Red Alert

Right then, April.

Migrants had started to arrive including a Blackcap, 2 Yellow Wagtails and 1 White Wagtail, though only a few Swallows so far. Once again raptors were visible with the best two being an unseasonal Peregrine and a RED KITE. Also seen were 75 Golden Plover, 3 Green Sandpiper, and a Little Owl.

Good omen for the weekend was a Little Owl seen from the car on Friday evening at Harpham on the journey. A year tick before I'd even started!

Saturday 17th April

Much the better day for birding - light wind and sunshine. Around Harpham-Lowthorpe in the morning were 4 Greylags, 1 Little Grebe, 3 Sparrowhawk, 10 Lapwing, 6 Herring Gull, 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker, 1 Swallow, 2 Mistle Thrush, 1 Blackcap singing, 9 Chiffchaff, 2 Willow Warbler singing, 1 Goldcrest, 2 Long-tailed Tit, 2 Coal Tit singing, 1 Tree Sparrow, and 10 Linnet.

Bird of the morning was a Peregrine, a first locally for April. This appearance even more so than the in winter poses 'where from?' questions - was this a 'local' breeding bird, perhaps from the coastal cliffs?

A good morning was followed up with a better afternoon. Immediately. Stood outside the house I picked up a large raptor flapping lazily around. It was nothing less than a RED KITE. Slowly the bird gained height and drifted north-west and after 10 minutes was gone. Although hard to tell for sure it seemd rather less 'red' than a typical adult so could well have been an immature bird, which leads one to consider it as a Wolds-born non-breeding bird wandering around - there was a post-breeding population of around 30 birds in 2009: http://www.yorkshireredkites.net/home.html

Gembling was the next stop after all the excitement; 1 Greylag, 2 Gadwall, 2 Grey Partridge, 1 Grey Heron, 4 Coot, 2 Oystercatcher, 3 Green Sandpiper, 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker, 8 Sand Martin, 1 Swallow, 2 Meadow Pipit, 1 Yellow Wagtail, 1 White Wagtail (photo in previous entry), 5 Tree Sparrow, and 2 Reed Bunting. There was still quite a lot of flood water on the fields, left over from the previous autumn - receeding but could still be there into May.

Moving on to Brigham Quarry; 1 Mute Swan, 6 Gadwall, male Pochard, 4 Tufted Duck, 6 Little Grebe, 8 Coot, 12 Stock Dove, 21 Sand Martin, and 6 late Fieldfare. The most unusual sighting was a male 'green' Pheasant, not a different race as such but a genetic variant sometimes bred and released by shooting estates. I have seen odd ones locally before but this is the first noted for a while.

Not wishing to let a good day end there I took an evening walk around Green Lane and Barf Hill which turned up a few more goodies; 7 Greylags, 1 Canada Goose, 2 Shelduck, 4 Teal, 1 Red-legged Partridge, 1 Cormorant flying SW, 3 Kestrel, 2 Oystercatcher, 14 Lapwing, 2 Swallow, 3 Chiffchaff, 2 Long-tailed Tit, 19 Chaffinch together in a freshly drilled corn field, and a Bullfinch.

The large flock of Golden Plover I wrote about last month was still present but has reduced ot 75 birds (photo to follow), though that's still a respectable number. My theory/guess is that these are Scandinavian birds which have wintered in the UK and are staging here before setting off for a direct flight to their breeding grounds. Many were parading their bright summer collection wardrobe.

Sunday 18th April

Inevitable really, but Sunday was an anti-climax. The weather took a turn for the colder and I had to spend the morning shifting furniture so didn't get going until lunchtime. Along Kelk Beck were 5 Mute Swan, 1 Canada Goose, 4 Gadwall, 16 Mallard, 3 Tufted Duck, 2 Little Grebe, 1 Cormorant (flying S), 3 Grey Heron, 1 Sparrowhawk, 1 Buzzard, 2 Coot, 1 Curlew flying west, 30 Sand Martin, 5 Swallow, 1 Meadow Pipit, 1 Yellow Wagtail, 3 Willow Warbler, 2 Long-tailed Tit, and 2 Reed Bunting.

To complete the weekend I had another go at Harpham-Lowthorpe but it was much less active though 2 Sparrowhawk, 3 Kestrel, 3 Lesser Black-backed Gull and 5 Herring Gull, 4 more Swallow, 4 long-tailed Tit and 2 more Coal Tits were noted.

Among all this, during the weekend also were 1 bat sp, 1 Water Vole, and the first few butterflies; 5 Peacock, c25 Small tortoiseshell, 1 'white' sp.

Seven additions for the year:

088 Little Owl
089 Blackcap
090 Willow Warbler
091 Red Kite
092 Yellow Wagtail
093 Shelduck
094 Curlew

Speaking of numbers the kite is the 130th species in the last 5 years.

Addittion: Cuckoo heard in Kelk on Wednesday morning - a very early bird.