Northern ducks fill the skies in the Lower Derwent, early Spring flowers along the Foss and handsome Fieldfares pulling up worms!

Hallelujah, bright skies and normal weather makes a return! This Monday in my part of the world was just the most perfect early Spring-like day, so good that I even submitted my first ever pic to Paul the Weatherman (local tv news station) ... it didn't get selected but for your delectation here it is... some lovely Hazel Catkins hanging in the sun.


Hazel Catkins, River Foss

Should've shot some Daffodill pics! More images from that glorious day later but hey we've been a bit spoilt with nice weather days lately and so I took full advantage of a few spare hours last week to pop into Wheldrake Ings now the floods have receded.

One of Northern England's finest wetland areas, I've posted about this place and the Lower Derwent Valley several times in the past so no need to dwell on it's qualities, and on day of my trip out the place certainly delivered, nothing spectacular in terms of species, just the normal throng of wildfowl, wader and gull mayhem!



Black Tailed Godwits, Wheldrake Ings.

Dodgy pic out of the way first and a rubbish image it is too but the birds aren't ... a couple of Black Tailed Godwits on the last day of Feb potentially and surely scouting out the nesting possibilities.




















Northern Shoveller, Wigeon (front) & Teal (back)

It was as thrilling as ever to see plenty of northern ducks still filling the skies and feeding up on the flood plains of the Derwent. I'm typically slapdash about recording flocks of birds at places like Wheldrake but made an effort with the Wigeon on that day (Feb 28th) and reckoned on about 2700. They were the most numerous I guess, along with Teal (c 2000), Mallard (c1500), Shoveller (c400), Pintail (c250), Tufted Duck (c250), Shelduck (25), Pochard (c40) and Goldeneye just 4 ... bored with the numbers yet? I am a bit too so here's a few pics ...

Mainly Northern Shoveller, plus a Wigeon (bottom left)



Gadwall

Loved the way these 3 Gadwall came out. Not sure I've ever got a better image of these grey cousins of our familiar 'quack quack', the ubiquitous Mallard.


















Male & Female Northern Shoveller

My attempt at a similar close up of Shovellers by way of some heavy post shoot 'cropping' produced a much less sharper image (looks like a digi scope pic!) but I like the way the lens has caught the diametrically opposite wing beats of male and female ...

Male Northern Pintail, Wheldrake Ings

The Pintails, though plentiful, were not flying anywhere near my camera so, as usual, had to make do with a long range effort ... I must get to grips with these beauties before they depart!

Nothing of else of note on the Ings, a cursory glance at the 1000s of gulls coming into roost revealed no white winged species. Precious few waders about apart from Lapwings, 10ish Curlew, the odd Golden Plover and a couple of Oystercatchers.

A smattering of Redwings and Fieldfares occupied the riverside trees and a couple of  calling Willow Tits was a good record.








The light was great for most of the afternoon and even at 4.00pm this Grey Heron flying over was looking splendid!

Grey Heron, Wheldrake Ings

As were these wonderfully turned out Mute Swans

Pair of Mute Swans, Wheldrake Ings

So that was February then, now back to that glorious Monday morning start to the week .....I'm so lucky to be able to take advantage of the relative quiet out in the countryside during the week and it would have been a crime not to be out on such a day so I ditched my planned chores, enjoyed a few moments of smugness as I drove and watched a few late commuters rush into work, and headed off for a stroll down the River Foss nr Strensall Common and ended up finding a previously undiscovered (to me) back way onto the Common itself. Look it was such a lovely Spring day that I'm gonna stop blabbing and let my pictures do the talking.

River Foss at Strensal

Red Dead Nettle, River Foss



Lesser Celandines, River Foss
 

Particularly like the composition on these Celandines ... some flowers just seem to arrange themselves so nicely!!

Alder Tree catkins



Small Tortoiseshell, River Foss

... and with the flowers come the butterflies again, like this rather ragged looking Small Tortoiseshell, one of three I saw along the bank and my first of the year.









