Yorkshire floods, early singers and bloomers, uplifting landscapes and aerial manouvers over the LDV

Up until this last w/e, as far as I can recall, up here in the north, we've had precisely 5 decent weather days since early November - someone might be bothered to check that and hey my memory ain't great, but suffice to say its bin reet gloomy up ere!



Gloomy and wet! This flood alert map for the UK was a typical scenario for any given day in the 2nd half of December and just about says it all!




A few choice flood pics later but with a stack of images around re the chaos and havoc reeked in some of our northern towns and cities, including around my home city of York, there's not a lot more I want to add.






So here we are well in January and at last a few bright days and opportunities to get out and about.
The planets are aligned (worth checking out by the way) and so too the off duties of a couple of my good mates and a day tramping around the Lower Derwent Valley brought some pleasing results ...

We met at the old Church Bridge at Melbourne to be greeted by a singing Song Thrush giving it plenty. Its been so mild of late that many birds have been tricked into thinking that it's nearly spring. I've been hearing Great Tits singing for a while now and there's many reports of Daffodils in full bloom. Skip to my footnote for an even earlier bloomer!

Anyway, back to Winter and the LDV. First off were 3 White Fronted Geese in amongst Greylags at Thornton Ings. We never get many of these relatively scarce geese around here but a few turn up every year so always good to track down.


White Fronted Geese, Thornton Ings, 23/01/16

Several Pintails flying around (prob 30ish) in amongst several hundred Wigeon  but you've gotta like Pintails! So graceful and different looking.

Pintails (male and female), Thornton Ings, 23/01/16

Pintails (2 males and female), Thornton Ings, 23/01/16

and check this out ... not the best of pics and I wouldn't normally include this one, but here's the same small flock of Pintail plus attendant Lapwings apparently stopped in their tracks by an approaching Sparrowhawk that none of us spotted at the time.

Pintail spooked by a Sparrowhawk (top left), Thornton Ings, 23/01/16

I guess that's the value of taking lots and lots of pics of flocks of birds - you never know what you might later pick out! Here's another - mainly Lapwings but if you look closer, several other smaller waders in amongst. In this case we reckoned Dunlin and all told maybe 60 in total. You can never rule out the odd Ruff or even Knot in amongst such flocks but I've scoured this pic and pretty sure they're all Dunlin.

Dunlin in with Lapwings, Ellerton, 23/01/16

A few Golden Plover flocks around too, no pics but maybe 150 or so.



Peregrine Falcon (male), Ellerton, 23/01/16

Here's a very distant pic of the culprit in the above mass take off of waders around Ellerton church, a male Peregrine Falcon that had earlier had a go at a careless but on this occasion lucky Lapwing.



















At the same location there were many many Wigeon (1000+) but not as many as on previous occasions I've been down here, but with so much flood water, Peregrines around and Saturday morning boy shooters taking pot shots at tame Pheasants (come on guys, that's such poor sport!) everything gets so dispersed. These Whooper Swans for instance had been pushed right up to the edge of the churchyard by all the shooting (they're usually way over on the far bank).

Whooper Swans (2 adults & 3 juvs), Ellerton, 23/01/16

At North Duffield we had a single male Scaup in with about 100 Pochard and 20 or so Tufted Ducks - too distant for a pic but its my first Scaup of the Winter and good to get a nice male.

Yet another great day out around the LDV!

Ok, as promised a pic or 2 of the recent floods. My home city of York plus nearby Selby and Tadcaster were all drenched with much havoc, media coverage and ...well .. wetness.! All gone now and most Yorkshire folk I speak to just don't talk about it anymore.. "Aye, its 'appened a fore, n reet as rain it'll 'appen again!"

Floods in York, Dec 2015

Askham Bog flooded, 27/12/15

Askham Bog flooded, 27/12/15




Cawood (nr Selby), 28/12/15

..and to round  things off, a few pics from the odd occasions that the sun shone over the New Year period and I managed to get out. Here's a couple of great Redwing images - I've decided that they're far easier to photograph in flight than on the ground or perched when they're sooo skittish!

Redwing, Fangfoss, 24/12/15

Redwing, Fangfoss, 24/12/15

Cot Nabb and nearby Givendale in the Yorkshire Wolds is one of my favourite places to visit and walk around when I want to just get away from it all and clear out my head, you barely see a soul out there and on this particular morning earlier this month all my relatively minor issues in the grand world scale of things were put firmly into perspective!

Cot Nab, Yorkshire Wolds, 11/01/16

Cot Nab, Yorkshire Wolds, 11/01/16

Cot Nab, Yorkshire Wolds, 11/01/16



Red Kite, Givendale, Yorkshire Wolds, 11/01/16

I know they're becoming a little ubiquitous in some parts of Yorkshire (they're all over Harrogate / Leeds area), and I know some folk (well, just gamekeepers really) have little time for them, but there's a reason why they're one of the most photographed of British birds .....


