Saturday 3 February 2018

I.F.O. - Identified Flying Objects

On Tuesday we were able to go for our final visit to Ness End as planned.  We hadn't been in the hide long when Steve spotted a Bittern, so everyone came into the right-hand upper area to gain a view.  Eventually the head poking from the right of the reeds emerged, and this odd bird stalked out left towards the middle of the channel.  As we watched what was probably a young male another Bittern flew out of the reeds on the other side of the lake.  It flew past the reedy hide and disappeared into the reeds on the right.  
Bittern
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 Heron
Marsh Harrier 
 Female Kingfisher
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 Kingfisher
 Rabbit


On Wednesday we remained with the planned Sewerby trip.  We went down to the beach first.  The tide was well out, which should have augured well for plenty of waders.  Unfortunately, there were a lot of dogwalers, and these ensured waders were at a minimum.  We did see Redshank, Oystercatchers and  Turnstones.  In the afternoon the tide had started to come in, and there were fewer people on the beach.  This resulted in some close Turnstones and Purple Sandpipers.  We also saw some Ringed Plovers.  The afternoon group remained at Sewerby and walked round the gardens.  There were a lot of Redwings, and several Song Thrushes and a flock of Starlings.
Black-headed Gull
 Herring Gull 
 Oystercatcher
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 Song Thrush
 Purple Sandpiper
 Under which one is the magic ball hidden?
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 Hidden
Sika Deer (c) 2018 Aileen Urquhart
The morning session went on to Bempton.  One Guillemot was seen, but plenty of Fulmars and Gannets were on the cliffs.  Two Grey Seals swan past, and a few saw an unidentified member of the Diver family.  However, the highlight was a Peregrine. 
Rock Dove/Feral Pigeon
 Fulmar
 Gannets
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 Gannet
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Gannet (c) 2018 Aileen Urquhart
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Grey Seals
 Peregrine
 Peregrine
Peregrine (c) 2018 Aileen Urquhart
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While we are at Bempton Tony's camera underwent an accident caused by a snapped camera strap.  It was thought both his camera and lens were damaged, but he went on to the Scarborough area, and managed these two photos:
Hawfinch (c) 2018 Tony Robinson
 Ring Ouzel (c) 2018 Tony Robinson
Thursday was a bit of a mixed bag.  The morning group had a long circular walk round Allerthorpe Common.  The morning started well with Phil's Treecreeper, and shortly afterwards a pair of Marsh Tits.  It was extremely muddy underfoot, which made the going difficult at times.  As we continued the sightings became scarcer, and the lovely sunshine was followed by a cover of cold, and this caused the temperatures to plunge.  Some distended owl pellets were found under a large owl nest box, and a few were removed for analysis.  They seemed too large for Barn Owls, which we know used to be in the area.  
Marsh Tit
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 Goldcrest
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 UFO
In the afternoon we went to North Duffield Carrs and were rewarded with several Pintail quite close to the hide.  These were joined by Wigeon, Teal, Shoveler, Gadwall, Kestrel, Marsh Harrier, and most of the usual birds.  On the wall to the hides we came across a party of mainly female Bullfinches with one beautiful male,  We failed to locate any Whooper Swans.  As it was sleeting when we arrived the cameras remained in the cars, so there is only an archive picture of a Pintail.  
 Drake Pintail
On Friday we went to East Park as planned, although a few showers were forecast.  There were three Mistle Thrushes near the entrance, which seemed to be arguing as to who was paired up with whom.  A Great Spotted Woodpecker flew over, but couldn't be relocated.  Again there was no sign of the Jays, so it looks out as though they have finally died out there after about 3 years. On the walk to the lake we came across the lame Pink-footed Goose amongst all the Greylags.  There were the usual birds on the water, although this time there were a pair of Great Crested Grebes, a Little Grebe, 12 Goosanders (only 3 females), and the Kingfisher only gave the briefest of views.  
Mistle Thrush (c) 2018 Jane Robinson
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Near the splash boat I spotted the silhouette of a Treecreeper on a gnarled Silver Birch.  Little did we know its companion only had 3 hours before it was cut down for "leaning too much"!  The Treecreeper obligingly moved to other trees, which permitted better photography.   
Treecreeper (c) 2018 Jane Robinson
 Treecreeper (c) 2018 Jane Robinson
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 Coot (c) 2018 Jane Robinson
 Fighting Coots (c) 2018 Jane Robinson
 Aggressive Coot (c) 2018 Jane Robinson
 1st-winter Common Gull centre, surrounded by 
1st-winter Black-headed Gulls (c) 2018 Jane Robinson
 Adult Common Gull [right] & Black-headed Gull
Pat spotted a coloured ring on a Black-headed Gull.  When we returned I put the photo on social media were it was almost immediately identified as being Norwegian.  
Norwegian Black-headed Gull
 Closer view of ring
Black-headed Gull (c) 2018 Mike Woods
Goosander (c) 2018 Jane Robinson
Goosanders (c) 2018 Mike Woods
 Female Goosander (c) 2018 Mike Woods
 Flying Drake Goosander (c) 2018 Mike Woods
 Flying Drake Goosander

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In the afternoon we tried to make the most of avoiding the northerly winds and threatening rain, so made a short cut to the area of water containing most birds.  The treecreeper's tree was about to be removed, so we escaped the deafening noise to a different area of the park.  At the far eastern edge we found a pair of Teal, which remained undiscovered by any other group.  The pair of Great crested Grebes had moved to a different part of the park and were too far away to be photographed.
Pochard (c) 2018 Mike Woods
 Head Portrait (c) 2018 Mike Woods
 Little Grebe (c) 2018 Mike Woods
Teal
On the way back we did glimpse a Goldcrest, but we also saw a pair of Robin's reactions as the found a third Robin in their territory.  They twisted their bodies into various shapes, but it was so dark that these photos don't really do justice to the attitudes they struck!  It was easy to see which was the male Robin, as his orange breast stretched much further down his breast than did the female's.  
 Robin (c) 2018 Mike Woods
Robin
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 Robin (c) 2018 Mike Woods
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 Record shot of Robin
 Record shot of Robin
 Robin
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Common Gulls (c) 2018 Mike Woods
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The Osset couple stayed behind to hunt for the Pink-footed Goose, and once again they were rewarded.  
Greylag [left] & Pink-footed Goose (c) 2018 Mike Woods
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 Pink-footed Goose
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