Groundhog day!

Had to go off patch today but managed a quick detour around Pately Bridge, and was in for a treat. Arrived at Gouthwaite reservoir only to be told that I had just missed the long tailed duck!

 Bit of a pattern here as I used to specialize in missing grade "A" birds but did manage to get a cracking haul for just a couple of hours effort. I had Curlew,Goldeneye,Lapwing,Great crested grebe,Slovanian grebe,Teal,Wigeon,Mistle Thrush,Grey lag,Canada geese,Black grouse,Kestrel,Willow Tit, and a superb peregrine.

Slav grebe showed well and the pair of great crested grebes.

Nice to see some of the common stuff up close too.

Back to the LDV this week and awaiting waders!!

Over 1000 Wood Pigeon,100+Pintails,Bewicks,Whoopers,Marsh Harriers Mipits

Had a cracking lunchtime early afternoon session on the LDV we actually got some half decent light for a few hours!!! I the great man upstairs was a birder!

Had a walk around and came across a huge flock of Wood Pigeon easily over 1000 birds then had a walk on the usual path other than the run of the mill tits,wrens robins etc there was not a great deal so I moved on lots of rooks and crows about but again nothing of any great interest. A lone kestrel flew across the fields and my usual gaggle of 25+ moorehen were as comical as ever.

Decided to head back when I took a detour as I could see even more woodpigeon flying around, came across this heap of whatever and noticed in the ditch to the left a good size flock of reed bunting 10-15 back at the heap and I noticed upto 30 little birds scurrying about obviously eating something in the heap, I tried to get closer.....

Moved onto the bridge and noted 1000's of teal and wigeon very upset by something in the area (no not me!) more on that later.

 Bloomin Twig (Doh!)

Sorry but could not resist the above two....
Still could not work out why there were so few birds around.
Finally made it to North Duff Carrs came across a lovely thrush and a tiny goldcrest on the way in I then  met up with a stranger to these parts Arnie I think he said his name was!!!

It then dawned on me why there were so few birds out and about there must have been at least three open shoots going on and all the birds had assembled on the carrs. 1000's of birds!!!!!

Pintail coming out of our earholes easily 100+ also brilliant views of Goldeneye, Pochard, Wigeon, Teal, Golden Plover, Lapwing,100's of Tufteds Greylags Mutes Whoopers and at least two Bewicks.

Wildfowl on the river getting seriously spooked......heres why....

 

then this.........

 

and finally this....

 

 

In fairness there were two Buzzard's and Two Marsh Harriers Patrolling the river.

 

Most of the bird action was in front of the farm in the corner where the male scaup put in an appearance so I couldn't resist a peek...

 

Decided to get back to the flock of meadow pipits and skylarks as the light was fading fast had one barn owl and stacks of skylarks in the fields barn owl put in a late show but he was distant and by 3pm the light was so bad I gave it up for the day even my mate below had thrown in the towel,,,,

 

 

 



 

Turdus pilaris

Another brisk walk on the local patch this morning and I noticed a huge flock of Fieldfare (300+) they were obviously very hungry and were also very vocal.Nothing else except for the usual robin,wren,great tits and blue tits although all the blue tits I came across were all feeding on the floor.

Moved onto Aughton and had a look around the church could see lots of teal and wigeon across the ings but not much else so decided to have a look around Bubwith bridge one of the huge Aughton buzzards was seen roosting in the top of a roadside tree it flew off as soon as I stopped the car.
Nothing like as many birds as yesterday but there were a lot more walkers out today as the flood water is dropping fast, more on that later.
Good size flocks of lapwing and yet more fieldfare and redwing still plenty of snipe around and 6-8 redshank.
Reed buntings were numerous (8-10) as were chaffinch and the local sparrow population is still looking healthy.Several collared dove were flying around and a constant stream of incoming gulls were seen

popped into the GS hide and thankfully I was greeted by my regular barn owl pheasants and partridge running around in the fields, plenty of crows rooks and jackdaws hanging around.

Shortly after getting settled in an empty hide all the visible teal and wigeon on the river were seriously spooked by something, I followed the flock and observed a single Marsh harrier gliding down the river.

