane? Joan looked like the old lady who lives alone at the end of your road with sixteen cats and an overgrown garden. She was a lovely lady. It was just a shame that the teeth she had remaining left her with a smile that would spook a police horse. She wasn’t too dissimilar to Susan Boyle in a way, just a tad more facial hair?

As we recounted tales of past Filey rarities it started. Tony and Joan started having an argument about what year they saw a Pallas’s Warbler in Filey. Tony was adamant it was 2008 but Joan was standing her ground on 2007. I had actually seen a Pallas’s Warbler in Filey in late November 2007 but kept quiet. I wasn’t fuelling the fire. Everything suddenly became awkward. It was like chatting to a stranger with a lazy eye; do you look at the good one or the lazy one? In the end you just keep looking at your shoes occasionally lifting your head to look past them. I knew if I made eye contact, Tony would drag me in to try and back him up. I put my right eye to the telescope and stared out to sea, if I ignore them they might go away? But Tony wouldn’t let it go. Joan couldn’t get a word in, he kept cutting her short with “what year did we go to Benidorm….no no no what year did we go to Benidorm….answer me that first….what year did we go to Benidorm”. The argument never really got settled. Judging by the way it just fizzled out, minor confrontations of that nature must be fairly regular occurrences in the lives of Tony and Joan. They did keep me entertained for ten minutes though!

The promise of arcades was on the proviso we could call in at Holbeck car park on the way through to Scarborough to have a look at the Mediterranean Gulls. On arrival it was fairly quiet bird wise. That was until I ripped a piece off junior’s doughnut, much to her distress, but soon they were flocking in. Plenty of Black Headed Gulls arrived with the occasional flutter of a white wing. There were two second winter birds present and a nice adult, so the detour was worth it.

Back in Filey for tea time and it was time to quickly nip down to the sailing club to scan the bay for the roost. 20mins passed before I finally got on my target bird, Slavonian Grebe, anything between 2and 4 had been using the bay to roost in recent nights and tonight didn’t disappoint. Four were present along with four Great Crested Grebes which can only be described by my all time favourite birding contradiction…showing well but distant? A couple of spots of rain confirmed my fate; it was time to head back to endure a night of Soapstar to Opera Star. Painful.

Miss Piggy’s ideal Valentines Day had a lie in at the top of the list. So with her needs in mind I said I would make myself scarce for a few hours. My exact instruction was to come back at 12pm where we would then set off home going the long way round taking in Whitby. Get in!!! Cupid must have known the Black throated Thrush was still nearby. The conundrum was how I shoehorned this Siberian vagrant into the day’s itinerary. Either way, I had a few hours of birding bliss to get in before I had to think of a reason to visit a random garden in Newholm. As I made my way to Filey Dams I hit the jackpot by bagging ten Waxwings feeding close to the entrance, stunning birds. The only thing that tainted the experience was that the birds were very close to a garden, I didn’t think the residents would appreciate pulling back their curtains early in the morning to find someone with binoculars and a camera. A friend of mine once had the police called for doing something similar! I don’t think the balaclava he was wearing though did him any favours?

The dams were quiet so I thought a walk along the beach at Reighton Sands may produce a Sanderling or Ringed Plover but again it was quiet. The tide line had washed up three Ray’s Bream, which had sent the gulls into a feeding frenzy. Back to the car, and with time to spare I got my phone out for a quick look on Birdguides. Bingo! Four Tundra Bean Geese were 10 minutes away at Cayton Carr. The directions posted were spot on and I had found the geese, which were with five Pink Footed Geese straight away. I had cracking views through my telescope but sadly they were too far away to get any decent photo’s. Again, showing well but distant!!!

