April showers

Typical spring weather. Half a day was rained off and too cold yet I managed to get sunburn in the heat on Sunday. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get much time in the southern part of the area around Gembling, but that can wait until next time.

As reported yesterday the major highlight was the first MANDARIN for the area, on the beck at Harpham. Mostly it was a weekend of catching up with old friends; summer migrants such as warblers and martins.

Mute Swan - pair with nest

Greylag Goose - several pairs including one with 3 very small goslings

Canada Goose - 1

Gadwall - 7

Teal - 3

Tufted Duck - 6

Little Grebe - 2

Buzzard - 8

Kestrel - 4

Hobby - 1 at Harpham is the earliest area record, I think

Oystercatcher - 2

Lapwing - 30

Snipe - 2 is very late for the area

Green Sandpiper - 1 possibly 2 (different days but 1/2 mile apart)

Lesser Black-backed Gull - 1

Cuckoo - 1 calling (apparently arrived on Friday 24th)

Little Owl - 2

Kingfisher - 2

Great Spotted Woodpecker - 2

Skylark - *seemed* to be more than normal singing

Sand Martin - 10+

Swallow - 30+ only modest numbers so far

House Martin - 60+ at Harpham

Yellow Wagtail - 1 male

Sedge Warbler - 5

Blackcap - 14+

Garden Warbler - 1 is an early record

Lesser Whitethroat - 5

Common Whitethroat - 2

Chiffchaff - 16+

Willow Warbler - 2 is a worryingly low count for the date

Linnet - 110+

Some photos...

Cowslip at Lingholmes wood.

Primroses - loads in full bloom in Lingholmes wood.

Roe Deer listening carefully

Swallow. It appears to have a silver ring on the left leg.

Reed Bunting. Unlike most other crops they seem to quite like oilseed rape.

Additions to the yearlist bring the total to 93, just up on 91 at this point last year and 92 the year before!

080 Swallow

081 Lesser Whitethroat

082 Jay

083 Sand Martin

084 Blackcap

085 House Martin

086 Willow Warbler

087 Mandarin

088 Hobby

089 Garden Warbler

090 Yellow Wagtail

091 Sedge Warbler

092 Common Whitethroat

093 Cuckoo

Darin' Man

It's like the buses... you wait ages and several come along in a row. Another new bird species recorded for the area. A fabulous drake MANDARIN was present at Harpham on Saturday, but there was no sign when I looked again on Sunday afternoon so perhaps it had been disturbed by dog walkers.

Mandarin's are slowly increasing in Yorkshire, roughly as follows: before 1990s scarce, 1990s-2000s regular in small numbers with occasional breeding, 2010s several established local breeding populations in the 10s and odd birds expected almost anywhere. Having said that a cursory glance at recent Yorkshire Bird Reports suggests they are still very much a scarcity in East Yorkshire with typically 2-3 per year mostly at either Hornsea Mere or Tophill Low.

For an introduced species I'm unnaturally chuffed with this sighting. Hard to say no to one so handsome, I guess.

Some info:

Wikipedia: Mandarin_duck
Yorkshire Wildlife Trust: Mandarin-duck
Wharfedale Naturalists Society: Mandarins in Wharfedale
BTO BirdTrack: Mandarin - Aix galericulata
YouTube: Mandarins in Regent's Park, London

Here's three record shots.

This one shows the habitat.

A slightly better side-on shot.

Write up of the weekend coming soon...

Frog's p0rn

Despite a bit of sun yesterday I'm less than convinced spring is in full swing. It is, obviously, but it could have tried a bit harder!

At least the frogs seem to have got the memo. I'm sure there must be garden ponds throughout the area to regularly host them but this is the only 'wild' pond I see frogspawn at regularly.

And now a round up of the birdies...

Saturday 21st and Sunday 22nd March

Gadwall - 9

Teal - 36

Pochard - 1 male

Tufted Duck - 11

Little Grebe - 9

Cormorant - 1

Grey Heron - some activity around the heronry

Little Egret - 1 on field drain at Millingdale

Marsh Harrier - female hunting Kelk Beck. Very early for area.

Sparrowhawk - 2

Buzzard - 12

Kestrel - 3

Oystercatcher - 2 pairs. There's been 2-3 pairs annually recently.

Lapwing - 120+

Woodcock - 1

Green Sandpiper - 2

Lesser Black-backed Gull - 1 was the first of the year.

Barn Owl - 1

Kingfisher - 2

Grey Wagtail - 1

Redwing - 3. First ones of the year!!!

Chiffchaff - just 1 singing, at Foston. A poor show.

Dipper - still present on Saturday.

Starling - 400+ is a big flock for time of year.

Linnet - flock of 90+

Photos...

Little Egret up a tree. For such a normally smart looking bird this one had obviously been over-reaching itself in the drains as it had a lot of muck on it's plumage.

Little Egret flying away from tree. Observe its yellow feet.

What on earth is this Mallard cross-bred with? I'm not even sure whether it is male or female.

Male Reed Bunting now into fresh breeding plumage. For such a distinctive bird they are very unassuming.

There were seven additions to the year list.

072 Lesser Black-backed Gull

073 Oystercatcher

074 Redwing

075 Marsh Harrier

076 Canada Goose

077 Chiffchaff

078 Wigeon

079 Little Egret

Far from the dipping crowd

In truth it was very much the bird doing the dipping, not the crowd, judging by the pictures appearing on social media. For the benefit of anyone mystified by terminology - dipping means failing to seeing the bird you've come to twitch.

The Dipper was on its favourite perch when I went past on Saturday afternoon and again at dusk on Sunday. Here's a summary of the rest of the weekend's sightings.

Saturday 21st & Sunday 22nd February

Mute Swan - 2
Greylags - 41
Gadwall - 12
Teal - 70+
Mallard - 100+
Pochard - 37 at Kelk Lake. An exceptional count for recent years!
Tufted Duck - 11
Red-legged Partridge - 2
Grey Partridge - 4
Sparrowhawk - 1
Common Buzzard - 13
Kestrel - 8
Peregrine - 1 at Gembling, taking a close interest in Lapwings
Golden Plover - 210. Unprecedented count for February.
Lapwing - 180+ including 130 flock at Gembling.
Woodcock - 2
Green Sandpiper - 1
Woodpigeon - large flocks of 1500 & 800 noted.
Tawny Owl - 1
Great Spotted Woodpecker - 1 drumming
Skylark - several in song
Meadow Pipit - 13 at Gembling. Outstanding local count.
Grey Wagtail - 1
Fieldfare - 150+ flock at Foston. 5 over Kelk.
Coal Tit - 1 at Kelk. Hard to find away from Harpham/Lowthorpe.
Dipper - yes
Linnet - flock of 40+


Dipper again. I do hope it manages to find its way home for summer as despite being very lost it has done just fine for the last four months.

I'm guessing it prefers this perch as the sunlight is mostly behind it, allowing it to see the water better.

Also at Harpham, this chunk of boggy ground has finally been drained. It was never much good for birds so it's no great loss, and the farmer's gotta farm etc. Was always nice to walk along the edge full of hope something interesting would poke its head above the grass. Never did, though.

Greylags heading over. There is no regular flock since they were no long able to roost at Kelk Lake due to disturbance. Pairs breed across the area but in winter you have to be in the right place at the right time.

Song Thrush. Nothing unusual there, though I think this might be the first time I've managed to take a recognisable photo of one.

There were ten additions to the yearlist which jumps to 71, which is about average over recent years.

Dipper Twitch - Harpham Hits the Headlines

News of the Black-bellied Dipper at Harpham made it on to the twitcher's networks at the weekend. Imagine that, Harpham hits the front page national news!

The bird has been present since October. This was my comment after finding it
http://kelkbirds.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/dipping-sauce.html

A few high-definition pictures have appeared such as this one from Brett Richards
http://i2.wp.com/birdingfrontiers.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/BR20150213152811881-BR.jpg
via Martin Garner
http://birdingfrontiers.com/2015/02/14/a-grand-day-out-in-yorkshire/

And a short video from Martin, too
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7J1lVF_lzo4

Apparently the bird didn't want to play ball on Sunday and wasn't seen all day - must have been frustrating for visitors. I wonder if anyone thought to check further down at Lowthorpe road bridge or up at New Road bridge, where my November pictures were taken.

