Great Day

Wowsers!!!

Great White Egret at Kelk

The larger relative of Little Egret, these birds have become increasingly regular in Britain over the last couple of decades as their natural range spreads west across Europe. Just a few decades ago their range in Europe was around the Danube delta, but now there are significant numbers as close as Netherlands and France. In England a single pair bred in Somerset in 2012, surely the first of many.

In Yorkshire there has been a very slow increase with only a handful being recorded before the end of the 1990s, while in the last decade there have been around 5 per year. Most of the well known local reserves have been visited by this magnificent and elegant species, including Tophill Low and Hornsea Mere. Indeed two different birds have been seen at Tophill Low on and off through October, and presumably the Kelk bird is one of these, wandering.

Weekend write-up to follow. Egret aside it wasn't too exciting, perhaps in part due to the unseasonably warm weather.

September Rememberings

Just time to get this in before November arrives...

19th-20th and 26th September

Mute Swan - Pair with 6 young

Red-legged Partridge - 45+ at Harpham (released)

Pheasant - 290+ at Harpham

Little Grebe - 9

Cormorant - 12 including flock of 8 together.

Grey Heron - 19

Marsh Harrier - 2, possibly 3

Sparrowhawk - 4

Common Buzzard - 23+

Kestrel - 5

Hobby - 1 chasing martins at Little Kelk on 19th

Golden Plover - 19

Lapwing - modest flocks 36 + 80

Snipe - 1

Greenshank - 2 at Gembling

Green Sandpiper - 1

Great Black-backed Gull - 4

Stock Dove - 36 at Harpham

Kingfisher - 4

Skylark - flock of 80+ Kelk Beck

Swallow - only 7 left by 26th

Meadow Pipit - 19

Grey Wagtail - 1

Mistle Thrush - 16 (otherwise scarce recently)

Jay - 1 at Kelk on 26th

Linnet - largest flock 75 at Gransmoor

Bullfinch - pair with 2 juveniles at Harpham

No new species so the year list is stuck at 102.

Juvenile Buzzard sitting on freshly cut wheat straw. Plenty of them about in September.

Great Black-backed Gull. Their appearances in the area have been less frequent and predictable in recent years. Most are flying through so it's nice to see one on the deck.

Grey Wagtail doing what they love best, feeding from water vegetation.

That's my Christmas cards sorted.















Lots of these about in September. Mostly tame released birds.

Late late Cuckoo

Any date in September would be notable to see a Cuckoo in UK, 26th September is exceptional. This youngster flew into a window in Kelk and became the other kind of 'late'. Even that seems a very strange occurrence. Poor thing!

One wonders if it was a local bird that had been hanging around longer than normal, or from much further away and had got a bit lost finding Africa.

A round up of my September visit is on its way...

August Two

This'll have to be quick...

August 15-16th

Greylag Goose - 240 near Gransmoor
Gadwall - 10
Teal - 3
Red-legged Partridge - 2
Little Grebe - 8
Cormorant - 2
Grey Heron - 21 including 15 together (see photo)
Buzzard - up to 20
Kestrel - 6
Hobby - 2
Golden Plover - flock of 30
Lapwing - flock of 120
Greenshank - 1 at Gembling
Green Sandpiper - 3
Stock Dove - flock of 12
Turtle Dove - 1 at Foston is the first since 2010
Swift - 17
Yellow Wagtail - 2 juveniles along Kelk Beck
Mistle Thrush - 8 near Wansford
'warblers' - noticeably few (poor season? left already?)
Long-tailed Tit - 50+ in two flocks
Jay - 1 at Harpham was an early autumn surprise
House Sparrow - flock of 90+ Little Kelk

Greenshank - just scarce enough to be a treat but just about regular enough to appear every year.

Greylag Geese overhead. Once again a post-breeding flock has been using fields near Gransmoor.

What's the group name for herons? I dunno, maybe a 'conference of herons'. An odd sight, though.

Two new for the year list...

101 Greenshank
102 Turtle Dove

August One

Slacking off again... we're well in to September and I haven't mentioned August yet. Here's a few non-birdy pictures while I get myself together.

#1 - Gatekeeper. Not particularly common but probably overlooked.

#2 - Painted Lady. I haven't seen one of these locally for 2-3 years.















#3 - Small Skipper. Fairly common in the area.