We hit the road to Whitby with the repetitive sound of “are we there yet” emanating from the back seat. The walk around the shops and harbour was nice but with the thought of a nearby Black Throated Thrush in the back of my mind I never got settled. When it was time to go, I played the “we’ll try this way” card and it worked. Soon we were lost in Newholm! So I stopped to ask directions from some locals who unbelievably all had tripods! Miss Piggy knew she had been had, on the day of love of all days! Luckily the bird was showing well and near. I had ten great minutes watching it around the feeders, even managing some record shots. The bonus came in the form of a Marsh Tit, which came to the feeder in the adjoining garden. My enthusiastic shout of “Marsh Tit” alerting the other “twitchers” to its presence didn’t even cause a hint of excitement, their loss!

Black Throated Thrush

Martin Mere & Marshside

2010-02-08T18:28:00.008Z

With the fog still covering the area, albeit with much better visibility, I decided on a trip to the dark side…Lancashire. As Scammonden tailed off behind me I was soon at border control, it was then I started pulling my pockets to pieces as it dawned on me I had forgotten my passport? The only thing left was to wind my window down and talk to the customs and excise officer in a broad Lancastrian accent to hopefully fool him into thinking I was one of them. Quick interrogations followed and touch wood my skills of mimicry held their own, a nod to the guys manning the barrier and they dropped their guns, pulled back the Alsatians and let me through. I had blagged my way inside the poor mans Yorkshire. I think the clincher was referring to my teacake as an oven bottom muffin, they knew then I was for real.

An hour later I was at Martin Mere, an annual stronghold for wintering Whooper Swans and Pink Footed Geese. The bulk of the west coasts Whooper Swans are of Icelandic origin, arriving as Britain’s heaviest regular migrant.

The Pinkfeet also make the journey from Iceland with some starting off as far north as Greenland’s east coast. Other birds that winter at the mere are good numbers of Shelduck and Pintail and around thirty Ruff were present too. Two active Peregrines kept the Teal and Wigeon on their toes throughout the morning, with neither though taking any prey in the time I was there.

Pintail

Pink Footed Goose (this was a captive bird at the centre)

After a good few hours it was a toss up between heading home to watch Chelsea v Arsenal or nip round the corner to spend the last few hours at Marshside? Marshside it was and a good decision too. A Bittern showed really well (through the telescope) and uncharacteristically left cover to stalk the brackish marsh like the habits of a Grey Heron? Around six Little Egrets waded through the smaller pools along with Black Tailed Godwits, Redshank and a few Golden Plover. Pink footed Geese came in from the mud flats to feed with grazing Wigeon giving superb over head views.

The birds of prey sighted were a male Merlin, Kestrel and a hunting Short Eared Owl as I returned to the car. There is actually a Short Eared Owl on this photo...somewhere! The picture does give some perspective as to the size of Marshside though.

The beauty of bird watching at the side of a busy road is you get so many nice comments from the passing motorists. One car even slowed and turned the dance music down just enough for me to hear his Burberry baseball cap adorned co pilot shout “sad banker”. He must have mistaken me for someone else? I’m not even a Banker? If I was though he was probably right, in the current economic climate I would be sad? Only ten minutes had passed when I was alerted to their return in the opposite direction by the dampened bass riff of Dutch hard trance. Out of the distant mist floated the modified Citroen Saxo complete with carbon fibre whale tail spoiler and day glow “on a mission” sticker emblazoned across the front windscreen. This time it was the twenty something driver who offered his observation by shouting what I thought was “sad country”? He may have thought I was looking at Ireland through my telescope?

As dusk loomed over Skelmanthorpe I had just given Junior Shat Birder a whipping on her Wii when a Tawny Owl called from the tree in the garden, the first time I had heard it this year. As we opened the window it flew to a neighbouring rooftop before disappearing into the night. This winter has seen a refurbishment to its nest box in the garden so watch this space. Unfortunately we had squatters in the form of Squirrel’s, which thwarted breeding for the last couple of years. Let’s hope they take to there newly improved home?

