Merry Christmas

Last Post...before the Festivities.

Had three hours yesterday afternoon at my Inland Patch. Water Levels still VERY high limiting opportunities for Wader feeding/resting...

Great White dot

Garganey Hide is out of action...

Still plenty of aerial activity with huge numbers of Lapwing still present, creating clouds akin to Starling mumurations! 3 Little Grebes are still trying to figure out what happened!

...as was the pale Buzzard...

A flock of c200 Pink-footed Geese have been seen on most visits...

...as have 6 Long-tailed Tits...

There are still huge numbers of Fieldfare present which is very unusual for December. They've usually eaten all the berries and moved on by now! Maybe late arrivals?

From a previous Dawn arrival

I saw ONE Redwing...

...and a single Song Thrush...

A few more from recent visits...

3 still present

Kingfisher on the scrape before the flood

I had a nice chat with a young Italian couple from York which passed a pleasant hour. Hopefully water levels will have subsided on my next post-Christmas visit.

Locally the Star attraction was this confiding Barn Owl which tolerated my presence of my car...

Such a beautiful Bird and so fortunate to have a decent population nearby. 

Starting to finalize my Trip planning for my visit to see my son Robert in the New Year. Not long now.

So MERRY CHRISTMAS to you and yours...and thanks for following my Blog. Cheers...

Pre-Christmas

Still here, still Birding. Same coverage namely NDC and the Humber. The recent rain has burst the Riverbank at Duff and the result is extensive flooding of the Reserve...

This can attract different Species but I prefer a shallower outlook. c 40 Pochard being an excellent example. Still plenty of Birds around and last week I had two quality 4 hour visits (Tuesday and Friday). Nothing new but the usual fayre was more than adequate compensation.

The Whooper Swans are preferring Ellerton Ings at the moment although I do get the odd fly-by as they make their way to the Farm across the road. 

3 wintering Stonechats usually show at some point and there's an excellent lingering Fieldfare flock (c100). At least 2 Great White Egrets are still in the area.

Huge numbers of Lapwing (c3000) are in view at various distances accompanied by smaller numbers of Golden Plover (c500).... always flying separately...and higher!

Haydn came over on Friday and after some tree planting (thanks pal) we headed for the Humber Outstray to try for the male Hen Harriers. After a while Haydn caught sight of both Birds briefly at some considerable distance. Some 30 minutes later we had a much better view of a single Bird.

Out of curiosity I drove down again yesterday afternoon and was pleased to get a brief view of one at Dusk, albeit distantly...

One of my classic BOC shots!

I really enjoy these surprise out of context sightings, especially when I can view form the warmth of the car! Special to have 2 Males in the area.

NDC - Optimum Conditions

Louise had an appointment in Hull yesterday morning, so I offered to take her in...and continue to The Carrs! I negotiated a 3 hour slot before picking her up and going for a Pub meal. All bases covered.

I arrived at 10 and made the familiar walk to the GS Hide, as I'd been doing on and off for 38 years. I've seen every possible set of conditions in this time, visiting at various times of day and every Season. As I'd driven up from Bubwith I could see there was extensive flooding but I wasn't sure what the present state of play on the Carrs would be?

As I opened the flaps I was pleasantly surprised...

As you can see the River was high and there was a small breach in the Riverbank allowing water to spill onto the Carrs...

The spits close to the River created by these conditions had attracted huge numbers of Waders, mainly Lapwing (c2000)...

 ...but also significant numbers of Golden Plover (c300)...

plus c 100 Dunlin and 10 Ruff...

The sun broke through enhancing the scene, there was little wind..

There was a decent herd of Whooper Swans way off in the distance at Thorganby...

...and 11 remained on the Carrs at the far end including the family of 5 that had been present for some time.

A couple from York joined me and I told them they'd timed it right. They enjoyed a good hour before moving on in which time 4 Egyptian Geese performed very well on the River before departing NE...

I'd mentioned a couple of Marsh Harriers were regular and we were treated to a close fly-by over the scrape...

A couple of Stonechats were investigating the breach...

As was the young Fox...

As good as it gets...

Humber Spectacular

Tuesday I did a recce along the access points to this magnificent Estuary in preparation for Haydn's visit on Wednesday. No sign of any Hen Harriers or Short-eared Owls unfortunately.

Maybe we'd get lucky? We didn't but we had a great day checking out the Sites along the Humber. He was VERY impressed and we enjoyed some great Birding and spectacle. It really is a magnificent area enabling huge numbers of Birds to feed in safety.

Today I re-visited some of the Sites after an early start...putting myself through the variable emotions of The Ashes!

I started down at Patrington Haven around 1 where an unusual looking Little Egret was feeding on a puddle by the car park.. Fairly common in the area these days but views like this are not...

I toyed with the idea of walking down towards the pumping station...but not for long! I'm not as quick as I used to be.Instead I headed for Welwick and had the last hour there. Finally I connected with one of the Male Hen Harriers that have been present for some time, albeit mobile. My encounter was brief as the Bird shot West over an adjacent field in a strengthening wind, far to brief a sighting for a photo unfortunately. Still at least I'd seen one. No Owls were seen.

A few more from recent days...

Stonechats

A Starling warming up early morn'...

A local Rare came in the form of this immature Male Goldeneye on Winestead Drain...

I've looked along this stretch hundreds of times over the years and this is a First...

A Buzzard was blending in well on the adjacent plough...

A shout out for the much overlooked Common Gull. Decent numbers on Snakey at the moment...

I've seen a few coveys of Grey Partridges recently which is encouraging...

As I made my way home I was reminded of that I didn't see the "Super Moon" last night due to thick cloud...

Fortunately tonight it revealed itself fully tonight...

A nice finish...