Crossing the river and skirting the edge of Strensall Common I came across a big flock of Fieldfares and was totally bewitched to hear one singing in the sunshine from the top of a tree. Took a shed load of pictures some good, a couple really good ...great light and it really showed some of them off! .... here's 6 of the best.

Fieldfares at Strensall

Fieldfares at Strensall

Fieldfares at Strensall

Fieldfares at Strensall

Wow a Fieldfare in flight, exploding from a tree and just about in focus!! All these winter thrushes ... Redwings, Blackbirds and Song Thrushes are gathering in fields now, feeding up before they head back up to Northern Europe. This particular flock of maybe 250 strong were pulling up and devouring worms like their lives depended on it .... which of course is the truth of the matter!

Fieldfares at Strensall

Fieldfares at Strensall



Long Tailed Tit with nesting material



Making my way back the same way there was yet more evidence of the changing seasons .... Long Tailed Tits in the hedgerows, already paired up and gathering nesting material for their intricate ball shaped houses, and Great Spotted Woodpeckers doing their courtship drumming and occasionally resting a while for the purpose of getting their faces on some blog!



Great Spotted Woodpecker, River Foss

Shelduck breezing in

It may not be officially Spring yet but my oh my it's felt like it on 2 or 3 days recently and that day by the sheltered River Foss, feeling the heat on the back of my legs,  I was reminded of warmer climes and far away places .... such a dreamer!!



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!!

 

 

Shaking off my post Spain blues and hanging with a couple of good guys in Goshawk territory!

Hasn't it been dismal with all this wet weather of late! I guess up here in North Yorks we're just getting our share of what the West country has had to cope with for weeks now, so fair do's. Judging by the footage I've seen of the flooding on the Somerset Levels we're getting off lightly ... for now!

None of this squally weather and dismal skies has helped my post Spain trip state of near hibernation of course and work has been nr impossible out on the reserves I cover so a planned trip out with a couple of friends of mine was very welcome. So I met up with a couple of top guys and fellow nature nuts Mikey and Robin, and despite the predictably dodgy weather forecast, we were after spotting the elusive Goshawk. We had a cracking good day ... saw the Gos (well 2 of us did ... never mind Rob, come again in Spring!), had a few other good birds but most of all it was just good fun, easy going, like minded, blokey type fun.

Now at this point I'd like to be basking in dubious glory over you drooling over a fab Goshawk pic like this one perhaps


Northern Goshawk

..... but of course both you and I know that's just an image of this magnificent hunter lifted from Google images (shot in Korea of all places) not Wykham Forest, nr Scarborough on a misty murky Monday morning! Nae worries, I'm confident of a decent pic soon enough -  now that I've got the lie of the land; the one we saw briefly as it flapped lazily down the valley wasn't dissimilar to the above and judging by the paucity of footage of wild Goshawks, they're tricky to capture - good job we like a challenge!

This bird is steeped in folklore - North American Indians called it the 'Grey Ghost' and of the few 'non falconry' clips of this highly evolved predator go here's a couple of the best
 
Rabbit v Goshawk - slightly gruesome but hey that's nature

Aerial skills of the big Gos! - a Chris Packham special, minus Michaeala Strachan (big shame)

In a sense that was 'mission accomplished', yes we'd have liked another view of the Goshawk or the other target bird Crossbill, but we decided to cut our losses and head over to Scarborough to see the long staying juvenile Great Northern Diver in the harbour there. Pity the bird was half asleep and way off from the harbour but here's a decent enough record pic

Great Northern Diver, Scarborough.

Just as well Rob was on hand to take some close ups ... even if the subjects were most definitely not beautiful birds!

Clocking the Great Northern Diver in Scarborough



Who knows what we were laughing at, maybe it was the surfer?

Scarborough Surf ....is he mad?!