Langsett

2010-02-08T18:24:00.003Z

Saturday unfortunately wasn’t a day for bird watching, not around here anyway. The fog was too thick to make out anything beyond twenty meters. I put the miles in with a good walk around Langsett Reservoir. In some places you couldn’t even make out where the water line ended and the fog began. Needless to say my sightings for the day were somewhat limited. The only birds of note were Treecreeper, Great Spotted Woodpecker and good numbers still of Red Grouse on the moor. An encouraging sign was a fresh Peregrine kill, which could have only been hours old at the most, the victim being an unfortunate pigeon. It had been plucked and stripped yards from the moorland path. The pigeon wouldn’t have had a chance of evading a Peregrine in these conditions; it would have been hit a split second after it burst from the fog.

Holme Valley

2010-02-01T18:34:00.007Z

I should have been out Birding for most of the day on Saturday but unfortunately spent the whole morning with Miss Piggy in A&E getting her mouth reopened. Naturally like all things that go wrong in our house it was my fault and until a time machine is invented we will probably never find out the truth. She’s adamant she asked for her Lipstick passing, whereas I’m more than 100% confident she asked for Prit Stick? The drive to the hospital was bliss though, every cloud…………..

I decided in the end on a walk along the river through Holmfirth, having not seen a Dipper this year it seemed a good way to get another name on the 2010 list. It wasn’t long either before I got my first glimpse when three individuals sped past up the river closely followed by a female Grey Wagtail. They naturally seemed to favour areas that were out of reach to the public so I always seemed to be watching them from a distance, except for the odd fly by. Three drake Mandarins mingled with Mallards on the stretch of river by the Co-op in the centre. Although they are un-ringed, I am always dubious about the origins of these birds so I won’t be adding them to the list. They seemed very confiding, suggesting they may be escapes? Maybe not? It’s actually a sad fact that there are now more Mandarin’s in Britain than in their native Japan! Escapes or not though, there is no detracting away from how stunning they are.

I had provisionally thought I might have a trip out on Sunday and check out somewhere a bit further a field. That was until I actually woke up on Sunday morning! Miss Piggy and me had hit Shat cricket club for a birthday party on Saturday night which unfortunately turned into a 4am lager frenzy. I was going well up until 1am but sadly my condition deteriorated as I slumped to an all time low when I found myself dancing to Hey Macarena with an unbuttoned shirt. You know you’re pissed when you say hi to your reflection in the mirror in the toilets? Miss Piggy was on red alert too as I have been known in the past to wet the bed once inebriated! Fortunately I had a dry night, which was a relief, as a week after my last accident the bedroom smelt like a Hamster cage. I was awoken by a phone call to go out for a stroll with the Shat Kennel Club – a few of my mates who take their dogs out every weekend. Even though I don’t have a dog I may get kicked out if they read this, as the first rule of Kennel Club is you do not talk about Kennel Club? I actually went on the walk as I thought the fresh air might perk me up. I could feel every heart beat in my head and my mouth was like a tray of cat litter, I dug deep and like John Rambo, ignored the pain. We walked from Skelmanthorpe to Stocksmoor, eventually meeting the “better halves” at the Clothiers Arms to tuck into a well-deserved Sunday dinner.

The highlight of the walk on the birding front was the addition of Little Owl to the list, which takes me to 102. Skelmanthorpe hosts a Little Owl family which has used the same site for decades and I have watched them there from being a boy so it’s almost checking up on them. They seem to be doing well. You can’t do much bird watching though with three rampaging dogs and three dog owners who all think they are Ceasar Millan! I did see Helmeted Guinea Fowl!

Winscar & Harden

2010-01-24T14:41:00.004Z

This weekend has been fairly bird free to be honest, with no new additions to the 2010 list. A walk around the outskirts of Skelmanthorpe didn't bring much, possibly due to an organised shoot in Blacker Wood. If the birds knew what was best they would have stayed away? I did head up to Winscar though for a couple of hours to see if anything was on the water but that too was quiet. It did make for some great scenery though.

Winscar Reservoir

I parked up to take a walk out on one of the footpaths in the Harden/Snailsden valley as it has been very good in recent years for wintering raptors, a Kestrel was the only bird of prey sighted. Red Grouse were vocal in and amongst the heather and a small flock of Bullfinch flited around the tree's on the roadside, keeping their distance. All in all it was a great walk, just short on numbers when it came to species of birds seen.

