Gimme Shelter

Nowhere to hide for the birds at the moment. Having said that lots of them appear to have evacuated long ago - not a single Skylark, Lapwing or Fieldfare were seen and generally very few songbirds anywhere except around gardens. Despite this is was a reasonable weekend with one new for the year - 2 Whooper Swan, and a supporting cast of Water Rail, 11 Woodcock, Green Sandpiper, an unseasonal Lesser Black-backed Gull, and 2 Kingfisher.

Saturday 17th December

With so little daylight it's tough to know how to get the best out of a weekend in December. Worse when the birds aren't likely to be where they usually are. Decisions decisions. Anyway, a traditional Harpham-Lowthorpe walk always works so we spent most of the day on that.

3 Mute Swan, 2 Teal (plus several shot - see previous post 'Shoot!'), 20+ Mallard, 1 Little Grebe, 2 Sparrowhawk, 3 Buzzard, 3 Kestrel, 1 Water Rail, 2 Snipe, 8 Woodcock flushed by the shoot, 1 adult Lesser Black-backed Gull flying west, 20 Great Black-backed Gulls east, 14 Collared Dove, 2 Great Spotted Woodpecker, 1 Redwing, 1 Goldcrest, 14 Long-tailed Tit, 1 Coal Tit, 3 Tree Sparrow and 1 Bullfinch.

That walk followed by lunch left us with only a couple of hours, which we used to have a look around Gransmoor Lane: 2 Greylag Goose, 1 Teal, 6 Gadwall flying NW, 17 Mallard, 7 Grey Partridge, 1 Buzzard, 2 Snipe, 2 Woodcock, 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker, 1 Kingfisher, 2 Yellowhammer.

Below is the Water Rail at Harpham, feeding alongside the beck. This was in exactly the same spot as the first Water Rail I ever saw locally back in the early 90s.


So good it deserves a second picture. What a beauty.


Long-tailed Tits are impossible to photograph, though it doesn't much help that I have no patience whatsoever. This is the best I could do - they just won't sit still!


Sunday 19th December

Bright sunshine on Saturday had led into overnight snow which continued through Sunday morning. We held off until late morning hoping it would give up, realising that a walk along Kelk Beck was going to be the limit today.

3 Mute Swan, 31 Teal, 7 Mallard, 9 Grey Partridge, 6 Little Grebe, 1 Cormorant flew over, 1 Grey Heron, 1 Buzzard, 1 Kestrel, 4 Snipe, 1 Woodcock, 1 Green Sandpiper, 1 Great Black-backed Gull, 2 Barn Owls, 1 Kingfisher, 1 Bullfinch, 2 Yellowhammer, 1 Reed Bunting.

In addition to these slim pickings were 11 Roe Deer including a party of 9, at least 30 Hares easily visible in the fields, and two Foxes one of which had caught a rabbit and had a small gathering of attendant Corvids harassing it.

Below are 6 of the deer just visible through the snow!


Arty landscape shot along Kelk Beck... this was around midday and it looks dark!


The day was concluded by a quick dash to Kelk Lake. Completely frozen over with a layer of snow on top. Nothing to see here. Oh, except 35 Greylags flew north toward Burton Agnes. In the distance two ghostly white swans flying south, high up, eventually showing themselves to be Whooper Swans. A year tick with the final throw of the dice - nice!

So that brings the year total up one...

114 Whooper Swan