Saturday 9 December 2017

Winter thrushes in Fangfoss, harsh winds, early snow and a broken lens!

Snow on the Yorkshire Wolds, from Fangfoss Park 01/12/17
Not that we're breaking any records nor that I'm in any way complaining but blimey its got cold early this year...harsh winds, frost and snow and it's not officially winter for a week or so!

I don't mind the cold too much.. get wrapped up, hats and gloves and all that, but I do mind slipping and dropping my rucksack and then discovering that my Canon 400m lens took the brunt ..ouch! Took me a week or so to find out but after image after image came out blurred I made the connection😭. Its away to the menders for a barrel realignment and I decided to get the front glass element replaced to sort a niggling little scratch. Net result - £411 and a wait of 3 to 4 weeks but still cheaper than a new lens. I miss it like I'd miss my right arm, had a few quiet grumbles but I'm over it .. it'll feel like getting a brand new lens back with all the servicing these optics firms throw in for free😜😛

So before the lens broke I took advantage of some crisp winter sunshine at both ends of the day around my local patch and got some pleasing pics of the many Fieldfares and Redwings that descended en mass last month.

Redwing, Fangfoss Park, 06/11/17
Fieldfare, Fangfoss Park, 06/11/17
 

Redwing, Fangfoss Park, 16/11/17

Redwing, Fangfoss Park, 16/11/17



Fieldfare, Fangfoss Park, 25/11/17
Fieldfares, Fangfoss Park, 06/11/17
400+ each of Fieldfares and Redwing plus scores of Blackbirds, Song & Mistle Thrushes have been typical over the past few weeks plus many large finch flocks, 300+ Golden Plover and several skeins of Pink Footed Geese overhead.






Pink Footed Geese, Fangfoss Park, 06/11/17
I'm lucky to get regular sightings of Grey Partridge around the fields here, absolute devils to photograph but I got reasonably lucky with this little grouping out of a covey of 16.
Grey Partridge, Fangfoss Park, 06/11/17
Away from Fangfoss (I haven't been far!) this Nuthatch was a pleasing shot at the Arboretum during the Hawfinch twitch.
Nuthatch, Yorkshire Arboretum, 06/11/17
During a walk with my good friend Mikey and mad dog Ivy on Sand Hutton Common we had an amazing 3 Peregrines flying over together - never seen anything like that away from a nest site, plus a Corn Bunting and a flock of c80 Skylarks, and down by the river Derwent on Low Catton Ings I had a great view of this Barn Owl.
Barn Owl, Low Catton Ings, 03/11/17
 We had a 'super moon' this month and so bright was it when it rose over the Wolds it looked like the sun rising!
Super Moon rising over the Yorkshire Wolds, 03/12/17


.....and finally, a pic I meant to post last month a nice Green Woodpecker on Strensall Common I stalked for ages and one of my local Kessies.

Green Woodpecker, Strensall Common, 30/10/17

Common Kestrel, Fangfoss Park, 30/11/17

Sunday 5 November 2017

Hawfinches irrupt into the UK!

Hawfinch on Yew tree, illustration
A natural event is currently taking place across Britain that is genuinely exceptional, and rather exciting for anyone with an interest in birds. Every birder, me included, is well aware of the difficulty of finding and seeing a Hawfinch. One of the scarcest of British breeding birds, a fleeting glimpse of one of these big beaked, shy and beautifully plumaged finches is normally all we birders can expect, but over the past few weeks many 1000s have been spotted ..its a proper 'irruption'! 



Hawfinch sightings across the UK, 25/10/17
Hawfinches are birds of tall tree-tops or root clusters where windfall fruit seeds gather.

Those hefty beaks powered by strong jaw muscles can exert pressures that make cracking cherry pips and even olive stones a cinch. Mass movements of this kind or 'irruptions' are usually associated with dwindling food sources in a bird's native land as per Waxwings (been a few of those about too) and this may well be the case here but another theory has been gaining credence for this unexpected influx - remember that storm Ophelia? Paul Stancliffe at the British Trust for Ornithology, explained how, in many years living on the Isles of Scilly, he could count on one hand the hawfinches he saw. Last weekend there were 70. “Birdwatchers in southern Britain have enjoyed an influx of this large finch, almost certainly courtesy of ex-hurricane Ophelia. “While this huge storm was spinning anti-clockwise off the west coast of Europe, it was sucking a stream of warm air northwards towards Britain, and presumably, hawfinches, too. “The hawfinches are likely to be birds heading from breeding woodlands in Central Europe to the Mediterranean, but were then pushed towards our shores.” (Paul Stancliffe talking to the Daily Express, 22/10/17)

Hawfinch, East Lancashire, 27/10/17 (pic c/o Jen Coates)
Hawfinch, Poole, 01/11/17 (pic c/o Brian Whally)
They've now spread right across the country with scores of new daily records. Fantastic but I still haven't seen one! Hope to remedy that tomorrow with a trip to the arboretum at Castle Howard where there are a reported 50 or so. I 'll post pics if I get anything decent but as well as the one above here's a few more of these big billed and elusive finches that have been seen up and down the country.