Harden Reservoir

A distant Castle Hill

Fairburn Ings & Blacktoft Sands

2010-01-20T19:14:00.005Z

Sunday was really a tale of two halves in terms of habitats, with raptors being the constant theme throughout the day. The golf course was STILL closed so the father son birding tag team hit the RSPB reserves. Not only is he good company but my dad has a knack of seeing the slightest flourish of feather and has alerted me to a birds presence many times when I’ve had my eye to the telescope looking completely the wrong way. The old two pairs of eyes are better than one cliché it certainly is.
We didn’t set of till mid morning. The plan was to spend an hour or two at Fairburn Ings before nipping down the M62 to get the last few hours in at Blacktoft Sands. Surprisingly even though the weather had been milder and the bulk of the snow gone, large areas of water were still frozen. This was reflected in the number of birds seen. The highlight of many a trip to Fairburn is the Long Eared Owl roost and it didn’t disappoint today either, only one bird was present although the number at any one time does fluctuate. I’ve been before and seen five birds at the same roost site, but whether its one, five or fifteen, you can never get bored of seeing owls in the wild.
Due to the recent conditions Blacktoft Sands had been closed for long periods as the access paths had become hazardous. Rather than trek out there to turn back we used the facilities and got the helpdesk at the visitors centre to phone up and check it was open before setting off, is that abusing the membership? A quick walk around the path before leaving produced 5 Willow Tit, all using the feeders along with good numbers of Tree Sparrow. Willow Tit are very localised birds never seen in any great quantities so a trip to Fairburn is worth it just for this alone. I’ve had singles in the past few years around a few local reservoirs in Huddersfield, none of these areas are a dead cert though. This may be even more so after the recent cold spell? Let’s hope not.

A nice male Chaffinch which frequented the feeding station

In terms of bird numbers, Blacktoft was quiet too but it’s the quality here that makes the place luring. Within seconds we had Marsh Harrier quartering the vast reedbeds, occasionally plunging down on unfortunate prey.

Merlin’s were active too but the real buzz was watching the ghost like aura of a hunting Barn Owl sweeping across the horizon pausing to hover before drifting away. That for me is birdwatching!

As dusk approached, small skeins of Greylag Geese came in, giving company to the franticly feeding lone Shelduck.

A Kestrel had an altercation with the Barn Owl who seemed to be hunting on “his” patch and before we knew it, it was coming dark. Engrossed in the surroundings we had lost track of time. On leaving the reserve, the surrounding fields had feeding Roe Deer and Brown Hare which put the icing on the cake for a superb afternoon.

High Hoyland

2010-01-16T18:01:00.005Z

With a few hours to kill, I thought a walk around High Hoyland church may be productive for mixed finch and bunting flocks. Before I’d even got there I had picked up a Green Sandpiper feeding around the edge of a pool in the old Emley Show field which had been created by the thaw. The hard part was finding a place to park up to view the bird from which didn’t already have a lone middle aged guy sat there in a steamed up car. Needless to say these guys weren’t birdwatchers. In fear of being shagged (or in recent weeks murdered!) I opted to watch the bobbing sandpiper from the safety of my car, which unfortunately was through a hedgerow, so didn’t really get the best of views. I seemed to be attracting quite a bit of attention too? Cars would slow down with some random guy staring into my car, look at me, then crawl away and park up. It was obvious I was getting invites to a woodland party that I didn’t want to go to. High Hoyland church here I come.
In recent years there have been massive mixed flocks of birds here which have included, Lesser Redpoll, Linnet, Goldfinch, Chaffinch and Brambling. There were small numbers here today with only a handful of species seen. Small flocks of Yellowhammer and Reed Bunting would alight from the crops, joining Goldfinches before disappearing again with the graveyard holding good numbers of Blue and Great Tit with a pair of Bullfinches flitting around the headstones.

