Freezing cold day...

Another bitterly cold day with the wind chill making it feel even colder, started off with this group and then moved on to see a flock of over 50 shelduck this is a common roost that I started watching last year when the numbers were even bigger.

Still got a good sized group of whoopers hanging around and lots of distant pintail and pochard.
pictures heavily cropped and just for the record.

As I was watching these from a distance I had a Tawny owl constantly calling could not spot it but at 11.30 in the morning it was a bit unusual.

Finished off with a spot the GSW competition.

Things are really starting to move in the valley with huge bird numbers coming in on a daily basis, big numbers of tufted duck,teal and wigeon.

Waders at last....

 Freezing cold day but it was well worth it. Bewicks and whoopers showing well but the real highlight was the mass influx of waders.Huge numbers of Dunlin, Ruff, Lapwing,Curlew, Golden Plovers, Shelduck, Gadwall,Wigeon,Teal, and a massive gull roost building up.

Will be back out tomorrow....

View from the living room.

Returning to my home patch as I approached the bridge at Bubwith I could not help but notice a huge flock of Lapwing over the river, keen to see what had spooked them I parked up and wandered up to the bridge, nothing obvious as to what had disturbed them but I did see a flock of about 80-90 Dunlin. The Lapwing were not at all happy sharing the mudflats with there smaller visitors and several tussles broke out. It was also good to see 4-5 Curlew, at one point this week I thought I had seen an early Whimbrel but after a quick call to AWBIRDER I decided maybe it was Curlew after all. Redshank (20) were also busy in the newly exposed mudflats.

As I returned home I could see across the ings from my living room window and noted Whooper swan, Teal, Wigeon, Pintail ,Greylags, Canada geese, Mallard, Tufted ,Mute swan and a distant Great crested grebe.

Gargeney hide still out of bounds due to floods if you are coming over this weekend but GS hide is ok.

Waxxies in York

Had to go to York anyway on Tuesday so went via Beckfield lane to see that the waxwing population was upto about 90+ birds locals were bemused by all the interest.

Not bad for two days on the patch.

Two days wandering around the local patch and a quick waxwing mercy dash to York, Resulted in the following list.

barn owl

bewick swan

black headed gull

blackbird

bullfinch

buzzard

canada goose

chaffinch

coal tit

collared dove

common gull

coot cormorant

corn bunting

crow

curlew

dunlin

dunnock

egyptian goose

fieldfare

gadwal

goldcrest

golden eye

golden plover

goldfinch

great crested grebe

great tit

greenfinch grey heron

grey lag goose

grey partridge

grey wagtail

herring gull

house sparrow

jackdaw

jay

kestrel

kingfisher little grebe

lapwing

lesser black backed gull

long tailed tit

magpie

mallard

marsh harrier

marsh tit

meadow pipit mistle thrush

moorehen

mute swan oyster catcher

pheasant

pintail pied wagtail

pochard red leg partridge

redwing

robin

rook

ruff shelduck

siskin

skylark snipe

song thrush

starling

teal

tree creeper

tree sparrow

tufted duck

waxwing

white fronted goose whooper swan

wigeon

willow tit

wood pigeon

wren

yellow hammer   I make that 78 but I am sure I have missed a few. more details and pics to follow.

Back to Basics..

Had a trip around a new patch of water today and made the decision to just take pics of whatever came into view. Not long before I was watching not one not two but three Buzzards calling above but so high up a picture was out of the question.

Loads of Gadwal but all too out of reach and then spent 10 minutes watching these two knocking the stuffing out of each other.

Rubbish pic but just for the record and all that.

 Had some cracking Goldeneye but again too distant for a decent pic.

 Tufted numbers were good and 100's of coots.

Great weather and light and as i have a few days off this week I will be back out tomorrow for more.

Thanks for viewing.

Man Flu!!!!!

After several days of bad weather work issues and the dreaded manflu!!!!! (more on that later) i finally feel normal enough to get back on the wonderweb!!

Obviously only the male followers of this blog will appreciate the near death experience that is man flu! if only the other half of the species realized what we have to go through its just so unfair to us males.

Anyway after dusting of the keyboard i thought it as only fair that i get back to my ramblings about all things LDV.

Started off today with a wonder around the local patch post snow,ice and fog and was not disappointed with a very healthy fieldfare flock at least 30 birds then moved onto a mixed bag of finches and sparrows that included Reed bunting,Chaffinch,YellowHammer,Wren,Robin, Green finch.

Green finch is rapidly becoming a bit of a rare bird around here,

Yes! not a bird but i thought it helps me think that spring is on its way!!.

There is a marsh tit in here if you look hard enough.
And finally in the search for a late evening Barn Owl i stumbled across these two! also had a good size flock of whoopers and bewicks still around.

Sadly had to drive across York this afternoon and when I saw all the 500mm lenses I thought Kate Middleton was on her way, turned out to be 30-40 waxwings!!!
More to follow tomorrow. Promise.

I don't like Mondays..or do I?

Had an interesting drive home today in very high winds rubbish light and driving freezing rain but managed to bag these.

Loads of shelduck and a few gadwall.