To be fair, the baggins has had a lot on his plate recently and is hereby excused for not posting a single thing on here since last summer😜😜.
Seriously though, and not that this bothers me unduly, 'tis another consequence of 'getting on a bit', that inability to juggle quite so many balls in the air at the same time without falling down legs akimbo! Whatever, 😀 Mental health re frame required for reaching the age of 60 is under construction and work is progressing on schedule!
Enough of that rubbish. Here's a few of my wildlife highlights over the festive season.
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| Me n Mikey, Bubwith Ings, 10/01/20 (pic R. Marrs) |
First off and fresh in the mind, a great day out around the
LDV (
Lower Derwent Valley) with good mates Mikey, Rob n Mark ...
A bright, crisp and sunny day, the kind we haven't had enough off this winter so far, and a joy to be out and about the floodplains.
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| Me n Mark, East Cottingwith, 10/01/20 (pic R. Marrs) |
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| Aughton church from North Duffield, 10/01/20 |
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| Bubwith Ings, 10/01/20 |
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| Wigeon, East Cottingwith, 10/01/20 |
Lots of birds around with 1000s of
Wigeon, Mallard and
Teal in the air along with smaller numbers of
Pintail, Gadwall, Shoveler and a few
Goosanders. At one point mid afternoon we reckoned on appx 7000 ducks flew over
East Cottingwith into
Wheldrake Ings
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| Wigeon, Bubwith Ings, 10/01/20 |
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| Ruff, in with Lapwing flocks, East Cottingwith, 10/01/20 |
Nowhere near the huge numbers of
Lapwing that there used to be but comfortably 2000+ and in amongst these flocks just 2
Golden Plover (disappointing) but also 4
Ruff that I took to be Golden Plovers at the time till I zoomed in on the pic .. easy mistake to make!
2
Marsh Harriers patrolling the reeds over by Aughton provided us with constant entertainment as we sat in the hide at
North Duffield, as did a single
Water Rail creeping around the scrape there, and later on at
Melbourne / Thornton Ings an even better treat - a female
Merlin speeding over Church bridge and heading south looked to be joined by another. Uncommon birds in the York area so a good record. Just before dusk there appx 30
Corn Buntings flew over towards their usual roosting spot nr
Thornton lock.
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| Marsh Harrier over Aughton, 10/01/20 |
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| Silton Forest, 09/01/20 |
Out on my own the day before I went up to
Silton Forest, a forestry commission england site near
Northallerton and on the western fringe of the north yorks moors. I was after some location shots for the new website and couldn't have picked a murkier day, but got what I went for in the end, and a pleasant walk in a pleasant forest to boot.
Not a great deal spotted -
Nuthatch, Treecreeper, Jay, GS Woodpecker, Willow Tit and a small flock of
Siskins.
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| Silton Forest, 09/01/20 |
Closer to home, my mother's house to be exact and out the back on the pond there have been up to 17
Goosanders throughout the winter so far, plus a
Kingfisher, Great Crested Grebe and in the gardens backing on to the pond
Redwings, a
Fieldfare, Bullfinches and best of all at least 3 different over wintering
Blackcaps - 2 males together a few weeks back and a few days later a male and female together. Great garden record, even managed to spot where one of them goes into roost - a neighbours acacia tree!
All
feeding on the last few Rowan berries and the fat balls of course!
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| Male Blackcap, York, 14/12/19 |
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| Redwing, York, 14/12/19 |
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| Goosander (female), York, |
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| Bullfinch (male) 11/12/19 |
This past year has been like no other for me, much change and lots of ups and downs, the first year for decades that I haven't traveled abroad and the year I decided to give up living on a caravan site. All coming together now, thank god, and planning to be away again to mainland Europe in the spring after a short trip up to Scotland next month. In the meantime here's a few more selected pics from Dec/ Jan.
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| Goldfinch drinking, Askham Bog, 01/12/19 |
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| Pintail, Wheldrake Ings, 05/12/19 |
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| Stonechat, Pocklington Canal, 05/12/19, |
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| Whooper Swans, Great Lake, Castle Howard, 09/12/19 |
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| Far Ings & Humber Bridge, 13/12/19 |
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| Far Ings & Humber Bridge, 13/12/19 |
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| Sparrowhawk, Far Ings, 13/12/19 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
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| Redwing, York, 14/12/19 |
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| Blackcap at roosting site, York, 31/12/19 |
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| Towards Wheldrake Ings from the Pocklington Canal, 31/12/19 |
Happy 2020!😃😃😃
