Recent Birding

Showed really well from the 'Garganey' hide at North Duff whilst dipping Sanderling, but my battery died pretty quickly!

Right since getting back from Tenerife have been doing some local birding. In summary


LDV is flooded so is getting most coverage. Year list has moved onto 143 with a push of Spring migrants moving into the area.


End of April produced


2 Arctic Skuas! Dark morph and a pale morph birds flying east over Sutton-on-Derwent, my first inland Skuas and an awesome moment!
1w Little Gull at North Duffield
A mad dash in the evening to Flamborough for the flycatcher, felt rather smug after seeing it thinking it would clear off that night, its still present today...


Year ticks in May have been
Arctic Tern
Hobby
Egyptian Goose
Garganey
Cuckoo


Chris had a flyover Hooded Crow at East Cottingwith today! Had a good look this afternoon and found a few large corvid flocks but no Hoodie! Mega area bird the last record being in 2002 and the last twitchable being in 1983! Here's hoping its re-located in the next few days.


Still a few common migrants that I haven't caught up with, mainly because I'm revising! 

Tree Pipit

Gropper

Common Sand

Reed Warbler

Garden Warbler

In a field along Hagg Lane this afternoon, tundrae at a guess but tricky with single bird in a heat hazy field!

Plus Redstart, Wood Warbler, Spotted Flycatcher and Turtle Dove should be gettable shortly if not already.

Still haven't heard of any Stonechat in the area so that might have to worringly wait until late summer! First Whinchat found by Andy Walker this evening where I'd been all afternoon!

Few Black Tern being reported in Yorkshire today as well as a few Wood Sand, Sanderling and Turnstone. Red-necked Phalarope at Old Moor, only 1 previous area record, due for a second?

Need to head up north and listen out for Nightjar and Long-eared Owl but I guess they will have to wait till after exams.

Migrant Pied Fly would be a nice bird as would a Ring Ouzel but are both outside chances in the area.

All in all, year list going pretty good, however a bit of local competition has arose which should make proceeding a bit more interesting from now on!

Birding experiences 2012

Quick post from a recent trip to Tenerife


Was on the Island for 9 days 20th-29th April, did hardly any research into what birds I might see as I wouldn't be able to influence where I was going due to being on a University trip and without a hire car. 


Still managed 12 lifers with a few more new ssp.


These were


Plain Swift
Blue Chaffinch
Laurel Pigeon
Canary Islands Chiffchaff
Canary
Lesser Kestrel
Spanish Sparrow (first lifer that I've had while being under the effects of a few beers...)
Subalpine Warbler
Spectacled Warbler
Barbary Partridge
Berthelot's pipit
Southern Grey Shrike


The best birding experience of the trip however came in the form of Common Terns.


We had 1 free day at the end of the trip so we booked up with a local company to go snorkelling with Green Turtles. Where we were in the harbour a pair of Common Tern were using a small boat as a resting place before heading off to fish in the surrounding area. They allowed me to swim as close as I could which meant that my face was about 2ft away from the terns at times! It felt like a great privilege to be able to observe these birds at such close quarters. Completely different to seeing birds in the hand (even though I missed Common Tern in the hand at Spurn last year due to making dinner!) a true highlight for me!

me with tern on boat behind

magic

Good days birding today, got a patch tick in the form of a flyover Whimbrel, which was promptly eclipsed by a fly through Red-rumped Swalllow! Seen by a local dog walker Andy Walker the bird shot through north east and didn't return! Oh well a Red Kite moments before was also picked out by the sharp eyed dog walker! Good numbers of Wheatear on site with 13+ noted including some nice upright peachy birds.

soon to be appearing on a much more popular blog than this one!

Video of the Red Kite here


https://vimeo.com/41669376


Being in active wing moult apparently makes it an Adult Female which is pretty cool!


A quick blast up to Castle Howard where the highlight was everyone else getting tipex thrown over them by some Rooks above. 3 Mandarins present probably mean that there taking up residence on site now!


Rest of day was spent in the valley with Cuckoo taking me onto 141 for my York Area Year List, still plenty of water around! Common Tern through Ellerton, 2 Wheatear, 3+ Yellow Wagtails down Hagg Lane with 100's of swallow-like-creatures, none with Red-rumps though. 

Lack of recent posts due to being in Italy and Tenerife for a while, however will update fully soon but pretty busy with exams at the moment! New record flock of Arctic Tern for the LDV was pretty sweet today!


Video and more info here


https://vimeo.com/41596231


More posts to follow, hopefully...


Taster of more to come

Ouse

Being back in Birmingham means not a lot of birding.


Have been looking at Google Maps eyeing up potential sites in the York Area to explore birding wise.


One area that looks to have bags of potential but as far as I'm aware isn't watched.


Birds that would be expected in the area in an average year but tricky to catch up with in a year, must be a lot easier down there. Birds like Grey Plover, Barwit, Spotshank, Turnstone, Arctic Tern, Black Tern, Little Gull and Kittiwake must get concentrated and pass east down towards the humber from the west coast or be pushed up the humber and pass west depending on weather conditions. 


Then there must be potential for birds that are pretty scarce in area like Shag, Sanderling, Hen Harrier,  Gannet, RB Merg, Sandwich Tern, Skuas, Fulmar and the like as well as other species like Montagu's Harrier, Divers, Manx Shearwater, Eider, Auks, Phalaropes, Sabine's Gull and Little Tern.


However, am I just getting excited with all this potential. Is it too far along the humber for birds to come up this high? The area goes as far south as Hemingbrough, by this point there has been 3 bridges across the river, Humber Bridge, M62 and the A614. Will this put birds off coming this high up?


Anyone ever watched the Ouse this high up and had stuff move up or down it? Any tips for best weather conditions for stuff being forced up the humber?

General consensus on the pipit below seemed to be littoralis Rock Pipit, it was seen again the next morning by Chris but not since and all the pipits seemed to have cleared off! Bird number 124 for my York Area Year List, which will be taking a back seat for the rest of April as I'm not going to be back in area until two days on the 19th and 20th and then not back properly till the 30th!


After a good 2 days Sunday and Monday, the rest of the week was a lot quiteter, Twite still kicking about at Hes East, but very few other migrants. Highlights being 259 stunning Golden Plover in a local field whilst looking for a Crane!

Nice looking northerners as well!

Came back to Birmingham for Easter this weekend so here's hoping I don't miss too many good birds in the York area.


However more interesting was what happened on Wednesday on the local patch, Hes East.


After several emails to the Uni asking them if we could organise a work party on the site to try to encourage the breeding waders with some shingle and vegetation removal. After a meeting with the head groundsman on Monday, the first ever Hes East work party was organised on Wednesday!


The Uni ground staff were keen to do the work so along with me and a mate we got to work adding 7 tonnes of shingle in patches along the western scrapes, removal of low growing vegetation and improving of the fencing to try and deter the dog walkers. 

Shingle on the only island on the site

4 patches like this added should encourage some breeding

Fingers crossed our hard work will be paid off with a productive breeding season!

Pipits

1 of 2 birds at Hes East this evening, opinions welcomed!

Record Shots

Ace day in the area today involved a morning at Hes East with Red Kite, Marsh Tit and TWITE! Being the highlights

Then onto Wheldrake for 2 Avocet and my 2nd Red Kite of the day flew over!