Happy New Year

It's been a long time since a blogpost, but I've been busy trying to contract diabetes over the past 6 weeks, so had nothing to post about.

Today was the first class of 2013. We started at a large local park. The first surprise arrived in the initial 5 minutes when I heard a Jay. On investigation it appeared that a pair had been present since November, and had even been since recently nest-building, but we don't see to for ourselves. One class member was quick enough to spot a scruffy urban fox, but the rest of us weren't so lucky. There were Long-tailed & Blue Tits near the car park. We then had a long walk punctuated only by Starlings & House Sparrows. For beginners the differences between Common & Black-headed were pointed, and later juvenile and adult Herring Gulls were added to the mix.

All pics (c) 2013 Chris Cox

Goosander (Drake)

 Goosander (female)

 Ditto

 Ditto

 Pochard (drake)

 Tufted Duck (female)

On the water Mallard including many 'mongrels' were differentiated, and in the afternoon we discovered 2 apparent Pintail hybrids. More straightforwardly the lake had Tufted Ducks, Pochard, Greylag & Canada Geese, an immature Cormorant and in the afternoon a very brief glimpse was obtained of a Great Crested Grebe. However, the true stars of the water were approximately 30 Goosanders spread throughout the park. Occasionally, these gave very good views, but the light wasn't brilliant for taking photographs. 



The Kingfisher, Heron and Little Grebe didn't survive the previous 3 winters, and don't appear to have returned, and there wasn't even any sign of last years parakeets.



On the return journey the morning highlight was provided by a pair of Goldcrests, whilst in the afternoon we couldn't relocate them, but we did find a pair of Siskins instead. Here's hoping for better light next time.



In the morning every participant wished everyone else a Happy New Year, but in the afternoon as far as I could tell no one bothered.  Is that another difference between mornings and afternoons?

And Now for the Good Smews

Today's reserve failed to live up to the quantity and variety of species compared with more than 2 years ago and further back in time.  However, there were Pochard, Shoveler, Teal, Gadwall, Tufted Ducks, a Great Crested Grebe and an obscene number of Coots from the first hide.  

Smew (drake) [2nd winter?]

The walk down the green tunnel yielded very few birds, although plenty of shy Redwings could be seen leaving the tree-tops as we made our way over the yellow leaves.   There was nothing at all to see at the new hide, but when we reached the embankment we could see some Wigeon as we looked West.   

 From the rickety hide we saw the same species as the first hide, but we did get a much better view of a female Goldeneye.  Meanwhile Aileen manage to photograph a Goldcrest directly outside the hide, which was in the company of some Long-tailed Tits

All remaining pics (c) 2012 Aileen Urquhart

Goldcrest

 Cutting across the meadow I heard and then we all glimpsed a Willow Tit.  There were calls of a Bullfinch and some of the afternoon session managed to get their binoculars on a stunning male, but he quickly flew off again.

Willow Tit

When made our way to the deeper pools and on here were at least 3 drake Goldeneyes, and some Tufted Ducks.  A flock of Goldeneye could just by made out through the hawthorn hedge as they flew past, and with them was a drake Smew.  Unfortunately, it spotted us, and flew away again.  However, luckily for us it alighted directly in front of the final hide.   

Mute Swan

Some of us were able to sneak up to the hide and carefully lift up the flaps to get a better look.  It was an extremely nervous bird and almost immediately swam towards the channel leading out of this pool.  It must have later flown away from the main water while no one was looking, as it later turned up on a lake a quarter of a mile away.  

Drake Smew [White Nun] (c) 2012 Tony Robinson

The Smew was replaced by a pair of Great Grested Grebes, which came and fished for both groups.  Both sessions also had very good views of a female Kingfisher from this hide, especially the afternoon gang, as it perched within about 6 feet from the hide.  It was an excellent way to bring the Wednesday Autumn sessions to a conclusion.

Kingfisher Comes to the Rescue

There were a lot more ducks around at this venue than there were 3 weeks ago.  A female Goldeneye was the highlight with very smart Shovelers, plus Gadwall, and a couple of Pochard and a single drake Teal and 2 females.

At the brand new hide there was a single Redshank, but the site has been beautifully landscaped, so has great potential for the future.

On the river there were a few more Redshank, and in the afternoon through John's scope we saw five Black-tailed Godwits, a couple of Dunlin, some Wigeon & more Redshank.

There were Long-tailed Tits, Goldcrests, Bullfinches and Redwings among the Hawthorn bushes, and a couple of drake Goldeneyes near the hotel.  However, the highlight for both the morning and the afternoon was a male Kingfisher near the hotel hide.  However, Maggie went back at lunch time & managed to photograph a very close female Kingfisher.  A pair of Great Crested Grebe were also pretty confiding from the Hotel Hide.

