Sunday 6 May 2018

Spring Seems to be Arriving

Apart from Wednesday the weather seems to be improving, and now most of the summer migrants, which have been either absent or arriving late, are at last here in some numbers.   
Cuckoo
On Tuesday we made our first visit of the year to the perennially-popular Lincolnshire reserve.  Unfortunately, for the first ever visit in May there wasn't a Garden Warbler in the car park, but it was only the 1st of May, and they are obviously still arriving.  One surprise was a Red-Crested Pochard.  Everyone could see it, but unfortunately, the light was pretty shocking, so apart from the bright head, very few of its characteristics could be discerned.  The light on more standard birds was of course much better.  
Red-Crested Pochard
Ditto
Reed Warbler
Ditto
Willow Tit
Ditto
Shelduck
Black-headed Gull
Chaffinch - showing off green rump
Cormorant & Lesser Black Backed Gull
Female Brimstone
Green-Veined White
Bluebell
Apple Blossom
A lot of Cowslips
Meanwhile the weather on Wednesday morning was atrocious, but the Purple Heron has already appeared on the blog, see below.  Other birds we saw included a Willow Warbler, at least 5 Common Terns, 4 Swifts over the car park.
Willow Warbler
Ditto
Willow Warbler (c) 2018 Aileen Urquhart 
Willow Warbler (c) 2018 Maggie Bruce
Ditto
Common Tern
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Cormorant
Cormorant (c) 2018 Maggie Bruce
Great Spotted Woodpecker (c) 2018 Maggie Bruce
Great Spotted Woodpecker (c) 2018 Aileen Urquhart
Great Crested Grebes (c) 2018 Aileen Urquhart
Record Shot of Great Crested Grebe in flight
Record shot of Little Gull
Ditto
Ditto
Pied Wagtail
Swallows in the rain
 Ditto
 Ditto
 Ditto
Swallows (c) 2018 Tony Robinson
Blue Tit (c) 2018 Tony Robinson
 Ditto
 Reed Bunting (c) 2018 Tony Robinson
 Ditto
 Ditto
 Little Ringed Plover (c) 2018 Tony Robinson
 Ditto
Bluebells (c) 2018 Aileen Urquhart
On Thursday the weather had improved, so a visit to Skipwith stayed on the schedule.  This isn't really a great place for bird photography, but a Pied Wagtail was obliging near the entrance.
Pied Wagtail
 Ditto
 Ditto
 Ditto
 Garden Warbler
 Female Blackcap
 Ditto
 Linnet
Linnet (c) 2018 Margaret Richardson

 Crow & hawk Dogfight
 Ditto
 Ditto
 Ditto
Treecreeper
 Treecreeper
 Treecreeper (c) 2018 Margaret Richardson
The bird of the day was a parachuting Tree Pipit, which was a lifer for the longest-participating member, and almost everyone else too.
 Tree Pipit
 Tree Pipit
 Ditto
 Ditto
Tree Pipit (c) 2018 Margaret Richardson
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Parachuting Tree Pipit
 Ditto
 Ditto
 Ditto
 Ditto
"Blue" Pheasant
 Ditto
 Ditto
Wasp Species
 Ditto
 Wood Sorrel
Wood Sorrell (c) 2018 Margaret Richardson
 Hawthorn Tree (c) 2018 Margaret Richardson
Friday's visit to Allerthorpe was also able to go ahead.  The paths were still extremely muddy in places, but certainly not as bad as the last time we visited.   Angela spotted a concealed Buzzard near the entrance, which flew off giving good views.
Buzzard
Ditto
Ditto
Buzzard (c) 2018 Jane Robinson 

Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Linnet
Ditto
Ditto
Linnet (c) 2018 Mike Woods

Female Blackcap (c) 2018 Jane Robinson 
Garden Warbler (c) 2018 Mike Woods
 Ditto
Garden Warbler
Treecreeper
Whitethroat
Ditto
Willow Warbler
Yellowhammer
Ditto
Stock Dove
Ditto
Song Thrush Fledgling
Cuckoo
Ditto
Perched Cuckoo
Flying Cuckoo
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto



Landing 
Landing
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Cuckoo (c) 2018 Jane Robinson 
 Ditto
We have Take-Off
Ditto 
Ditto



Not even a record shot of a Jay
Brimstone
Brimstone (c) 2018 Mike Woods
Green-Veined White
Female Orange-Tip
Female Orange-Tip
Female Orange-Tip (c) 2018 Mike Woods
 A Pair in Osset (c) 2018 Mike Woods
 St. Mark's Fly (c) 2018 Mike Woods
 While I was showing the pm group the highlight of the morning's session Mike cheekily snatched a photo of the back of my camera!
A Cheating photo of a Cheat!
 A Couple of photos from Osset
Stock Dove (c) 2018 Mike Woods
 Black-headed Gull (c) 2018 Mike Woods
 Sand Martins (c) 2018 Mike Woods



No comments: