Not birding just walking....

Decided to have a walk around in the snow this morning and it was more a case of walking and not birding.
The snow was about 5inches deep and a mixture of ice powdered snow slush and mud.

 

Plenty of woodpigeon as usual vocal crows and rooks with a good mix of jackdaw thrown in.

 

Fieldfare and redwing numbers down on recent days but still plenty about.

Yellowhammer and bullfinch in good numbers as were tits wrens robins and dunnock.

 



moving on the air was filled with huge numbers of geese gulls pigeons and corvids.

But in general the smaller birds were somewhat lacking.

Nice to see my gaggle of comedy moorehen are still doing well not a drop of water in sight and at least twenty of them flicking around. Robins vocal as was the great tit.

At the carrs nice to see the superb job that is in progress by Craig and the team the feeding station looks great. (Cheers everyone).

Spent the last couple of hours in the GS hide and could not help but notice the constant stream of gulls going over it was literally non stop for two hours. Stacks of fowl geese and waders golden plover flyby (12) and snipe numerous. Sadly lots of shooting activity.

Where are they all going????
Finished off with a nice Barn Owl flypast and a Tawny owl calling from the trees.

So its good night from me and goodnight from him.....................

Not at the carrs just in case the LDV team are looking.

 

Calm before the storm?

Water levels on the LDV have dropped slightly with no issues on the road from Bubwith bridge.
Started with the usual mixture of wigeon and teal, six whoopers in the turf field were nice to see,lots of canada geese, greylags,mallards and mutes, lots of swans in the distance so could not id them. A dozen pochard were an added bonus as was the display put on by a single female goldeneye, first shelduck for a while and the usual build up of lappies and gulls. Long tailed tits still trying to find a meal outside the hide as well as the usual robins wrens and blackbirds. Pintail still hanging around but mainly females (hope the males have not been shot!! why is this bird still a "quarry" species?)

Buzzard nearly lost its temper with two crows and a female sprawk was keeping an eye on things, but i get the impression that the birds are preparing for the oncoming wild weather..just a thought.

Water Water everywhere!!!!

This was the scene down at the carrs today..
Had an interesting last hour at the GS hide plenty of wigeon, teal, lapwings, good size flock of golden plover.There is also a huge gull roost building up nicely, swans still around but too distant to id.Had a dabchick diving right outside the GS hide.Also a couple of gadwall and shovelor.
Water is still rising and could be back over the road by Monday.....

All looking good for tomorrow.

To bird or not to bird?

Not sure what to expect today missed all the weeks action due to work and fog.Was supposed to be xmas shopping so got up and was greeted by superb sunshine yipee!!.

Looked out of the bedroom window stunning view across the ings and then spotted 8-10 Mute swans,100's of Wigeon,Ruff, 2 Black swans yes! 2 stacks of greylags and tufted ducks.Xmas shopping might now be on hold!

Went to the kitchen window usual batch of sparrows tucking into the seeds on the table joined by a lovely festive Robin,Great Tit,Dunnock,Starlings (my god they are loud) Blackbird Blue tit and collared dove then a Marsh tit joined in much to the annoyance of the sparrows.

So do i go xmas shopping?........................

Hit one of my local spots and was rewarded with a splendid flock of Fieldfare, Kestrel hovering was nice to see, then onto the water and was faced with a stiff North Westerly it was strong! as if by magic 6 Bewicks, Distant views of 8 Scaup were a real bonus 4male 4female greylags a plenty and 100s of swans on the far bank mixture of whoopers and mutes.Wigeon and Teal in big numbers as well as Lapwings. Also came across what looked like a very grey Wheatear looked like maybe a cat had encountered it. Loads of Mallards and Shelduck made for a pleasant morning and then i had these on the way back to the car.

Moved onto another favourite spot and had GSW and 2 siskin loads of goldfinches on the local garden feeders and then on the canal 2 dabchicks hunting for insects amongst the reeds, Started to cloud over and could see in the distance that the sun was still out on the carrs so headed back to the GS hide.

Linked up with a couple of regulars at the hide and was amazed to see how still it was. Loads of water and lots of ice,Highlight was watching half a dozen wagtails skate around catching insects.

Later on Wigeon started to appear as if from nowhere and the gull numbers started to build up Pintail was stunning in the sun but out of camera reach. Wrens were very aggresive and active as was the local early warning Blackbird (lets me know when Owls and Raptors are about) 40+ dunlin and loads of Lapwings flew in Barn owl made his usual appearance and rounded off what was a cracking day.

Xmas shopping will have to wait!!!!!!!