Here we snow again

Third month in a row with snow. Once a year is about the going rate. I blame our kid for describing Saturday as 'the warmest day of the year'. Haha!

Winter has cleared out many birds but the LITTLE EGRET from January was seen again, with a Jack Snipe and Water Rail as supporting cast. Other hard to come by birds were - 2 Goldeneye a Woodcock and one each of Treecreeper and Coal Tit.

Saturday 20th February

In the morning Harpham and Lowthorpe were bathed in fine sunny weather. On the walk across the Harpham were 40 Lapwing, 5 Stock Dove, 2 Great Spotted Woodpeckers drumming in Lingholmes, a Pied Wagtail, 2 Mistle Thrush and the Jay that has been around all winter.

New Road was fairly quiet but there were 10 Teal in the wood, a Kestrel, 3 Long-tailed Tit, 1 Linnet and 2 Yellowhammer. Over in Church Wood were a Goldcrest, 2 Long-tailed Tit, a Coal Tit and Treecreeper. Quite a relief to get the latter on the yearlist after taking until November last year - elusive little buggers! The little pond in the wood had 2 Teal on it, which as far as I can tell is the first time I've seen any there.

A Grey Heron flew north along the beck at Lowthorpe and 21 Moorhen were noted between Station Road and the railway. On the return leg a LITTLE EGRET was in a field drain in Little Kelk - presumably this is the same bird that was seen near Harpham last month

Just a couple of hours for an afternoon walk - around Gransmoor Lane. A Fieldfare, 12 Greenfinch and 7 Yellowhammer were along the main road in Kelk. Around Gransmoor Lane 2 Red-legged and 4 Grey Partridge, plus a Woodcock flushed from the roadside on the way back at dusk!

Near Barf Hill were 174 Greylag Goose, 9 Wigeon, 4 Teal, 37 Mallard, a Barn Owl, a small party of Long-tailed Tits heard, and a nice male Reed Bunting. An impressive total of 28 Hare were in the fields around Gransmoor Lane. Back in Little Kelk around 1500 Corvid flew in to roost after dusk and a Tawny Owl was calling.

Last word to the local Common Buzzards. Fine conditions on Saturday lunchtime kicked the otherwise lazy birds into action. It has always been a challenge to work out how many individuals there are, since they obviously move around a fair bit. Getting them in the air together makes it easier but it doesn't happen often. Today we had 7 together at one time but at least 8 birds were involved. Last year at least two pairs bred so it looks like the expansion is continuing.

Sunday 21st February

Opening the curtains to the first flakes of a morning of snow was not part of the script. Fearing a whole day without going outside my nerve broke at 11.30. It was very hard going and all the sensible birds were well under cover. Even so, on the beck were 4 Teal, 10 Mallard, 2 Red-legged and 4 Grey Partridge, 2 Grey Heron, a Water Rail in exactly the same spot as one in December, 2 Snipe and a flock of 130 Fieldfare overhead toward Great Kelk.

Cattleholmes was mostly frozen but there were 28 Mallard on the ice, 2 Coot, 9 Lapwing, 4 Snipe, and a Barn Owl looking very frosty hunting over the snow. At one point it flew past at about 10m range - and yes, I hadn't brought my camera out! Better still it flushed a Jack Snipe which flew over my head and landed on the edge of the beck. Crikey!

On the way back I could hear some Canada Geese in the distance, though it was hard to tell where they were or how many. Six Roe Deer were heading along a hedgerow near Lynesykes Lane.

Late afternoon was filled with a swift ride to Brigham Quarry - only 8 Teal and 10 Coot as the water was mostly frozen over. In Great Kelk gardens were 20+ Tree Sparrow, 12 Greenfinch and 18 Goldfinch.

With just a little light left the last action of the weekend was a quick peek at Kelk Lake. It was much more frozen over than expected - only a small patch of open water left. I've still never seen it completely covered. Huddled together were 2 male Pochard, a female Tufted Duck, 2 fem / imm Goldeneye, 2 Little Grebe, 22 Coot. A Sparrowhawk went over and there was a Bullfinch in the hedge. There was only one record of Goldeneye last year so this is a welcome record.

January ended with a grand total of 71 and a further 9 were added in February, in order of appearance:

072 Pink-footed Goose
073 Cormorant
074 Treecreeper
075 Goldcrest
076 Coal Tit
077 Wigeon
078 Jack Snipe
079 Pochard
080 Goldeneye

Right then, hurry up, Spring!