A small flock of Yellowhammer and Reed Bunting

A good scan of the trees didn’t produce any roosting Tawny Owl this time though. If they have any sense they will probably be tucked away in the warmth of the purpose built box. The odd Red Legged Partridge would flush from the hedgerows as I walked along the edge of the fields. The amount of feeding stations dotted around for the partridge makes me think the handful that I saw were merely the tip of the iceberg. They could be heard calling from most areas but the tall cover made them impossible to see. An unusually pale Buzzard caught my eye too and after much deliberation it was left at that, a Buzzard.
I will probably keep trying this area for the next few weeks to see if the bird numbers build up which may hopefully pull in a few Brambling. The one thing that has remained consistent from last year though is the number of Rats! The one I saw today was massive, so they are clearly living well!

Calder River

2010-01-11T17:07:00.004Z

With the Golf Course still closed, I had my wingman for the second weekend running. The fact my Dad was joining me was made even better when he said he would drive, his car is slightly better than mine when it comes to handling snow and ice covered roads. My car seems to have a mind of its own in these conditions. Having dipped on the Smew the previous weekend we decided to have another go further down river based on a sighting posted on Birdguides the day before. We parked up by The Navigation pub to be immediately greeted by a Fieldfare feeding on berries which posed for a few shots before we headed towards the river.

As we got to the steps leading up to the footbridge we had a slight vantage point over the river to the far bank. This was one of those “right place at the right time” moments, as soon as we could see the other side, a Water Rail left its cover, scurried across a small clearing before vanishing again into a thicket. A chance sighting of such an elusive bird, to be fair, every sighting I have ever had of Water Rail has been a glimpse at best. Still, a great start to the day, and year. The footbridge had another surprise, an incredibly brave or totally lost Pygmy Shrew, who was completely oblivious to us peering down on it while it found its bearings.

Due to the main bodies of water being frozen the free flowing river seemed to be teeming with birds. Within a few minutes of being on the riverside path we had Tufted Duck, Pochard, Wigeon, Teal, Goldeneye, Gooseander, Mallard, Cormorant, Redshank, Kingfisher, Grey Heron, Little and Great Crested Grebes, the list goes on. That’s not even mentioning all the regulars in the bushes and trees. The path winds around a sewerage farm where the filter beds were alive with Pied Wagtails and Meadow Pipits, with a single Grey Wagtail adding some colour. The large numbers of birds hadn’t gone unnoticed with the local Sparrowhawks, which were practically queuing up. This area must be like McDonalds for Sparrowhawks.

It wasn’t long after when we eventually got sight of the main event, a stunning drake Smew. These are migratory ducks that summer in northern Scandinavia and Siberia, with only 200 or so (if not less) reaching the UK every winter. Unfortunately I could only muster a blurred flight shot as it took to the air when spooked by couple of youths walking along the path. They are very shy ducks indeed, opting to fly further up river rather than diving like Goldeneye, or merely swimming away like Gooseander. Should it stay in the area though, there maybe other opportunities to get a better photo? A quick walk to see if we could relocate the Smew produced another sawbill in the form of a female Red Breasted Merganser, which can only be the same bird we saw the previous weekend a mile or so up river near the Calder Wetlands and Pugneys area. This put the icing on the cake with a cracking trio of Gooseander, Red Breasted Merganser and Smew, whom have acquired their family name of “sawbills” from small tooth like serrations on their bill which provide better underwater grip whilst hunting fish.

It was a poor day for photographs due to bad light and shy subjects but a superb few hours of birding with Water Rail, Smew and Red Breasted Merganser taking the honours, closely followed by a perched roadside Buzzard on the way home at Bretton.

Langsett

2010-01-09T20:26:00.010Z

A few Friday night beers in The Grove laid the foundations for an afternoon walk the next day around Langsett Reservoir. This suited me down to the bone as not only is it a great walk, the scenery and wildlife can be top notch too. The rarity was the fact it was a “family” walk, something I can’t remember doing for a very long time. The family being Myself, Mum, Dad and Sister, Miss Piggy had swollen glands giving her a Sophie Ellis Bextor moon face look, so naturally couldn’t face the public and junior Shat Birder was glued to the TV praying that Atreyou and Falcor could combine to stop The Nothing taking over Fantasia in the Never Ending Story!

