As alluded to before the stonking highlight was a HONEY BUZZARD, the first I have ever recorded locally. There were plenty of other raptors around over the weekend. Here's the highlights.
Friday 28th September
Harpham / Lowthorpe: 80+ Pheasants, 3 Herons, 2 Sparrowhawks, 7 Common Buzzard, 5 Kestrel, 35 Lapwing, 1 Snipe, 50+ House Martin and Swallows, 4 Goldcrest. The HONEY BUZZARD was one of the first birds seen - a dark juvenile flying purposefully south over the railway in the morning.
Kelk / Kelk Beck: 14 Greylags, 6 Canada Goose, 20 Teal, 140 Mallard, 1 Red-legged Partridge, 2 Grey Partridge, 5 Cormorant, 1 Marsh Harrier (distant - fem/imm), 1 Sparrowhawk, 3 Kestrel, 1 imm Peregrine - possibly the same bird seen around Kelk a week previously by a local farmer, 25 Golden Plover, 80 Lapwing, 3 Snipe, 1 Greenshank, 1 Green Sandpiper, 4 Lesser Black-backed Gull, 3 Great Black-backed Gull, 1 Barn Owl, 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker, 20+ Skylark together, 3 Meadow Pipit, 1 Grey Wagtail, 14 Pied Wagtail, 1 Blackcap, 1 Chiffchaff, 35 Linnet.
Other stuff today... 1 Squirrel, 3 Roe Deer, 1 Red Admiral, 2 'Hawker' dragonflies.
Saturday 29th September
Gembling/Foston/Millingdale: 4 Mute Swan, 80 Teal on floods, 1 Tufted Duck, 3 Little Grebe, 4 Cormorants, 34 Grey Herons sheltering together between Foston and Wansford, 2 Sparrowhawk, 7 Common Buzzards, 4 Kestrel, imm Peregrine at Foston (perhaps the same as yesterday in Kelk), 6 Coot, 1 Snipe, 1 Green Sandpiper, 28 Stock Dove at Gembling, 2 Meadow Pipit, 7 Mistle Thrush together, 1 Blackcap, 1 Chiffchaff, 1000+ Corvids in a pre-roost at Kelk, 6 Tree Sparrow. Perhaps the bird of the day was a single Dunlin on the flood at Millingdale - only my second one in the last six years!
No butterflies noted today but a couple of Common Darters were seen.
Sunday 30th September
Busy doing other stuff for a change. Here are some photos instead.
First up a mystery raptor. What are you talking about, you may ask? This is like some photos that regularly appear on birding/photo websites with a description like "It looked much bigger than a nearby Sparrowhawk, is it a Goshawk?". No, it isn't. They're always "just" Sparrowhawks. Take a look in a field guide! Ok, in fairness this one did 'look' big at first glance, but no bigger than females often appear 'big'.
Cormorants, the fisherman's friend. Not.
Hitchcock-esque! Run away!
Greylags en route to somewhere as yet unknown. It's been a real challenge tracking them down in recent years, compared to how reliable they were a decade ago when they roosted at Kelk Lake.
Finally, a Common Darter. Lovely.
And that's that. Two additions to the year list - slow going and running out of time.
105 Honey Buzzard
106 Dunlin
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