Saturday 16 December 2023

New Year Term

The new term begins in the second week of January, and we already know it's a "Waxwing Winter."  The last time this happened Covid was only a distant threat on the horizon...
Waxwings Drinking
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All my current Autumn clients have now been asked if they'd like to return for the Winter sessions, so bookings are now being opened up to everyone else.  There are most vacancies on Friday mornings, but there are also plenty of spaces on Tuesday mornings with 2 vacancies on all other sessions, as of today (16/12/23).  Please note there are no Tuesday afternoon or Friday afternoon sessions.  If you are interested in another session please ask.  The classes resume on Tuesday 9th January 2024. 

Barn Owl

Short-eared Owl
Short-eared Owl
Winter is traditionally the period when we have the best chance to see Long and Short-eared Owls, Rough-legged Buzzards, Waxwings, Great Grey Shrikes and Hawfinches.  There are  also plenty of colourful birds to see like Stonechats, Redwings and Kingfishers.   
Long-eared Owl (c) 2022 Richard Broughton 
 Rough-legged Buzzard 
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 Hen Harrier
Waxwings
Redwing
 Hawfinch (c) 2022 Mike Woods
 Snow Bunting 
 Short-eared Owl
 Stonechat - colourful winter bird
Little Egret - eating hawthorn berries
 Long-tailed Tit - a commonly-encoutered bird in winter
 Starling Murmuration
As the winter progresses we will encounter more birds singing.  This is the best time of the year to learn a little birdsong every week, before the avalanche of new singing species when the summer migrants arrive in April and May.  It is important to gain a basic knowledge in the birdsong of our resident species before things become more complicated after Easter.
  Chaffinch
This is that rare one-in-five winter in which there is a large influx of charismatic Waxwings from Scandinavia.  If you haven 't seen one by the time classes resume on 9 January 2024, then there will be another chance in there New Year.  The birds may still be in local parts in January, but if not, they should  come back in March as they turn to frost-softened Cotoneaster berries as they make there way back to Scandinavia.
   
All Waxwing photos taken at Crosspool, Sheffield in December 2023 by Angela Murray-Nag
Sheffield Waxwing
Waxwings
Waxwing
Feeding Frenzy
Waxwings
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Friday 1 December 2023

Final Week for Some

GM2's Little Owl

I was unable to get out at the weekend, but a former attendee came to the rescue.  She was lucky enough to find a score of Waxwings just outside her home.  

All Waxwing Photos (c) 2023 Jane Robinson

Waxwing
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Then, on Monday she travelled to Scarborough for the Great Northern Diver in partial breeding plumage.  The light on the day caught the red eyes, which isn’t always visible, especially in poor light.

All Great Northern Diver Photos (c) 2023 Jane Robinson
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On Tuesday virtually no wind was forecast, so we were able to go to Barmston as planned.  This time the tide was well on the way out, and we weren’t able to spot any interesting birds on the sea. There were distant Sanderlings running on the edge of the seashore like little clockwork toys.  We walked a fair distance when Sue spotted a pair of Stonechats along the cliff edge.  We did eventually see a couple of Turnstones, but they flew over us and headed away across the beach before flying along the sea.  There were a few Oystercatchers, and only one flock of Teal passed over the sea.  Only a couple of Cormorants were spotted.  It was a lot quieter than our last visit.  On the return journey Alison’s telescope showed that the flock of hunkered down birds were mainly Golden Plovers with a few Lapwings.  Then Chris swung the telescope to examine some sods of earth near one of the WW2 lumps of concrete.  Rather than large lumps of earth, they proved to be Grey Partridges - the first we had encountered during the classes all year! 

Sue’s Stonechat
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Goldfinch
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Distant Golden Plovers & Lapwing
Distant Grey Partridges

Wednesday and Thursday were too cold for Barmston, so we switched to N. Cave Wetlands.  The shallowest area of water had frozen up, but some of the deeper pools were still clear.  We saw plenty of Wigeon with only small numbers of Tufted Duck, Shoveler and Gadwall.  The Silt Pond held well-lit Lapwings, Redshanks, Teal and GBB Gulls.  Symon found a Stoat in the farmyard, and we had another towards the end of our walk.


We heard a few Siskins at various moments of the walk, but the best were near South Hide in the morning, but around west walk after lunch

Tree Sparrow (c) 2023 Symon Fraser
Lynn’s Heron (c) 2023 Angela Murray-Nag
Bullfinch (c) 2023 Tony Robinson
Friday's Fluttering Bullfinch
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Dunnock
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Gadwall
Gadwall (c) 2023 Peter Moizer
Female Gadwall (c) 2023 Peter Moizer
Whistling Wigeon
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Robin
Robin (c) 2023 Peter Moizer
Next Year's Xmas Card?
Shoveler
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Shoveler (c) 2023 Peter Moizer
Fieldfares
Tufted Ducks
Tufted Duck (c) 2023 Peter Moizer
Just Because
Siskin
Female Siskin
Siskin
Redshank & a Dunlin
Redshank (c) 2023 Peter Moizer
Little Egret (c) 2023 Peter Moizer
Mute Swan & Teal (c) 2023 Peter Moizer
Common Gull (c) 2023 Peter Moizer
Lapwings, Teal & Redshank
Buzzard
Great Spotted Woodpecker
Curlew
Curlew
Great Black Backed & Herring Gulls
Rook
Both Wednesday & Thursday groups had fairly decent views of a quite confiding Redwing.  We managed to get a little closer on Thursday, so that’s when the photos were taken.
Redwing
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Friday's Redwing 
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Song Thrush
Song Thrush (c) 2023 Angela Murray-Nag
On Friday morning one refugee from Friday afternoons mentioned that Little Owls were sometimes to be found in a certain area of an Oak Tree.  We gave the tree a cursory glance, until we realised he was spot on.  A casual passerby would never spot the Owl, but a searching glance is obviously worth a try every time you pass the tree, especially if the sun is out. 
GM2's Little Owl
Linnets
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Linnets (c) 2023 Angela Murray-Nag
Stoat (c) 2023 Symon Fraser
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A Different Stoat
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Friday's Stoat
Hercules (c) 2023 Symon Fraser
Tornado (c) 2023 Symon Fraser
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Some of the Wednesday group went on to the wolds, where they saw several raptor species.
Buzzard (c) 2023 Tony Robinson
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Kestrel (c) 2023 Tony Robinson
Red Kite (c) 2023 Tony Robinson
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So, after three solid days trudging the boundaries of North Cave Wetlands twice a day, I’m hoping that I won’t be going back until next year.  I just need the weather to be fantastic on Tuesday to prevent a further enforced trip to NCW.