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.

Its there if you look.....

 Not the most promising of starts dull grey day and a strong gusty wind made the derwent valley look more like a seaside resort.Had a walk over to the bridge where i had 14 waxwings flyover yesterday heading towards Market Weighton. Plenty of wigeon and teal and distant grey heron were noted.

Met up with AWBIRDER If you have not done so have a look at his cracking blog       http://awbirder.blogspot.co.uk/

we both noted a nice song thrush in the car park but the Egyptian geese that he had seen could not be spotted from the bridge.

I moved on and again was amazed at the huge numbers of wigeon and teal and the amount of water which in fact had gone down a couple of feet since yesterday.
cormorant flyby then off up the road.

Then got a call from awbirder to tell me to keep an eye out for goosander that had been spotted heading our way.No joy on that one so i moved on.

60+ whoopers and a black swan were noted in the distance.

Time to move on,so I headed back into the village and came across a flock of 60-80 rook rummaging around in the fields and a massive flock of woodpigeon 1000+

God knows how much food this lot eat in a day.
Nice views of yellowhammer and then an amazing thing a flock of 100+ chaffinch but all of them male not a single female!!! how odd!

Finally made it to the GS hide loads of wigeon teal lapwing with 6-7 ruff and dunlin mixed in huge female peregrine flew past and two kestrels were trying to find a meal.Had a walk down the path but could not get far as the water was well up but sadly did come across this poor thing no rings to id but it was well and truly caught up in the hawthorn shrubs.

long tailed tits and chaffinch were tucking into the new feeders and the robin and wren population were out in force.

Odd weather but if you look there's more out there than you think.

Here we go again!!!!!!!!!!!

Snow gone but guess what happens when snow melts.

The Derwent has well and truly burst its banks and the wind is making the temperature feel 3-4 degrees lower,
Plenty of birds around all the usual suspects Lapwing,Wigeon,Teal etc
Had a quick look around the local paths and came across a large flock of mixed birds (100+) consisted of mixed sparrows Dunnock, Chaffinch, Redpoll, Siskin, Brambling, Yellowhammer, Linnet, Corn Bunting,Greenfinch, High above a female sparrow hawk was giving as good as it got with a single corvid.

Fieldfare in good numbers as were Redwing.

20+ Long tailed tits were busy in the hedgerows and a single GSW was calling from the top of a telegraph pole.

A huge flock of golden plover and lapwings were noted at least 150 birds in the local fields.Rooks numerous as were the local pheasant and partridge populations. (over spill from the shoots??)

Will be back out tomorrow for more.

Four seasons in two days...Only in England!!!

Could not believe the change in the weather in 24 hours we go from 5 inches of snow to green grass.
Only in England eh!

How can we go from this (above) to this (below)

 

Came across a large flock of mixed birds which included the following Bullfinch, Chaffinch, Blue Tit, Reed Bunting, Greenfinch, Yellow Hammer ,Brambling, Great Tit, Dunnock, What an odd mix I can only assume that they were gathering together to keep warm. Still stacks of Rooks Crows and Jackdaws and a monster flock of wood pigeon.

 

  



Can you spot the pyrrhula pyrrhula?

 

The LDV is a magical area and I have stopped trying to second guess what might happen down here.

 

 

Yesterday this area was just Ice today its like a large lake Wigeon, Teal, Pochard, Shovelor, Shelduck, and loads of Whoopers. Grey lags and Canadas's in big numbers as were tufted duck, and Mallard.

 



 

 

and the mystery bird?????/

 

 

 

Will be back out for more tomorrow.





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.