Febuluos

It's nearly spring, isn't it? A proverbial game of two halves this weekend. Warm sunshine hinting at the months ahead on Sunday morning but when the northerly breeze got up and the clouds came it was most definitely still February.

As for the birds, there was nothing much to raise the heartrate though it was good to hear plenty of early bird song and the recent rain has left patches of water that could prove interesting going into spring. Highlights were; 14 Wigeon, 140+ Teal, 3 Oystercatcher, 300+ Lapwing, 1 Green Sandpiper, 3 Treecreeper.

Saturday 26th February

Lowthorpe/Harpham: 4 Greylags, 2 Red-legged Partridge, 1 Little Grebe, 4 Kestrel, 2 Tawny Owls calling, 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker, several singing Skylarks, 26 Fieldfare, 1 Goldcrest, 3 Treecreeper chasing each other around at New Road, 11 Magpie, a flock of 27 Greenfinch, 2 Bullfinch.

Green Lane/Barf Hill: 72 Teal, 12 Mallard, 7 Wigeon, 2 Grey Partridge, male Sparrowhawk, 5 Buzzard, 300+ Lapwing, 4 Bullfinch, 4 Yellowhammer.

Sunday 27th February

Kelk Beck: 11 Mute Swan, 6 Wigeon, 23 Teal, 42 Mallard, 3 Tufted Duck, 4 Grey Partridge, 1 Little Grebe, female Sparrowhawk, 1 Kestrel, 3 Coot, 1 Green Sandpiper, 10+ Skylark, 8 Reed Bunting. 5 Roe Deer was nice - see photo.

Green Lane: another look at the floodwater on the pasture revealed 89 Teal, 8 Wigeon, 1 Oystercatcher, plus 7 Buzzards in the air over the woods.

Gembling: 17 Greylags, 36 Mallard, 31 Teal, 3 Tufted Duck, 11 Redwing, 8 Fieldfare.

Brigham Quarry: 4 Gadwall, 2 Tufted Duck, male Pochard, 5 Little Grebe, 10 Coot, 2 Oystercatcher.

And now for some photos. Relative close up of some Teal, the males are really smart little fellas when you see the detail. They love shallow flood water on grass.



More teal. And two Wigeon. Oh, and an Oystercatcher. These are all on a small patch of water in Kelk that regularly forms in one of the pastures, though it's never really attracted more than a few Teal before.



I think I've been spotted. Love the colours on the back and greyish neck.



All five Roe Deer crossing the next field, making heavy going across the newly ploughed ground. Oddly, they didn't seem too spooked by my clumsy attempt to get a good view.



And speaking of not being scared, Mute Swans appear to have no concept of Scarecrows being dead scary. Not even ones dressed as Police. Mute Swans don't get out of water much around here, pretty much the only time they do seems to be to munch on oilseed.



Yearlist creeps up slowly to a very modest 71 (compared to 80 last Feb).

065 Snipe
065 Canada Goose
066 Linnet
067 Greenfinch
068 Red-legged Partridge
069 Wigeon
070 Oystercatcher
071 Gadwall