The plan was to park up and just keep walking until we felt the paths were not suitable and turn back. This never happened, as although the snowfall had been heavy, the paths particularly on the moorland section of the circuit were still clearly visible and well trodden. The opposite hillside was hosting the men’s downhill championships with sledges, bin bags, snowboards and rubber dinghy’s all been used to race down. Part of me wanted to be over there! I can handle the hurtling down it’s the trudging back up that I loose interest with.

A cracking male Bullfinch was probably the only bird we had seen for the first half hour but anybody with some decent tracking skills would have had a field day as the woodland floor and adjoining fields were littered with footprints in the snow. I can only think that Rabbit, Fox and possibly Hare were some of the culprits, maybe even Squirrel? A short stop at the bridge was prolonged by the hypnotic effect running water has. It had us all leaning over the bridge, following the flow of the river into the reservoir. Something made even better by the snow covered stepping-stones and hanging branches.

Once out on the moorland, small parties of Red Grouse could be seen scratching away at the snow to get to the Heather. Although prolonged periods of snow such as this are fairly uncommon, the grouse are ideally suited with feathered feet and unusual feathered nostrils.

The feeding parties would occasionally take flight, forming flocks of 100 or more birds, circling a few times before dispersing back into the Heather.

Whilst out on the most open part of the walk a cloud appeared which was clearly heading our way and before long we could see that snow was on the way. This sent my Mum into a gibbering frenzy who was demanding we up the pace. It was as though she had had a premonition of some sort of hiking disaster. I understood her concern that we had snowfall fast approaching and we were out on a moor but the panic she had worked up was falling on deaf ears. I think my Mum could see in her minds eye a mountain rescue team getting the dogs and heat seeking helicopter ready to search the Langsett area for the “missing” family. The next person onto Langsett Moor would be Michael Burke filming a reconstruction for 999! The following actors would need hiring though to make it anywhere near believable,

My Dad - John Goodman (who’s possibly dead? Sorry John if you’re not)
My Mum – Mo from Eastenders
Myself – Jean Claude Van Damme
My Sister – Kerry Katona

As predicted by myself, the blizzard Armageddon my Mum was expecting had blown over in seconds revealing clear blue skies and dazzling scenery. As the path neared the tree line we came across two belters, a pair of Crossbills perched in the treetop. Unfortunately from a photo point of view they were just out of range but at least I managed some sort of record shot. It’s a shame too as the way they were perched really showed off their colours in the sunlight. Crossbills as the name suggests have an adapted beak enabling them to prise open pinecones to extract the seeds, stunning birds in close proximity.

The other birds seen were Blue, Great and Coal Tits with a Great Spotted Woodpecker putting in an appearance as it flew across a clearing. On the water were Mallard, Teal, Wigeon and a pair of Canada Geese, all resting on the ice, which probably covered 85% of the reservoir. It’s hard times for the birds at the minute.

A Hot Chocolate and piece of Parkin from the cafe were just rewards for an enjoyable few hours in an area that could be on appearance alone deepest darkest Scotland or Scandinavia, not somewhere 20 minutes from Shat!

Pugney's and Bretton Lakes

2010-01-04T17:24:00.006Z

Sunday morning I decided to head down to Pugneys to try and catch up with the Ferruginous Duck and Ring necked Duck which had hung on from Christmas time. Both birds were already on my 2009 list but would be great additions for this year. Due to the overnight sprinkling of snow, golf courses were closed so my Dad fancied a trip out too as he was now at a loose end. After parking up at the Swan and Cygnet pub we were greeted by another few birders. The ice had almost covered the lake, shepherding the waterfowl fairly close to the bank to a small area which had remained ice free. A few scans with the telescope couldn’t pick out either of the ducks on today’s hit list. The variety was good though, Little and Great Crested Grebes jockeyed for space with Coot, Tufted Duck, Pochard and Wigeon.