#4 - Migrant Hawker. If you see a big dragonfly in the area it's most likely one of these.

#5 - Puffball mushroom. Size of a football!!!

Back soon...

Jun Jul

Two for the price of one!

Summary of visits 27-28 June and 18-19 July. Not a great deal to report as is normal for summer but here we go anyway.

June

Greylag - 20+
Mallard - 40+
Marsh Harrier - 1 female
Sparrowhawk - 2
Buzzard - 6
Kestrel - 6
Hobby - 2
Oystercatcher - 2
Lapwing - 3
Curlew - 3 including 1 flying W and 2 feeding among cut grass
Green Sandpiper - 1, first recent record for June
Little Owl - 2
Kingfisher - 1
Yellow Wagtail - 3
Reed Warbler - 1
Lesser Whitethroat - 4, brings total 'locations' to 7 this year.
Common Whitethroat - 20+ males
Bullfinch - 2

July

Teal - 1
Cormorant - 2, not regularly seen in summer
Marsh Harrier - 1 female
Sparrowhawk - 2
Buzzard - 10+
Kestrel - 6
Hobby - 1
Oystercatcher - 1 juvenile seen!
Lapwing - 2
Barn Owl - 1
Little Owl - 1
Kingfisher - 1
Yellow Wagtail - 5
Bullfinch - 1
Corn Bunting - 1 singing male

A few photos...

1. Two Cormorants together. Looks like an adult and one of last year's young. Closer inspection suggests they're both of the Atlantic subspecies 'carbo' rather than the Continental 'sinensis' [link]. This is the expected situation for Kelk, indeed all except one that I've looked at closely have appeared to be carbo. I'm sure that sinensis birds pass through occasionally but the 'resident' visitors I'm sure are entirely carbo. The situation might change as their respective populations change.

Green Sandpiper with a Woodpigeon, for comparison. Even though it was in June this bird was most likely a return migrant that had failed to breed this year - I think this is my first recent record for June, so clearly not a typical sighting.

Now this is normal. Normal for any time of the year. A hovering Kestrel. Their numbers seem to be quite healthy at the moment, but let's see how many young birds are about in autumn before getting too excited.

Can you guess what it is? Not a common sight at all. It's a baby Oystercatcher, albeit distantly. Although there's one or two pairs each year it can be tricky to find evidence of success. Seeing an unfledged chick is most unusual.

Rook, posing.

A slight miscalculation with the year list - should have been 97 not 96 after May - means we've reached the 100 mark.

098 Reed Warbler
099 Curlew
100 Corn Bunting

Kites in May

The final two days of May saw a passing Red Kite, and a most welcome return for Spotted Flycatcher after two years absence. Summary as follows:

Mute Swan - pair with 4 cygnets
Red-legged Partridge - 4
Grey Partridge - 2
Red Kite - 1 drifting over Harpham/Lowthorpe
Marsh Harrier - female
Sparrowhawk - 3
Buzzard - 10
Kestrel - 4
Oystercatcher - 2
Lapwing - 10 pairs
Stock Dove - 10
Cuckoo - 1
Little Owl - 1
Swift - widespread, 40+ at Harpham
Kingfisher - 1
Great Spotted Woodpecker - 3
Sand Martin - 80+
Yellow Wagtail - 5
Grey Wagtail - 1
Spotted Flycatcher - 1 at Lowthorpe
Starling - juveniles everywhere!
Bullfinch - 3

Warblers were not singing much due to the poor weather, e.g. only 2 Willow and 3 Sedge Warblers noted all weekend.

Some photos:

How confusing, a dead tree that isn't a dead tree. This pole is next to a garden and I think the 'pecker was using it to spy on a bird table.

Lapwing, less shy for being territorial.

Photos can be deceptive... I've shown this to four people and they've all got it dramatically wrong, including one who thought it was the Red Kite. The fairly even-length primary wing feathers give a strange proportion and make it seem large winged, I presume. But no, it's most definitely a Skylark!

Mute Swan family. They have been roaming the length of the beck up to 2 miles from the nest site!

Tree Sparrow at dusk. There are a few small 'colonies' across the area, mostly associated with gardens. Occasionally double figure flocks can form in the fields in autumn/winter, especially around winter stubbles, though I didn't note any this last winter.

There were 3 new for the year

094 Swift
095 Red Kite
096 Spotted Flycatcher