Bird Flu

Erk!

BBC News: Bird flu confirmed at Yorkshire duck farm

DEFRA statement: Avian flu (bird flu) outbreak in duck breeding farm in Yorkshire

The site of the farm is along the track from Lowthorpe to Nafferton. There are duck farms at Kelk also. Fortunately it sounds under control and not a threat to wild birds.

In other 'news' I still haven't written up an October visit. Planning a visit this weekend so will probably combine it with that.

EDIT: here's a couple of the signs at Lowthorpe

Dramatic!

Buzztember

We are in proper autumn now. Staring winter in the face. But it was more tail-end-of-summer three weeks ago at the end of September.

It was on the face of it set up to be an unremarkable weekend but it was anything but. The weather conditions were just perfect for raptors to be in the air on Saturday - warm, sunny, slight breeze - and the timing perfect for post-breeding dispersal and passage migrants. As a result there were 57 birds of prey noted, of 6 species. Some double counting could have happened but I'm fairly confident that amount was very low. Unfortunately I only had 2-3 hours on Sunday, but the conditions had changed (cloudy) and it was obvious a repeat wasn't on the cards.

27-28 September

Mute Swan - 5 cygnets with a pair at Harpham

Pink-footed Goose - 210 flying south in two skeins (90+120)

Teal - 10

Mallard - 70+

Tufted Duck - 5

Red-legged Partridge - 15

Grey Partridge - 14

Pheasant - 130+ around Harpham (presumably many many more not seen)

Cormorant - 14 (an exceptional count for the area)

Grey Heron - 6

Honey Buzzard - 1 south on 27th

Marsh Harrier - 1

Sparrowhawk - 6

Common Buzzard - 28

Kestrel - 19

Peregrine - 2

Golden Plover - 370 (record area count)

Lapwing - 80

Snipe - 1

Curlew - 1

Green Sandpiper - 1

Kingfisher - 4

Great Spotted Woodpecker - 4

Swallow - 6

House Martin - 2+

Meadow Pipit - 5

Grey Wagtail - 1

Chiffchaff - 1 singing at Kelk Beck

Long-tailed Tit - several flock including one of 30+ birds.

Goldfinch - 26

Despite so many raptors I didn't get a single picture of one. Always too distant. Here's some alternatives instead.

Golden Plover. Autumn is the best time for these, or at least the most reliable time. Spring can see large flocks stopping off (the previous record count is from March) but they are unpredictable. Overwintering is almost unheard of here.

This family of swans at Harpham could be the ones that bred at the southern end of Kelk Beck. That pair disappeared in summer and I wasn't aware of a pair anywhere near Harpham. It would be the first recorded breeding at Harpham if there has been, though.

Spare adult. Very tame.

Pheasants everywhere. Hundreds of them. There will be less around soon.

Pinkies going south. Always a complete delight to see.

Just the funky buzzard added to the year list. It doesn't look like we're going to hit 110, which is currently the lowest total from recent years.

102 Honey Buzzard.

Catch up

Whirlwind summary of weekend Aug 31st - Sep 1st. Only a month or so late...

Teal - 9
Little Grebe - 4
Cormorant - 2
Little Egret - 1 between Kelk & Harpham.
Marsh Harrier - 1
Sparrowhawk - 2
Buzzard - 6
Kestrel - 4
Golden Plover - 4
Green Sandpiper - 1
Barn Owl - 1
Little Owl - 1 at Harpham
Tawny Owl - 3 heard
Kingfisher - 3
Meadow Pipit - 1
Yellow Wagtail - 4
Pied Wagtail - 16
Corvid roost - 1600, roughly 1200 Rook + 400 Jackdaw
Starling - 220+
Linnet - 80+

Here's some Starlings doing their best to bring the power lines down. We don't get massive flocks out here, anything beyond a couple of hundred is good going.

The only new species for the year was:

101 Golden Plover.

I also made a visit on 27th Sep and will put up a separate review of that shortly.

August of wind

The rain was more annoying. Lost most of Sunday to it. But the wind was pretty irritating too. Sounds like a typical summer weekend in Britain.

Here's a summary from the weekend of 9-10th August.

Greylag Goose - 190+ in stubbles near Gembling

Canada Goose - 14 with Greylags

Gadwall - 3

Teal - 1

Mallard - 90+

Shoveler - 3

Grey Heron - 18 including 6 together

Marsh Harrier - 2 seen, a female and a fresh juvenile.

Buzzard - 11

Kestrel - 9+

Hobby - 3 including 2 together

Peregrine - 1 juvenile

Lapwing - 35+

Greenshank - 1 at Gembling

Green Sandpiper - 1 at Lowthorpe bridge

Common Sandpiper - 1 at Gembling

Cuckoo - 1 juvenile at Harpham

Swift - 3

Kingfisher - 2

House Martin - 300+ at Harpham, an exceptional count for the area.

Swallow - 100+ with martins at Harpham

Yellow Wagtail - 4

Warblers - still quite a lot around but very quiet

Coal Tit - 1

Greenfinch - 50+ at Kelk Beck, may be a record area count.

Linnet - 70+

And now for some images.