We headed over the road to the main country park where within five minutes of being there had located the Ferruginous Duck on a small patch of ice free water congregating with a few Pochards and Tufted Ducks.

Here it is shown at the back with two male Pochards to the right, two male Tufted Ducks to the left and a female Pochard in the foreground.

We could see that the Nature Reserve lake was fully frozen but gave the hide a try for 20 minutes as these are very good conditions for encouraging elusive birds such as Bittern and Water Rail to leave the reeds. The Bittern did show but all very briefly. After 30 minutes of scanning the reeds for any signs of its re-emergence I began seeing things that weren’t even there! Did that reed just move? Bitterns have this effect on Birdwatchers. Unfortunately we didn’t see a Water Rail, which are timid birds at best.

Word had got round that the Ring Necked Duck had been seen back over the road behind the Swan and Cygnet pub but on a different pool to the one previously scanned. Again, when we got there, plenty of birders were around as the Ferruginous Duck had made its way over too from the main boating lake. The Ring Necked Duck showed well, mainly because of the ice restrictions but was always a little too far away for any sort of decent picture. The added bonus came in the shape of a female Red Breasted Merganser which was associating with Gooseanders on the River Calder. We had tried this area on the off chance that a Smew which had been seen recently was maybe in the area. Sadly we didn’t find it. A fly by from a Mute Swan gave us some compensation though!

On the way back the light was still OK so called in for a walk around Bretton Lakes. The tree tops were alive with Nuthatches which seem to be thriving around the lakes.

The Treecreepers could be heard calling too. It was the second time of asking when we eventually spotted our first for the year. We had spent 10 minutes with necks cricked staring into the treetops trying to find the source of the sound before giving it up as a bad job. The second bird gave good views though once it was located. A calling Greater Spotted Woodpecker couldn’t be picked up either by the lower lake so I had take a photo of the two Highland Cows instead.

The light started fading so we headed back. There was still time to get a photo of the Crows coming into roost against such a vivid back drop.

2010-01-02T20:39:00.007Z

Well I hope everyone had a cracking Christmas and New Year and if it was anything like mine, you probably ate, drunk and slept too much. There aren’t many things better though than a belt adjusting Christmas dinner! Thanks for reading this too, it will just be a light hearted diary of the compilation of a bird watching year list. It will be totally random and in most cases grossly exaggerated! Thanks to my long suffering partner too, who will no doubt get her fair share of unwanted attention in these pages. There’s nothing anonymous about this but I thought it best she take on a deep and meaningful alias. Something, which after all these years is a statement about my love and passion? I thought Romeo and Juliet may be a bit too obvious so opted for another one of life’s famous sweethearts, Kermit and Miss Piggy. Miss Piggy will be chuffed to bits when she finds out about this. I’m not entirely sure she knows the web address for this? So could possibly be living in ignorant bliss. There’s a good chance too that if the Shat Birder blogspot is never featured on the X Factor or Strictly Come Dancing, the possibility of her never hearing about it are high!