..... have to say that's a nice beard Rob .... living where you do though, best shave it off before spring in case a Meadow Pipit decides to snuggle in and nest in it!


Goodbeard Rob!

Walking around the harbour looking for Purple Sandpipers we encountered a very inquisitive Turnstone and all took pics .... hardy wader the humble Turnstone, cocky and adaptive, they're the master seashore scavengers.

Turnstone, Scarborough harbour



Turnstone, Scarborough harbour

The Redshanks weren't as brave, sheltering under the harbour wall ...  very nearly lost my footing trying to get the right angle to capture this one. Looking good though, very resplendently red legs on this 'spring ready' male

Common Redshank, Scarborough harbour

I was rooting for a Purple Sandpiper here but hey we got Goshawk and Great Northern Diver on a squally day with little sunshine, so who am I to complain ... bonus birds included a Common Snipe flushed from Scalby Mills that with hindsight did seem quite small (mmhh!) and a nice Kingfisher on the mere as we were searching for a reported Firecrest there (no joy), and decent flock of 200 or so Wigeon in the bay at Scalby Mills ....

Wigeon, Scarborough bay.

  .....and one of my favourite pelagic birds, Fulmars - getting it on and acting decidedly matey on the cliffs. Yes Spring is but a February breath away and many birds, beasts n flora are gearing up for Spring .... Daffodil, Crocus and Snowdrop shoots already coming up for a look see and can't wait for Spring!

 



Fulmars getting it on, Scarborough

Cracking finch flocks, a confiding woodpecker and some crisp winter sunshine eases the post Spain blues

After my travels in Spain I have to admit I'm struggling a wee bit with my 'get up and go' as far as local nature trekking is concerned and quite frankly feel a bit 'birded out', but with a trip up to Wykeham Forest in the offing soon and hopefully a chance of Crossbills (a bird I've never photographed before) and maybe even a lucky Goshawk or 2 if my guide is up to the challenge .... (no pressure there then Mikey!), I'm slowly getting back to grips with a Yorkshire winter and easing my way back into work. Already champing at the bit for another trip away somewhere!




Common Buzzard mob, Elvington 2nd Jan 2014

Meanwhile, I've done my best to make the most of the few good weather days up here in Yorkshire and a recent trip to Elvington Woods, nr Wheldrake Ings, produced a few good finch flocks, Fieldfares and, Mistle Thrushes in the fields, Skylarks overhead and the daily mobbing routine of the local Buzzards by Carrion Crows ...














Stacks of Bullfinches about too but not enough males posing for my camera and great to see my first Whooper Swans of the year at Wheldrake too ...  too distant for my lens alas.

My home from home at Askham Bog though has once again come up with the goods with all the common winter visitors ... Redwing, Fieldfare, Goldcrest, Siskin, Redpoll, Marsh & Willow Tit all showing well plus a relatively confiding Great Spotted Woodpecker .....

Great Spotted Woodpecker, Askham Bog



Great Spotted Woodpecker, Askham Bog

There's a Kingfisher here too at the moment offering fleeting views as it darts along the drains and dykes... sneaking up on it and getting a decent pic will be a challenge (especially as I'm likely to be working!)

Siskins have been relatively abundant on the Bog recently and although they race through the Alders, a few tarry and provide the odd good shot ....

Siskin, Askham Bog, Jan 2014

Siskin, Askham Bog, Jan 2014

Common Redpoll, (male) Strensall Common

Not as crisp as either the weather over the last couple of days or those lovely Siskins at Askham, these pictures of Redpolls are just typical of the ones I've seen recently ..... half hidden, top of the trees, but always entertaining! These were on Strensall Common today and part of a flock of 60 or so.

Again plenty of Bullfinches with at least 10 seen along with a big flock of about 200 Chaffinches and a similar number of Fieldfares... all a bit quiet apart from that though.



Common Redpoll, (female) Strensall Common





Common Redpoll, Strensall