The start of a brand new year and we all hope that by the end of it things will look significantly better and that Covid 19 will be under control and we can all get back to some sort of normality.
In common with a lot of birders I like a list - garden, local patch, life list etc, but when it comes to the year list (number of birds seen in a calendar year in any given area / location) I always lose interest after a month or two, possibly because I usually have a foreign trip on the horizon, the ultimate distraction methinks! But with no oversees travel for the foreseeable I've resolved to keep a UK tally this year. I have a couple of birding mates who do the same and its a good bit of competitive fun but some birders take it very seriously indeed - check out Bubo Listing and look at some of these guy's (and it is predominantly men) life lists if you are in any doubt about that.
Here we go then - short days, lockdown rules, wet and windy weather - welcome to 2021! Here's my January round up.
Hovingham, 03/01/21, a circular walk around South Wood.
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| South Wood, Hovingham, 03/01/21 |
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| Coal Tit, Hovingham, 03/01/21 |
Love this part of the Howardian Hills and all the more lovely on a crisp and bright winter's day. I stood and watched about 25
Goldcrests and attendant tit species roaming through the woodland above, heard a
Tawny Owl but was really after a
Goshawk which do frequent the area. Earlier I happened across a rather nice clump of
Velvet Shank fungi.
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| Velvet Shank, Hovingham, 03/01/21 |
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| Green Sandpiper, Southcliffe Common, 07/01/21 |
Southcliffe Common - 3 trips in the first half of the month to this SSSI and recently discovered area for me south of Market Weighton, one with my good friend Rob, produced some interesting birds including a
Green Sandpiper flushed out of a drain, several
Woodcock, a
Great White Egret, 2
Barn Owls, 2
Green Woodpeckers and at least 2
Marsh Harriers.
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| Southcliffe Common, 04/01/21 |
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Barn Owl, Southcliffe Common, 04/01/21
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| Marsh Harrier, Southcliffe Common, 07/01/21 |
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| Southcliffe Common, 07/01/21 |
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| Carr Dyke Drain, Southcliffe Common, 12/01/21 |
Lower Derwent Valley / Pocklington Canal - several visits, hampered slightly from mid month by seasonal flooding that left a number of my favourite haunts inaccessible.
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| Floodwater pouring onto Thornton Ings, 21/01/21 |
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| Thorganby, 06/01/21 |
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| Bank Island / Wheldrake Ings, 16/01/21 |
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| Greylag Geese, Thorganby, 06/01/21 |
All the usual wildfowl suspects were still viewable though with thousands of
Wigeon &
Teal interspersed with
Greylag &
Pink Footed Geese and smaller but very respectable numbers of
Pintail, Gadwall, Shoveler and
Tufted Duck.
Best of all for me was a flock of 37 Ruff on the floodwater at Bubwith and a further 16 at North Duffield on the same day in with Lapwings and c40 Dunlin.
Easily my highest ever count of over wintering Ruff in the LDV and great to see.
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Lapwing, Ruff & Dunlin, North Duffield, 16/01/21
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| Ruff, North Duffield, 16/01/21 |
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| Ruff, Bubwith Bridge, 16/01/21 |
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Fieldfare, Thorganby, 06/01/21
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With the fields within the valley totally submerged most of the
Fieldfares and
Redwings seemed to have departed for higher ground but still a few around and about and when the light is good they're one of my favourite birds to photograph ....
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| Fieldfare, Thorganby, 06/01/21 |
North Cave Wetlands - two visits (10 & 22/01/21. Got my first Pochard, Redpolls and Green Woodpeckers of the year plus another Green Sandpiper on the 22nd. 2 Ruff and a Marsh Harrier also on the 22nd were other highlights and these slightly comical pair of Tufted Ducks made a good image.
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| Tufted Ducks, North Cave, 22/01/21 |
Castle Howard estate - Ray Wood / Great Lake to Easthorpe and back. 23 days into the year and got my first
Treecreeper, Nuthatch and
Great Spotted Woodpecker (2 of them). No pics of any but one of a small flock of
Lesser Redpolls feeding on some of last year's Willowherb seeds came pretty close and made for a nice image.
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| Lesser Redpoll, Castle Howard, 23/01/21 |
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Peregrine Falcon, Troutsdale, 25/01/21
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Troutsdale (25/01/21) - a walk along the top of Troutsdale from Cockmoor Hall towards Wykeham Forest. Looking for a
Goshawk but no joy but did get my first
Peregrine of the year, a big flock of c200
Chaffinches and a nice hovering
Kestrel against a clear blue sky.
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Kestrel, Troutsdale, 25/01/21
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| Oystercatchers, Fraisthorpe, 26/01/21 |
East Coast (26/01/21) - Flamborough, Buckton and Fraisthorpe beach. Tempted by a reported flock of over 170
Lapland Buntings at Buckton I was tempted to travel further than I perhaps should have done. I dipped out on the Laps and got a parking ticket at Fraisthorpe beach for my efforts (serves me right but lets say no more about it😞). The beach was the best with my first
Red Throated Diver, Ringed Plover and
Sanderling of the year, and then a poke around Bridlington harbour for a
Purple Sandpiper and ended up with 14 of them!
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| Ringed Plover, Fraisthorpe, 26/01/21 |
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| Ringed Plover, Fraisthorpe, 26/01/21 |
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Purple Sandpiper, Bridlington harbour, 26/01/21
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| Purple Sandpiper, Bridlington harbour, 26/01/21 |
A walk in the Yorkshire Wolds around the Drewton Estate on the 30th produced at least 4 Bramblings in amongst a monster finch flock of Chaffinch (c200), Goldfinch (c200) and Greenfinch (c50) then on the last day of the month I added Skylark and Grey Partridge around my old stamping ground at Fangfoss Park to end the month on 109 bird species - none too shabby that😀
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