Sprung?

Wow, this weekend couldn't have been much different to the previous visit. Lovely warm sunshine with a bit of a breeze, though more cloud today. Lots of birds now in song, but otherwise it's still winter.

Saturday 21st February

Lovely morning for a walk today - light breeze, bright sun. At Kelk Lake 22 Greylags flew north, 24 Pochard, 23 Tufted Duck, 4 Goldeneye (incl. 2 fine drakes!), 3 Little Grebe, 1 Sparrowhawk, 1 Kestrel, 20+ Coot, and a drumming Great Spotted Woodpecker in the wood.

Nearby we watched 5 Common Buzzards, possibly more. This is a personal a local record count, though I reckoned 4-6 were present throughout 2008. Today birds were on show almost constantly between 10-11.30am. While watching for buzzards I noticed the pigeons and corvids taking flight suddenly over the farm, then on cue an immature Peregrine whizzing across toward Harpham. My third of the year!

Following this Harpham-Lowthorpe was calling. Despite a promising start to the day the remainder of the walk was very quiet indeed. A flock of 58 Lapwing were still on their traditional fields near Harpham, 2 Little Grebe at New Road, 2 more Kestrels and Sparrowhawks, 8 Skylark (several singing), 1 Grey Wagtail, 56 Fieldfare, 8 Redwing, Goldcrest, and 2 Bullfinch were about yer lot.

In the afternoon I went for a quick look around Gransmoor Lane and Barf Hill Wood. A Shelduck was in the same field as the one last month. Very odd. A couple of Grey Partridge near Barf Hill and a large flock of 272 Fieldfare went over toward the village.

Sunday 22nd February

Down Kelk Beck and Cattleholmes in the morning; 6 Mute Swan, 31 Greylags, 5 Pink-footed Goose feeding on the potatoes, 30+ Teal, 5 Tufted Duck, 2 Little Grebe, a female Sparrowhawk, 55 Golden Plover flying west high, 9 Snipe, 1 Woodcock, 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull (scarce in winter) and 29 Herring Gull flying south, a day flying Barn Owl, 12+ Skylark, 18 Yellowhammer and 8 Reed Bunting (only 1 male). Something spooked the birds at the heronry wood in the distance, and we counted 19 Grey Herons in the air at once, usually they're hard to see. The surprise of the morning was once again seeing the 3 EGYPTIAN GOOSE - presumably they've been there all month. On the way back a Buzzard was over Barf Hill and another over Little Kelk, plus two Red-legged Partridge by Lynesykes.

My afternoon consisted of a gentle bike ride to Gembling and Brigham Quarry. Not a lot along the lanes but 2 Grey Heron, 1 Common Buzzard, 90+ Fieldfare, 6 Tree Sparrow were at Gembling. Also here an excellent gathering of 9 Roe Deer.

Work has been taking place at Brigham Quarry to landscape the site ready for a possible leisure development (not sure of the details), but they've left the lakes in tact. A good tally of wildfowl were there today; 1 Mute Swan, 34 Greylags, 16 Gadwall, 23 Tufted Duck, 4 Little Grebe and 12 Coot.

Finally, another check on Kelk Lake (nothing new) and Burton Agnes pond where there were 60+ Greylags, 70+ Mallard and 12 Tufted Duck. Finally, finally, finally on the way back home I watched a 'dark' Barn Owl hunting over rough ground near Kelk Lake. I saw a 'dark' bird near Harpham a year ago but today's was seen in much better light (4.15pm) and looked much more likely for guttata, but still not as dark as the guides would have you believe. Some notes will appear soon.

So, what about the year list? Two months in and I'm up at the lofty heights of 77 species (74 at the same stage last year). Oh for the spring proper!