Hawfinch, Sandy, Beds, 31/10/17 (pic c/o rspb images)


Hawfinch, Cotswolds, 03/11/17 (pic c/o Richard Tyler)
I'll get my lens on one soon!

Wednesday 11 October 2017

Migrants arrive in numbers on the east coast

Them migrants are back! .. not Syrians, Ethiopians or Poles and not looking for work in the vegetable fields, just birds migrating from north to south at this time of the year and using the UK as a handy stop off point on the journey down. The map on the right shows the main migration routes for Eurasian birds that choose to head south for the winter and although it excludes Greenland & Iceland (where many of our wildfowl & pipits head in from) it's clear that the UK is handily placed to experience this annual event.

At this time of year and when the winds are anywhere from the east (NE, SE or just east) anywhere along our eastern seaboard can be a potentially good spot to see migrant birds that have been blown a bit off course.

'Viz mig' at Spurn, 20/09/17

By all accounts, this year when compared to last, has been a bit underwhelming in terms of 'star' rarities but there have been a few, most of which I've dipped out on😒 but no matter, I've seen plenty of commoner birds migrating on my 4 or 5 trips out to the Yorkshire coast this autumn. 'Viz Mig'  (visible migration) is a term birders use for observing / recording overflying birds that are heading south in the autumn and whilst most common or garden birders can do a bit of this with familiar birds like Swallows, Swifts, Meadow Pipits & various Thrushes and Finches, on the coast its much more obvious. The 'Viz Miggers' at Spurn point bird observatory do a splendid job of this all the year round and posted left shows a typical example of what they get up to all day long .. its a life and they get it!









Red Breasted Flycatcher, Spurn, 27/09/17 (pic c.o. Johnny Holliday)
Been a few of these beauties up and down the east coast so far this year including this eye catching one at Spurn, its a splendid male Red Breasted Flycatcher and how I managed to miss out on this bird when I was there and the bird was showing well is a story I can only admit to my mates.... hey ho there you go, that's what happens when you decide to walk the point to the end and back (7 bloody miles in total from my campsite..in wellies too!)

Anyway, feast your eyes on this gorgeous looking thing - in the hand and awaiting to be ringed. They breed in across central Asia/ eastern Europe and small numbers regularly land on our shores every autumn. I've seen half a dozen or so but never one as dazzling as this individual.



Yellow Browed Warbler, China
Yellow Browed Warbler, Spurn, 19/09/17 (pic c.o Ian B)
Now here's a bird that hails from even further away than the above and yet we get more and more of them in the UK every year, the iconic Yellow Browed Warbler. A common breeding bird in the Urals, Siberia and China, they traditionally winter in southeast Asia but over the past few decades increasing numbers of these tiny birds seem to have found alternative wintering grounds in western Europe and northern Africa. When you look at the distances involved, plus the not insignificant hurdle of the Himalayas, this all makes sense for some of these birds, but compared to the hundreds, if not thousands, of autumn records across northern Europe, there are only a handful of winter records from the Iberian peninsular and northern Africa. So where do they all end up? Its the kind of mystery all birders love and if you're interested here's one of several decent articles on this 'migration bird swerve' move! Siberian Vagrants - yellow browed warbler


Got my first Yellow Browed at Flamborough last week, sadly no pic but got a great eyeful through the bins .. they're quick moving, not much bigger than a Goldcrest, and shyer so I'll not whack myself too much for never having got a decent pic ... it's all in the challenge!

Back at Spurn and my trek down to the point and back I saw plenty of the common migrants on show ...Whinchats, Chiffchaffs, Willow Warblers, Robins and several Redstarts including this confiding individual that had maybe just made landfall and was tired.
Male Redstart, Spurn Point, 27/09/17

Male Redstart, Spurn Point, 27/09/17
 Right down at the end of the point there's an RNLI station and associated accommodation (now disused) and here I saw another couple of Redstarts including one on an old bird table .. only at Spurn!