Red Kite, Givendale, Yorkshire Wolds, 11/01/16

Just as uplifting, here's the Mausoleum at Castle Howard viewed from the back way into the estate







The Mausoleum, Castle Howard, 20/01/16

  

 



Footnote
I was out on YWT duty today at Askham Bog, really mild it was and on my way out at sunset I spotted a flowering Lesser Celandine. Yes its an early flowering plant but traditionally it appears late Feb/ early March - this January 24th!

Lesser Celandine, Askham Bog, 24/01/2016

In between the wind and the rain, a majestic Sparrowhawk and a hint of early Spring in North Yorks


Well I think we're all a bit sick to death of the wind and the rain that has swept across our country over these past few weeks. Up here in Yorkshire we've escaped the worst of the damage this extreme weather has wreaked in the southwest and I wish them all well with the clean up .... surely some telling solutions will now be arrived at given that this kind of weather looks like becoming the norm.

My only hardship, a few fence panels down and a bit of water through my windows .. oh and the lack of opportunities to get out! Up until the last few days there's been just 2 or 3 days in as many weeks when it hasn't been either raining or blowing a gale!

Aargh, who am I to complain, me who's just taken 6 weeks off in Spain .... wanna guess how many times I've wished I was back there in the past month? Plenty of times! Still, in all the time I was there I never got as good a shot at a Sparrowhawk as this unexpected opportunity along the Pocklington Canal today .....

  

Female Sparrowhawk1_Pocklington Canal

Female Sparrowhawk2_Pocklington Canal

Female Sparrowhawk2_Pocklington Canal



 

Talk about a welcome committee! This was the first bird I saw after I got out of the van .... I'd parked nr Melbourne and there's a steeply raised bridge over the canal there (Church Bridge), and there was this majestic female Spar perched right on top of the bridge wall ... I stood stock still and somehow manoeuvred the camera with amazing agility for a man of my age and got a few good shots off. Best perched Spar pics ever in fact.

and then she was off..... clocked me at last!

 

The Lower Derwent Valley was thronging as usual with assorted wildfowl ... with hundreds of Wigeon, Mallard, Teal, Gadwall, Pintail & Pochard. At Bubwith I counted at least 95 Whooper Swans (a dozen or so more than last year) and from Ellerton church there were 15 Shelduck standing on the bank - a sure sign of Spring. Also at Ellerton Churchyard I met the local grave digger who told me 2 interesting things (he was obviously a birder too)... he told me that the famous naturalist Peter Scott had once stood and marvelled at the vista of the valley from this very churchyard and that when he did (several decades ago) the Wigeon numbered about 40,000! Less than a quarter of that number now ... sobering thought.

So this was one of those 2 or 3 good weather days I was talking about earlier, a bright and breezy afternoon on Strensall Common, no bird action to speak of but just to be out under a blueish sky was good enough for me!

Strensall Common_Feb2014



Strensall Common_Feb2014





Male Bullfinch_askham bog

A rare moment of brightness on Askham Bog recently and this was one of nearly a dozen Bullfinches on the reserve.

Nuthatch_moorlands

Sunday was ok too and lets hope that's it for extreme weather for a while. I working at Moorlands, one of YWTs reserves nr York - famous for its rhododendrons and azalias, it also holds one of the few breeding Nuthatches in the area. These canny, busy little birds inhabit the same kind of places as Woodpeckers and Treecreepers .... tree trunks and branches in other words, and so busy are they that photographing is never easy. Luckily my post at Moorlands is very adjacent to a bird feeding station (which these birds love) and whilst normally avoiding anything that resembles a bag of nuts or a fatball anywhere near my lens, on this occasion I make an exception for one of these pics...

Nuthatch2_moorlands

Nuthatch3_moorlands

When food is plentiful, these birds are in the habit of secreting seeds & nuts away in the crevices on tree bark and I think this is what's going on in a couple of these pics. 







Nuthatch4_moorlands

 

Nuthatch5_moorlands

There was plenty of evidence of birds establishing territorial rights, birdsong and courtship behaviour, none less so than this Robin with an insanely red breast!

Robin_moorlands



Robin2_moorlands



Singing Wren_moorlands

...... and never bet against one of our smallest birds in a full on singing contest!

mmmhh...... think this wee Wren needed a rest after that outburst!

Wren_moorlands



Last weekend was when all the Snowdrops came up around here and what a welcome sight they were too ..... these look so fresh and new, especially with a bit of sun on their tops.

Snowdrops_moorlands

Snowdrops2_moorlands

 



Crocus in local fields

...... and just today I noticed many Crocuses (or is that Crocii!?) in the fields near my house. So delicate and I think quite exotic, we would marvel at their beautiful colours if stumbled upon on a far flung foreign holiday wouldn't we?


