The Platform and Car Park proved unproductive but I was encouraged by the distant sight of a significant number of Swans. Surely there were some Whoopers... maybe a Bewick's?
I moved on to settle in the Geoff Smith Hide and started to scope the Swans. Sure enough there were Whoopers present. Three scans made me settle at a pleasing 90 which included 12 young birds...
No sign of any Bewick's though.
I was joined by a couple from Howden and we enjoyed Little Grebe, 6 Marsh Harriers (including this male which flew close past the hide)...
Kingfisher (performing brilliantly on the Scape in the sunshine...yes sunshine!) and Stonechat,
There was an impressive flock of Lapwing present (c500) which included c60 Dunlin...
I also "had" a lone Snipe. However the expected Peregrine never materialized. It was great to see my first Pintail (10) of the Winter and a Little Grebe remained on the "scrape". A lone Fieldfare perched on a lone bush...
...and I had a group of 8 over the River later.
Local pair Chris Gomersall and Oliver Metcalf joined us for a while before heading down to Garganey Hide. Chris said he was after a Merlin for his Year List.
It was now approaching 4 and the late sunshine was still bathing the Carrs in wonderful golden light. Chris and Oliver re-appeared asking "did you see the Short-eared Owl?!!! I answered in the negative and felt a thump in the gut. They informed me it has flown down the River chased by a Marsh Harrier. The sunshine had ceased now and it was getting gloomy, I reckoned I'd had my chips. Then, a shout from Oliver "Alan, it's flying up River left of Aughton Church"! I picked it up in my scope and gave a sigh of relief after thanking him. The Short-eared Owl (103) then landed on a riverside fence post and remained there for some 15 minutes before flying high around the far end of the Reserve giving decent scope views. A memorable moment no doubt.
This was only my 5th record and first sighting for 13 years! A red letter day. I always feel this is a Species I should see more often here. Still, I guess it makes the sightings I get more special! I'm sure you"get it", especially if you're a Patch Birder.
Always a bonus to enjoy an afternoon like this towards the end of the Year...
No comments:
Post a Comment