Miss Piggy had actually spent the festive period with the “sniffles” wrapped in a duvet, clutching a Lemsip. I’d been fine. That was until the 29th! As I sit in bed, skim reading Flight Identification of European Seabirds, Miss Piggy gave me a look that suggested a pre new years kiss may be on the cards. As I flicked the light off and got the back of my roaming hand slapped she gave me a quick peck before rolling over with the lion’s share of the duvet. What I didn’t know at the time, was that the quick peck had infected me with a potentially life threatening disease. Within hours I was shivering, sweating and nauseous. She is adamant that it was the same virus she had had, when it simply wasn’t! The strain Miss Piggy had been harbouring for the last couple of days was far weaker, this had mutated upon my contraction to a warmth and energy sapping life form of its own. Had I not built up my fat reserves in the previous week it may have been a different story. A lesser man probably wouldn’t have made it. The next morning I had been reduced to cold lifeless husk unable to even protest slightly at the back to back episodes of Eastenders. All I wanted was to watch the Test Match in peace! I’m not sure whether it’s other people’s generosity or personal greed but this Christmas I seem to have put weight on faster than a Seal pup. Hopefully a few hikes along Filey Brigg will help turn this unwanted keg into the six pack I can so clearly see in my mind? It’s the finger food though that does it. On every table there are nibbles! I wouldn’t mind but every year I fall foul of the wolves in sheep’s clothing – Mince Pies. The crust never feels that warm! My one and only Mince Pie of this festive period had a filling that could only be likened to Magma. My lips blistered on contact making me reel away like a ten year old boy avoiding a kiss from his moustachioed Grandma. The burns cream that I found in the “medicine cupboard” (which was probably years out of date) frothed around my lips giving me a Kujo esque rabid St Bernhard look, which is not a good. The family kept their distance!

It is the first year that I have bought all my presents on the internet. No Christmas Eve dash to Meadowhall fighting the crowds. I got everyone what they wanted without leaving the comfort of my desk. Naturally that is what the internet at work is for, to be abused! It will probably be February now when I find out that my card details have been cloned by some Nigerian gang. I was actually the victim of identity fraud eight years ago. It was well over a year before I reported it as the criminals were spending less than Miss Piggy!

On the 30th though, and far from being myself, we got in the car and set off to Filey and the rest they say is history. On January 1st my 2010 list began with the first year tick being awarded to Herring Gull, a very vocal individual screaming out from a chimney pot as I pulled back the curtains. It had snowed a bit during the night leaving the ground lightly covered. I hadn’t had a drink New Years Eve as I still wasn’t match fit after my bout with Super Man Flu, so although not feeling 100%, I was still probably feeling a whole load better than if I had of sunk a few. This was probably a good thing as the steps down to Coble Landing would have been better tackled with a Bobsleigh! Once down, the beach area was fine. There was a good mix of the commoner gulls feeding around the surf and a few Cormorant and Eider offshore. A nice bird to start the year off was a Grey Plover feeding with Oystercatcher, Redshank, Turnstone, Knot and Dunlin. It is not a particularly rare bird but one never really seen it vast numbers. Just as I had got started I was unfortunately having to turn round and head back to Coble Landing as the snowfall had become harder making it impossible to bird watch.

It didn't seem to bother the lads collecting Cockles though!

As I did make my way back I could have been the hero by alerting the local authorities to the dorsal fin of Carcharodon carcharias, the Great White Shark destined in 2010 to wreak havoc on Filey’s Chief of Police. The distant shape moving through water actually turned out to be something even scarier. It was someone taking a New Years day dip! I was struggling to feel the binoculars in my hand it was that cold and someone was in the water! Insane.

Birdwatching over, it was into Scarborough for a walk around the Harbour which was welcomed upon parking up on Marine Drive by the imposing silhouette of the resident Peregrine Falcon on the castle hillside. Peregrines have an aura that commands respect and it is such a shame I couldn’t get a better picture to do it justice.

When the sea is rough Scarborough Harbour is very good for divers, particularly Red Throated, seeking refuge from the open sea. Today was fairly calm so there wasn’t much around, a couple of Cormorants and a Guillemot being all on the water with plenty of Gulls and Turnstone on the various jetties.

The weather forecast for today had not been too good so we decided we would head back to Skelmanthorpe at dinnertime giving us plenty of time should the roads be bad. This gave me a couple of hours on the Brigg to do a bit of sea watching and a good couple of hours they were too with Common and Velvet Scoter, Red Throated and Great Northern Diver, Long Tailed Duck and Fulmar being recorded. A bonus too was flushing a Woodcock from the side of Carr Naze whilst peering over the side looking at a Rock Pipit. The forecast was right and the snow started coming so it was time to head back and bundle Miss Piggy and Junior Shat Birder into the car and head for home!