Crocus in local fields

Crocus in fields

Enough of the bleak midwinter already ... the days are getting longer and at last there's more than flood water to photograph - not that I've recorded any footage, but with the often over the top sensation seeking news teams out on the case with their BBC issued wellies  - I think we get the picture!!

 

 

Griffons galore at the Foz de Lumbier, snow around the Irati forests, Northern thrushes mingling with warblers and a rip off camp site but at least I got a shower!



Progress , though I ain't gone far!

Posting from a public library in Arguedas because the wifi signal in the local bar here was just too feeble. I've made decent progress through Northern Spain and now find myself just outside the Bardenas Reales ... just done a quick reckie and have to say this is one of the most surreal places I've ever been! I can see now where the Spanish Steppes got their name and perhaps also where Salvador Dali got some of his inspiration! That's all to come tomorrow and for a later post so here's a bit of catch up.

The day after I last posted I woke up to a couple of inches of snow on the ground, it didn't last for long but while it did the countryside views were dazzling!

Redwing, Roncesvalles

I did't much fancy venturing too far away from Roncesvallles in case the weather got worse so I spent a morning tramping the woods again ... it was bloody freezing! One or two good birds about though, plus a Red Squirrel across the road.

Best birds of the morning was a huge flock of 300 Bramblings in the forests around Roncesvalles and some great looking Redwings, quite a few thrushes here in fact with both Song & Mistle Thrushes in amongst the Blackbirds. No Fieldfares though.







Bullfinch, Roncesvalles

Now here's a bird I've never seen in Spain before, its just a Bullfinch but hey 2 cracking males in a forest in the Pyrenees with snow on the ground and the sun coming out was just magic! Had a couple of Chiff Chaffs and a strange sounding woodpecker in the same sheltered spot..... bit like a Lesser pecker, but not quite?? We'll never know!

Chiff Chaff, Roncesvalles

Black Redstart, Roncesvalles

Black Redstarts all over the place as expected, but none more handsome than this one in the car park at Roncesvalles


　

　

　
















Eating quite a lot of this ... very nice with a hunk of cheese and some decent bread!

Chorizo Sausage

The weather cleared up in the afternoon so I headed off to my next destination - the Foz de Lumbier, one of two massive gorges around here that are said to be good for Lammegeir and Wallcreeper. No joy with either as it turned out but I did find a half decent camp site, so was able to wash and get my tackle together with some degree of much needed civilised order!



Foz de Lumbier

The gorge at Lumbier was spectacular to say the least, hence the tourists ... hence I suspect no Wallcreepers but if you like to see Griffon Vultures this is the place to come. I counted just shy of 250 on the cliffs. I had Dipper and Firecrest here too to take my species list over 100 but generally I'm finding the birds very tricky to see let alone photograph! The Griffons were reasonably easy though ... so I filled my boots!

Here's a couple of the Gorge itself ..







Foz de Lumbier





Griffon pose ... some say these are the ugliest birds going?

Griffon fly past

Perfect metropolis for Griffons!

Griffon fly past2

Griffon fly past3

Griffon party ... almost a caption contest here!

Like I said, the Griffons were easy ... perched around on the cliff faces and floating over the gorge all of the time.



Camp site cost me close on 40 euros for 2 nights ... yes I had electric hook up but still that's a bit steep I thought for what must be low season, got charged VAT, some other 10% tax ....felt ripped off and it was some time before I regained my normal cheery self!



En route ... somewhere in the Navarre!

At some point the sun came out as I was driving and as luck would have it I was passing some lovely looking cliff faces and outcrops in the Navarre ... surely the prettiest part of the Pyrenees...













Next up was Las Canas, a wetland area just outside of Lograno. Not a bad little spot and I had some good birds there, just a shame it drizzled all day and with black clouds overhead the light was appalling ..... too bad, I had cracking views of 2 male Hen Harriers, so good in fact I could see the bright yellow legs on one when it conveniently perched in the middle of a stubble field (with hindsight I should just have forgotten it was dusk and taken a picture anyway because I didn't see 'em again the next day!). Not processed any pics from the last 2 days yet but with this gloomy light and persistent drizzle I'm not expecting much.

New birds for the trip here were Lesser Short Toed Larks .... stack of them (200 I reckon), Woodlarks (20+), Red Crested Pochard, Merlin and some probable Citril Finches but they do look so vedry much like Siskins!

I'm in good spirits, and so I should be ... what a wonderful adventure I'm having and its only lack of time and opportunity to post that prevents me from including more of my experiences over here. Maybe I need a camp site with wi fi access so I can sit down and do this from the van.... ah the luxury of that thought!