It seemed to be a day for getting pics of migrant birds in unusual places or perched on various man made artifacts .. I do like a slightly unusual bird pic! Here's a few more plus a few of the 'usual'









 
Whinchat, Spurn Point, 27/09/17

Spotted Flycatcher, Peter Lane, Spurn, 27/09/17

RNLI houses, Spurn Point


Spurn Point from the air (Alamy images)

European Robin, Spurn point, 27/09/17

Northern Wheatear, Spurn Point, 27/09/17
Northern Wheatear, Spurn Point, 27/09/17
I missed this one but its still there as I speak, so that's today the 10th Oct.
Rose Coloured Starling (juv), Easington, 29/09/17 (pic c.o. magnus anderson)
 .. and this one, long gone now!
Marsh Warbler, Spurn, 24/09/17 (pic c.o. steve valentine)
















Spotted Flycatcher with dragonfly, Spurn, 27/09/17
..and a few others but I'm not that bothered, 'twitching' still doesn't come naturally to me! I saw a Spotted Flycatcher catch and eat a dragonfly, a Merlin hunting on the beach and Med Gulls in the mist at Spurn. Seen 100s of Pink Footed Geese fly in from the north and land right in front of me on Hatfield Moor, and then heard a Willow Warbler singing briefly in the car park at the same place. I've watched Redwings and Blackbirds fly in off the sea at Flamborough, got a great eyeful of a Yellow Browed Warbler and then more of the same just the other day on a birding trip out with one of my daughters, Sophie ..that was a real treat and we got some good birds including Fieldfare, Ruff, Brambling, Yellow Browed Warbler, Blackcap and more passage Redwings & Blackbirds. Today (Oct 10th) I've had more passage over Fangfoss - Pink Footed Geese, Redwings, Song Thrush, Skylarks and a female Blackcap. No 'twitching' required to make me happy, though like I said a decent YB Warbler pic would be the icing on my autumn birding!


Here's them geese on Hatfield and a few more pics from my recent trips out.

Pink Footed Geese over Hatfield Moors, 06/10/2017

Pink Footed Geese over Hatfield Moors, 06/10/2017

Pink Footed Geese on Hatfield Moors, 06/10/2017


Blackcap, Buckton, 09/10/20127

Brambling, foghorn station, Flamborough, 09/10/2017

Brambling, foghorn station, Flamborough, 09/10/2017

Ruff, Buckton pond, 09/10/2017
Whinchat, Flamborough headland, 29/09/17
Stonechat, Flamborough headland, 29/09/17

Knots landing, Spurn, 27/09/2017


Monday 18 September 2017

A reminder of Summer, Duke of Burgundy butterflies, uncommon wild flowers, wild camping and a Greenish Warbler 'lifer'

Can't remember such a personally 'low key' summer as this for many a year and although I've never felt much 'get up and go' when it comes around to July & August (too much cricket on the radio for one thing!), this year my get up and go just got up and went! Not helped at all by the fact that my passport to midweek breaks away in the UK - the camper I bought last year, turned into a right money pit and certified vehicle from hell!👹...Completely lost faith in the old thing in the end and sold her for a song. Its a Hymer for me next methinks, a bit pricey but completely reliable I'm told and that's what we want.

Giant Bellflower, Rifle Butts Quarry, 05/07/17


Anyway, net result is that I haven't been out of Yorkshire since Mull in the spring so not a great deal to crow about (hence the lack of blog posts recently), so just local bits and bobs. A lot of wild flowers and butterfly pics that I've only just got around to sorting (how slack am I?!😞)....Ah but we keep on snapping away, so as the first autumn storms begin to blow in, here's a little reminder of sunnier, warmer days....










Clustered Bellflower, Rifle Butts Quarry, 05/07/17













 2 Bellflower species at one site, both new to me and had to get the id book out for both and then on the way out of the reserve and kind of growing by the roadside I see this strange plant which at the time I took for some kind of hybrid Sunflower / garden escape. Turns out to be Elecampane and it is indeed a member of the Sunflower family, and a well known remedial herb. Quite unusual for the Yorkshire Wolds I think.

Elecampane, Rifle Butts Quarry, 05/07/17

Selfheal, Bolton Percy Station, 30/06/17


Another medicinal plant and another reserve I hadn't visited, the rather more common Selfheal at Bolton Percy Station, along with Musk Mallow and then a few other pretty blooms that caught my eye in the summer that's now well on the way out ...