I was then joined by three other birders and within 5 minutes one of them had picked out the male scaup dozing off on the icy water loads of pochard and 100+ tufted duck were seen.Pintails looking good in the fading light lots of whoopers near the still flooded garganey hide but numbers were well down on yesterday.

Garganey hide!!!!

decided to risk a walk to the gargeney hide to see what the floods had done.................

Think this will take some drying out!!!!

more redshank and snipe flying over and a huge flock of starlings, walking back to the GS hide I had chaffinch, great tit,blue tit robin and a very busy goldcrest.

Cold and misty day..

Had a look at to see how much white stuff had landed overnight 2-3 inches was the answer and I quickly realised that the bird feeders were totally empty!!!

Having filled all the feeders and the water trough I returned to the warmth of the house,straight away a single fieldfare flew in and started to tuck into the feast I had laid out in the garden.He/She was quickly joined by two dunnocks a robin and several blackbirds,then the starlings arrived to help clear the bread on the snow.

I decided to have a walk around the village and noticed several bullfinch rummaging around in the shrubs,what was obvious was the huge number of fieldfare in the hedgerows (100+) GSW flew over and a large flock of long tailed tits were observed desperately trying to find food in the shrubs.

I then spotted something moving around in the shrubs turned out to be a dunnock.

walked a bit further flushing out dozens of fieldfare in the process they really are very vocal and hungry.

I decided to move on and see if any barn owls were about found one but sadly he refused to come out of his box obviously much warmer where he was I decided to leave him alone and move on.On arrival at Bubwith bridge it was clear that the river had dropped by a significant amount and visible to all was a huge number of waders golden plover,redshank and snipe in number.wigeon and teal also in big numbers.

Again more fieldfare and several redwing were observed.

I must admit the poor lapwings looked frozen but they were very vocal and were seen to be flying high and then dive bombing other members of the group.

Back at the bridge no sign of the otter that had been seen earlier in the week but there was a small lock of what looked like meadow pipits (6)

Snipe were now all over the place hunting and probing for food in the mud.

I then decided to move onto the GS hide at north duff carrs the light had not been great all day and the mist was descending fast so int the hide stacks of lapwings and a huge flock of Whooper swans (80+) mutes around as well as the usual teal and wigeon,wrens foraging outside the hide and at one point 7 yes 7 robins were seen outside the hide fighting and looking for food, two bewicks flew in late on and as usual the huge gull roost was building up nicely I hope we get some better visibility tomorrow.

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.

Boxing Day Out..

Started out with a trip to the local hide (GS at North Duffield) was greeted by a familiar face..

POP Goes the Weasel
Then went down to the hide and watched a Weasel trying to catch a Wren !! Brilliant!!

A slight increase in Water levels and the water is now on the road (passable at the moment) Loads of Teal and Wigeon and 100+ Swans distant in the valley.Two Buzzards soaring kept the local pigeon population on its toes then a high speed flypast by a large Sparrowhawk within 20 feet of the hide, Ketrel was struggling to find food but the local Robins were as vocal as ever.

Five Pintail (4male 1 female) were showing well but distant.

 

 

 

A stunning flock of 50+ Dunlin put on a fine show, as did the huge Lapwing flock.

 

Very strange to see what looked like a Dunlin (cheers Tim) leading the flock of Lapwing.

 

 

 

 

Boxing Day Crackers ...12 Long Tailed Tits were looking for food outside the hide.

 







 

Then a stunning distant flypast by a Male Marsh Harrier incredible in the sun. The swans at the far end of the valley were too much of a temptation so I decided to up sticks and head off, Not much at Thorganby so i moved on to be rewarded by a bird i have seen once this year and twice last year good to see its doing well..





 

Four distant Whoopers and at least 2 Bewicks in a line of 30-40 Mutes taking shelter from the wind.

 

2pm and the weather taking a turn for the worse so i headed off home and noted a large flock of Finches flying across the road Chaffinch and Brambling hope to catch up with them tomorrow,

 

Also had 150+ Rooks,Blackbird,and over 1000 gulls mainly Black headed and common Tufted Duck and Gadwal were also noted .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



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.