All photos (c) 2012 Maggie Bruce

Female Kingfisher

 Ditto

 Ditto

 Ditto

Getting Windy

 The strong winds forecast for Friday put a kibosh on the planned location, so we went to the trusty standby instead. On the walk down the lane we kept our heads down into the wind, but Caroline spotted a Yellow Wagtail. The first hide added a pair of Great Crested Grebe, and a couple of antagonistic Little Grebe. The Great Crested Grebe gave a flypast, which is not something we encounter very often.  Other birds included: some Pochard, Tufted duck and a single Common Sandpiper. A flock of 5 Wigeon flew in, and other dropped in or flew past as single individuals.

Great Crested Grebe

 ditto

 ditto

 Little Grebe

 Little Grebe Chick

On the circuit round the edge of the reserve Elizabeth found a Migrant Hawker resting on some vegetation out of the strong winds. We went on to locate several more - all identical apart from one greener individual - a female? There were also a selection of Common and Ruddy Darters and 2 Damselflies. There were very few birds in the hedgerow, but plenty of Coots, Mute Swans and a small family of Little Grebes.

 Migrant Hawker

 Migrant Hawker

 Migrant Hawkers

 Migrant Hawker [female]

  Migrant Hawker [female]

 Brown Hawker

 Darter

 Darter

The next pool had plenty of Gadwall and several of the usual suspects. The long hedgerow was almost devoid of birds but we did find a Goldfinch flock, plus one other bird seen briefly. There has been a Redstart in the area which is a possibility, but in size a Willow Warbler would seem to be a better fit.  3 rather out of place birds were seen on a 'T' bar.

 3 Brown Jobs on a 'T' bar

 Weird, they are Snipe!

Common Blue

The final hide seemed less interesting at first, although by this time the light was a lot better. 3 Geese flew past and one of them turned out to be a Barnacle Goose. It landed near some Greylags where it commenced to have a good preen. Everyone got onto it eventually - the first we have seen for quite some time, although I'm sure it's wild credentials are suspect, to say the least.  We couldn't find the Barnacle in the afternoon. However, there were lots of dragonflies in the sheltered section. The Migrant Hawkers were quite impressive, and then a Brown Hawker appeared - a massive dragonfly & very unusual during our classes.  Luckily, it eventually posed long enough for everyone to get decent views.  

Craking in Our Boots

Barn Owl [male?]

 Greenshank

 Friday was our final visit to Hempholme Meadows.  On the drive up we had a pair of Grey Partridges along the reservoir walls, and then later we saw another pair near Hempholme lock.  At the new scrape area there was a Greenshank, Oystercatcher, Whitethroat, Lapwing, and Greylag Goose.  Birds heard but not seen around here included: Yellowhammer, Skylark, Blackcap and a distant Cuckoo, which seemed to be on the southern area of the site.  Jim spotted a Barn Owl out hunting.  This bird was being victimised; first it was mobbed by an immature Common Gull, and later it caught a vole, and was harried & attacked several times by a Kestrel, until the Kestrel flew away bearing the vole to its next box.  You can’t beat a bit of klepto-parasitism!

Barn Owl

 Male Kestrel Striking the Barn Owl

 Owl taking Vole to the Ground & Kestrel Flying to a high perch 

 Barn Owl perched in the pm with Thieving Kestrel's Box Behind

 Barn Owl Hunting in the pm

 ditto

 Common Tern

From Stanningholme farm we could see a Stock Dove and a Great Spotted Woodpecker, whilst there’d been an influx of Reed Warblers since the last visit with at least 2 birds heard.  A Song Thrush belted out its song.  From the shooting estate we could hear a Reed Bunting, Reed warblers and a loud Sedge warblers, but the Whitethroats were much quieter.

When we reached Scurf Dyke and 4 Sand Martins flew overhead in a northerly direction.  Meanwhile 5 Pochard went in the opposite direction.  This was the area where we heard our nearest Skylark.  A Common Tern was hunting for fish along the dyke, and a Kingfisher saw us & took evasive action, but did give a fly-past on 2 occasions allowing everyone to enjoy a flash of blue as it came down from its higher evasive route to hug the water, as is its usual wont.  Towards the junction with Barmston Drain we came across our first Willow Warbler, and several Tree Sparrows and a Long-tailed Tit. 