Musk Mallow, Bolton Percy Station, 30/06/17








Yellow Loosestrife, Askham Bog, 25/06/17

Bethany, Newton Dale, NY Moors, 18/07/17



Pyramidal Orchid, Rifle Butts Quarry, 05/07/17


Marjoram, Rifle Butts Quarry, 05/07/17
Common Cranesbill, Fangfoss Park, 07/07/17


Bloody Cranesbill, Rifle Butts Quarry, 05/07/17
Marbled White, Rifle Butts Quarry, 05/07/17
Gorgeous colour on that Bloody Cranesbill at Rifle Butts Quarry, a great little YWT reserve that I hadn't been to before. At the same reserve and at nearby Kiplingcoates Chalk Quarry I was treated to some delightful views of Marbled White butterflies, most I've ever seen in one day with 15- 20 all told. Some pics here along with a few other choice butterflies..
Kiplingcoates chalk quarry, 05/07/17


Marbled White, Rifle Butts Quarry, 05/07/17

Marbled White, Kiplingcoates, 05/07/17

Ringlet on Field Scabious, Askham Bog, 25/06/17

Large Skipper on Bloody Cranesbill, Rifle Butts Quarry, 05/07/17

Small Skipper, 03/07/17, Fangfoss Park
Red Admiral, Askham Bog, 20/08/17

Gatekeeper, Askham Bog, 16/07/17

Brimstone on Purple Loosestrife, Askham Bog, 13/08/17

Brimstone, Askham Bog, 13/08/17
Campsite, Sutton Bank, 01/06/17
 Back in June I went overnight camping with a couple of mates nr Sutton Bank. This has become an annual event for me - a spot of wild camping, wildlife watching and midnight music, this year we took in one of the few places in the north of England where you can still see Duke of Burgandy butterflies. All pics courtesy of Jez Ballantyne....


Wood collecting!

Duke of Burgandy, Hawnby, 01/06/17

Duke of Burgandy, Hawnby, 01/06/17
A 'lifer' butterfly for me and I want to see some more so lets hope this little North Yorks stronghold continues to thrive.... oh and the tea room at nearby Hawnby is a little slice of heaven to die for on a sunny afternoon in the NY Moors!

Corn Bunting, Fangfoss Pk, 26/06/17
Very local to me here at Fangfoss I was very pleased to add bird species number 92 to my patch list, a single Corn Bunting perched on telegraph wires just outside the campsite.

Granted they're not the world's most attractive bird but they get scarcer every year and along with Turtle Doves and Yellow Wagtails they seem to be the least able to cope with modern day intensive farming methods.

Not so my local Common Buzzard population, loads of them around here and its rare for me to lift the lens to them anymore but this one was carrying a big Brown Rat back to the nest!




Common Buzzard with Brown Rat, Fangfoss Pk, 21/06/17
Not a heap load of other decent bird records / pics over the summer but with our resident and summer visitors all preoccupied with breeding, feeding and raising young there's always something going on!

Redstart (male) feeding young, Newtondale, 13/06/17
I volunteer to do a Turtle Dove survey every year in the NY Moors and although we drew a complete 'nil point' in our section we did record a successful breeding pair of Redstarts. Rubbish pic, shady light and felt shady intruding in there, but here's the male who was continuously bringing grubs back to a couple of Redstart fledglings.
















Spotted Flycatcher, Strensall  Common, 23/08/7
5 Spotted Flycatchers all together in one little feeding group on Strensall Common was a non too shabby record, wasn't sure if these were early passage or local 'young 'uns' spreading their wings ...nice to see either way.

Spotted Flycatcher, Strensall  Common, 23/08/17
Juv Common Whitethroat, Newtondale, 18/07/17
And here's a few more young birds from earlier in the year that happened to find themselves unwittingly photographed!


Juv Grey Wag being fed by parent, Thornton le Dale, 12/06/17
Same juv G.Wag having a fight with a feather ..aw bless!
Juv Reed Bunting, Thornton Ings, 25/06/17























Juv male Common Kestrel, Fangfoss Park, 18/08/17


This young male Common Kestrel terrorized the living daylights out of the fledgling Barn Swallows that were hopping about in the trees next to my caravan, as well as every other living thing in the field opposite .. here he is on a hay bail after catching a mole.







Juv male Common Kestrel, Fangfoss Park, 18/08/17










Common Swift heading south, Fangfoss Park, 23/08/17

No idea to be honest if this is a youngster or not but a later than normal departure of Common Swifts seems to have been a theme within local birding circles this year. This one was late Aug but I had odd ones up until Sept 7th and other birders around here are still seeing them. Climate change .. blah blah blah!


















Greenish Warbler, Bempton, 01/09/17


All set now for Autumn migration on the east coast; it's already underway after a slow start with a good smattering of good birds turning up on the Yorkshire coast - Red Necked Phalarope, Pectoral Sandpiper, Long Billed Dowitcher, Icterine Warbler, White Winged Black Tern, Wryneck & Rose Coloured Starling at Spurn and Greenish Warbler, Great Shearwater, Barred Warbler and an early Lapland Bunting on the headlands around Flamborough and RSPB Bempton. I made an effort for the Greenish Warbler as I'd never seen one and got a 'so so' pic