Little Grebe at Gembling. Since the loss of the Kelk Lake 'colony' to disturbance there has only been a few regular pairs scattered across the area. This is the first year they've attempted to breed at Gembling, though the water level has been high all summer, which has presumably helped.

Grey Heron. They're normally very shy but this one came out from behind the patch of rough vegetation and walked straight past me - either not noticing me or just ignoring me.

A gathering of young House Martins at Harpham. There was an exceptional build up of 300+ shading by the wood from the strong wind.

A wintery scene... goose, goose,... wait, what's that at the back? PEREGRINE!

Trio of Shoveler. Quite scarce locally. Is this a family? Locally bred? Looks like a male in the middle and the other two either female or juvenile.

Excellent stuff, considering the weather. Very much a raptor weekend, with multiple Hobby and Marsh Harrier sightings plus lots of Kestrel and Buzzards. The Peregrine was a year tick and there were two more ticks, bringing the total to 100 (still falling short of previous years).

098 Greenshank

099 Common Sandpiper

100 Peregrine

June again

Now the excitement of Lancasters and Barn Owls is subsiding, here's a review from the weekend.

Saturday 28th / Sunday 29th June

Mute Swan - still sitting on nest at Kelk Beck.

Gadwall - 21 in two groups (10+11). A very large number for summer.

Mallard - 60+ including several broods.

Pochard - drake at Gembling

Tufted Duck - 5

Quail - 1 near Kelk calling at 10.30pm (no sign during daylight on Sunday)

Grey Heron - 4 including 2 juveniles at Gembling

Sparrowhawk - 2

Buzzard - 6+

Kestrel - 5

Oystercatcher - 2

Lapwing - 5

Lesser Black-backed Gull - 4

Herring Gull - 45+

Feral Pigeon - 320+ at Harpham is an exceptional area count

Cuckoo - 1 male still calling

Barn Owl - 3

Little Owl - 2

Tawny Owl - 1

Swift - 130+ together over Kelk Lake

Yellow Wagtail - 3

Grey Wagtail - 1 juvenile at Harpham was a surprise as I have only one record from there this year, back in January.

Wablers - quiet now but occasional singing from most species.

Corn Bunting - 1 singing at regular site.

Only a few butterflies were on the wing. Ringlet being the most numerous with 40+ counted.

The Quail was the only addition to the year list:

097 Quail.

And now a few photos. First, a recently fledged Blue Tit at Lowthorpe. Young songbirds are everywhere at the moment, but often hard to see with vegetation being at its peak.

Another shot of the Barn Owl. This was incoming before the real action.

Grey Wagtail. This species suffered greatly from the harsh winters but are beginning to bounce back. However this is the first mid-summer record for a few years and, given that it's a juvenile, presumably a local breeding record.

House Martin at Lowthorpe. Rubbish photography, I know. I was playing about just trying to get one in shot, let alone in focus. On that basis I'm telling myself this is actually not too bad.

Mallard family, also at Lowthorpe bridge. To me these look very fresh out of the nest. There were another 3 ducklings just out of shot.

Until next time...

Barn Owl vs Prey vs Bob

East Yorkshire is an important area for Barn Owls and I've seen a lot of them over the years around Kelk. They're delightful to see and capture the romantic view of nature perfectly. Mostly you'll see one quartering along a hedgerow/verge or over a rough field. If you stand still you might be lucky to get a close fly past (though being in a car is perhaps more of a guarantee).

What you don't expect is what happened on mid-afternoon Saturday in the blazing sunshine - for one to land on a post just a few yards away and proceed to locate its prey, catch said prey and return to the post. All in all about 4-5 minutes of HOT BARN OWL ACTION!

Good job I had my camera.

I was watching it fly across some rough ground, assuming it would turn away when it got close. Instead it flew right at me to within six feet then banked right and dropped down on to the post next to me.

It didn't seem bothered by my presence at all. It looked at me a few times and only reacted if I made a sound, while my movement generally was ignored (I tried to be quiet / still !!!)

After a minute or so I realised it was actually hunting as it started to stare at the grass below.

Still looking...

And suddenly, BAM, it dropped down and disappeared into the vegetation. I missed the photo! About 20 seconds later it flew straight back up to the post.

After doing a little readjusting it flew off with it, presumably to a nest full of hungry mouths somewhere nearby.

Wow. Just wow.

Lancaster, Spitfire, Hurricane

Something a bit different today.

On Saturday there was a fly past of a Lancaster, Spitfire and Hurricane as part of "The Lord Mayor's Centenary Celebration" in Hull. Somewhat unexpectedly they headed north over Kelk late morning... as the snaps below demonstrate!

There are of course several WW2 airfields in East Yorkshire including the nearby Lisset Airfield (wikipedia entry) which appears to have hosted Halifax bombers rather than Lancasters.

If you've never seen the seen the memorial it's worth a look - here's a YouTube vid "Lissett Airfield Memorial to Raf 158 Squadron pt. 1: Propellers at Lissett by Novera Energy 2009".

Lancaster over Kelk 28/6/2014

Spitfire over Kelk 28/6/2014

Hurricane over Kelk 28/6/2014

I'll be back with some birdy stuff soon...