Edit 26/03 - it's a male bird... it has started singing!
http://northernrustic.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/black-bellied-dipper-harpham-east-yorks.html

Twenty Fifteen Sixty

Finally I'm in the right year. Here's a summary of last weekend's visit. Not a bad start at all with 60 species logged.

Saturday 17th & Sunday 18th January

Mute Swan - 5

Gadwall - 1

Teal - 28

Mallard - 30+

Grey Partridge - 18

Little Grebe - 5

Cormorant - 8

Heron - 7

Sparrowhawk - 2

Buzzard - 9

Kestrel - 5

Lapwing - 50+

Snipe - 4

Woodcock - 3

Green Sandpiper - 1

Woodpigeon - 2300. Largest count in recent years.

Barn Owl - 1

Tawny Owl - 1

SHORT-EARED OWL - 2 together!

Kingfisher - 1

Skylark - two flocks of 42 + 71 = 113

Fieldfare - 1 (zero Redwing!)

Treecreeper - 1

Dipper - still at Lowthorpe

Yellowhammer - flock of 35

Also 14 Roe Deer.

A few photos...

#1 - Brrrrrr!

#2 -  Part of the ginormous pigeon flock

#3 - The best I could manage. One of the Short-eared Owls hunting along the beck.

#4 - I'm pretty sure Pheasants can't read.

#5 - Starling peek-a-boo!

Till next time!

2014 catch up... Nov-Dec

Let's make this quick, I've already done my January visit.

November highlights

Mute Swan - 17
Pink-footed Goose - 500+ south on morning of 23rd. A record day count.
Teal - 170
GOOSANDER - 1 female on beck. Only a couple of previous records.
Cormorant - 2
Little Egret - 1
Grey Heron - 6
Sparrowhawk - 1
GOSHAWK - 1 seen well in flight at dusk. Two previous records.
Buzzard - 7
Kestrel - 5
Golden Plover - 40
Lapwing - 700+. A very high local count.
Green Sandpiper - 1
Little Owl - 2
Kingfisher - 2
Grey Wagtail - 1
Fieldfare - 24
Redwing - 40+
Dipper - 1 still at Harpham/Lowthorpe
Jay - 1
Starling - 900+. An excellent local count.
Chaffinch - 110.

December highlights

Mute Swan - 10
Pink-footed Goose - 5
Bean Goose - 3
SNOW GOOSE - 1 adult white-phase bird. Photo below.
Gadwall - 3
Teal - 250
Grey Partridge - 19
Little Grebe - 6
Cormorant - 2
Grey Heron - 8. It's been a good year for this species.
Sparrowhawk - 1
Buzzard - 9
Kestrel - 9. Also a very good year for this species.
Peregrine - 1
Lapwing - 100+
Snipe - 17. Otherwise it's been a very poor year for this species.
Woodcock - 2
Green Sandpiper - 1
Little Owl - 1
SHORT-EARED OWL - 1. It's been a long wait since my last in 1990s!
Kingfisher - 2
Grey Wagtail - 1
Fieldfare - 36. A very slim year for this thrush.
Redwing - 6. Ditto - where were the winter thrushes this year?
Dipper - seen further down at Lowthorpe bridge this time.
Jay - 1
Yellowhammer - 35. A good flock for recent years.

Also seen were 3 otters together - one large and two small (young?). They didn't seem too fazed by me standing on the bank not far away, as the pictures below suggest.

And with those surprise additions the year list bumped upward to 110, the joint lowest total in recent years but not bad considering the very poor half-time score. Ok ok 109 without the goose. Shh!

106 Goshawk
107 Snow Goose
108 Bean Goose
109 Short-eared Owl
110 Goosander

Totally wild geese. Well most of them certainly are. Probably. The Snow Goose is bottom left and the 3 Bean Geese are in there somewhere (hard to id from this dark/crap photo). I read that a Snow Goose made the trip down the east coast every autumn with Pink-feet in recent years, occasionally being seen in Yorkshire. Of all the birds it has the best credentials for being wild, but, who knows. In it's favour, the bird here is with presumably wild geese, and it was VERY wary (I'd just accidentally flushed them when I took this). On the down side, possibly the same bird appeared down the road at Tophill and has been hanging around with the tame feral Greylags. Damn!

Otter! There were three together, rather unbelievably.

Despite the amazing views I completely failed to get more than one in shot.

January review shortly...