Long-tailed Tit

 Roe Deer [Hind]

On the River Hull we had a very loud Reed Warbler which seemed to be singing from a Hawthorn bush rather than the reeds.  A Shoveler flew along the River Hull & appeared to land, but there were 2 small boats heading south along the river Hull, so it wasn’t able to hang around.  There was our first Meadow Pipit singing in this area & 5 Canada Geese were in a field next to plenty of Friesen cattle.  It disappeared into the shooting estate, and this is where Kathleen spotted a female Roe Deer, which stared at us for a few minutes before disappearing into cover.   Another pair of Grey Partridge flew into the fields on the east side of the river, and nearby it was clear that the Otter trail was still being well used, as it had forged a noticeable path in a the newly-grown vegetation.  Later we were nearly back at the cars when we noticed that a Mute Swan had taken up residence on the riverbank near the new hide. 

Mayfly

 Linnet [male]

 Hare

 Mute Swans

 Swift

On the drive in the afternoon we had good views of a male Linnet on the reservoir wall., a Buzzard flew over us at the beginning, while the barn owl was out again, and this time successfully caught a vole and was not robbed this time.  A Hare was seen in a field of Red & White Campion, while minutes later a flock of 33 Mute Swans flew south overhead.  The remainder of the sightings mainly followed the am session, but we had very close encounters with a flock of Swifts and an Oystercatcher flew just over our heads.    However, there was one encounter in the afternoon, which was very different from anything which happened in the morning.

 Oystercatcher

In the afternoon I was scrambling up the bank of Scurf Dyke when I heard 4 harsh notes in a very distinctive rhythm.  I could hardly believe what I was hearing.  I waited while the rest of the group scrambled up, when it gave a further 2 harsh notes ‘crex, crex’, but it was very faint.  I wasn’t convinced everyone on the class could hear the Corncrake.  We waited for 20 minutes and I heard it again for another 4 times, sometimes only 2 notes, but the final time a whole 6 notes.  The call seemed to come from 2 different areas, but the gap between them was long enough for the bird to have moved between one location & the other.  This was the first time I’ve heard the bird apart from in TV documentaries, when I was always led to believe that they sang for hours at a stretch, so these short bursts were a bit disconcerting.  I telephoned the reserve warden, and he informed me it was one of only a very few records for the site.  He later texted to say both he & 2 Hull Valley stalwarts were listening to the bird.  It was a relief to have independent confirmation!

You can hear the Corncrake singing for longer, recorded later that same afternoon by Reserve Warden, Richard Hampshire here: http://tophilllow.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/just-one-cornetto.html 

Raining on my Parade

Because of the bad weather my camera didn't leave the car - the pictures below were taken during better weather - honest!

Avocet

Avocets

Marsh Harrier

Yesterday didn't start well with a puncture caused by a screw stuck in my rear passenger wheel. I arrived at my local Savoy Garage shortly after 8am, in order to get it repaired well before my class, but they didn't have the electricity to repair it! They sent me to their Willerby outlet instead. I managed to get there but the rush hour traffic delayed my progresss. The repairs seemed to take forever when you are watching the clock. I was able to text 4 members of the Weds am group to warn them I would be late & where to go first for best views of Avocets.

Apparently, they were able to ID a Sedge Warbler by sound shortly after starting & there was plenty of action from the Avocets - even during the fairly constant rain. Luckily, Mike Andrews, one of the wardens, was in the hide & he was able to keep the class entertained with plenty of esoteric information about the breeding habits of these black-and-white favourites.

We went on to the next hide which had a single Shoveler, a single Teal & a single female Pochard, as well as plenty of noisy Black-headed Gulls. As we traversed the reserve we noticed that there were more Marsh Harriers perched in the open than usual. This seemed bizarre in the rain, but it is likely that their feathers will dry more quickly in the open among strong winds, rather than if they had been sat among soaking reeds protected from the wind. When the rain died away then the Marsh Harriers began to to perform some skydancing & interaction with each other. This was particularly spectacular in the afternoon & the raptors came closer to the hides than normal.

There were a score of hirundines, which were hunting for insects low over the water & readbeds. The vast majority of these were Swallows, but there were a few House Martins too. Although the flock was checked carefully we were unable to discern a Sand Martin among the other birds.

Overall the morning group saw 34 species with the afternoon session adding a Curlew to the tally. Of course when we went in one hide we were told that an hour ago there had been a booming Bittern, which had then flown through the area. We never caught up with this species, but we did remarkably well considering the dreadful conditions. The rain did ease off about 2pm, so the last hour of the pm session was much more pleasant.

The forecast over the next few days would seem to indicate we haven't done with the precipitation by a long chalk. Expect more of the same tomorrow...