Northern swan hunting in the floods of the Derwent Valley

 

A fine day yesterday and a perfect opportunity to procrastinate yet again over my Xmas shopping and pop out for a couple of hours to the Derwent Valley in search of Northern swans. I'd heard there were a few Berwick's Swans in the area, these days the scarcer of the 2 species that arrive in our country from the near Arctic circle.

I decided to head out from the Bubwith bridge end along the narrow strip of river bank still above the flood water simply because it looked so inviting .... almost surreal walking out there with the light  being so good.

With so much flood water about though the wildfowl in the valley are spread far and wide so I knew it would be a stroke of luck to get what I was after, a nice close 'fly past' of Berwick's Swans ..... and as far as that particular species was concerned I was not in luck. In fact this was more of a pleasant walk than a serious birding trip. Wigeon and Teal were the most numerous ducks with maybe 200 or so of each visible and there were 20 or so Pochard about but everything very distant. I did have 6 Redshank nr the bridge plus a flock of about 50 Golden Plover in the sky. A passing Buzzard looked good in the sunlight and the Barn Owl was once again daytime hunting near the Geoffrey Smith hide.

 

There were several small groups of distant swans about but too far off to identify without my scope but I did have one Whooper Swan that slid off the bank about 100 yds away. It moved away fairly sharpish and a bit far away for a decent shot but my first of the Winter and the highlight of my little trip across the floods.

Otters and Ice at Tophill Low

Have to say that I've been struggling to get out of bed and get out there with the old binocs and camera of late and I'm not sure why to be honest . The weather has been good, the light 'brilliant' and for sure there's been things I've missed! ..... maybe its because I've been indulging a bit too much in late night cricket from India or maybe it's because wherever I choose to go lately I get turned back due to flooded roads .... maybe it's a seasonal thing, I don't know, suffice to say I haven't been at my 'up and at em best of late!

Ok, moan over!

Gull roost at TopHill Low

I took a trip out to TopHill Low nature reserve earlier in the week. Its a place I used to frequent fairly regularly when I was working out of East Yorkshire and having many a fond birding memory of the place I decided to pay a long overdue visit.

It's a bit of an odd reserve in that it's owned and I think managed by Yorkshire Water and with 2 huge reservoirs plus associated drinking water extraction plant on site it makes for an interesting juxtaposition with the surrounding wetlands alongside the River Hull. The reservoirs themselves hold many wildfowl and roosting gulls in the Winter, thousands of hirundines and regular tern species in Spring / Summer and when they drain the reservoirs every 5 years or so some spectacular numbers of waders in the Autumn. The surrounding reeds and woodland are complimented by several hides that overlook the half dozen or so well managed lagoons and both the river and surrounding fields are good for birds. Otters have been seen here very recently and even made the local news - Otters flooded out of home (a family party had been seen the day I was there) All in all it's a cracking spot and well worth a visit .... oh yes and one of my twin daughters, Sophie has worked there on and off for the past year or so as a volunteer and therefore contributed to it's marvellous upkeep!

Winter view of one of the Lagoons at Tophill Low (pic courtesy of Ian Traynor)



Drake Pochard

I only had a couple of hours there but managed a few good shots, especially of this drake Pochard as I peered over the reservoir wall. There were upwards of 800 Wigeon plus Tufted Ducks, Gadwall, Mallard and good numbers of Teal (c 400). A flock of about 60 Curlew was a good record and I also had a couple of Redshank. Plenty of Fieldfares and Redwings about busily feasting on the still abundant berries but still not got that 'gripper' of a shot of either - this is the best I could do before my fingers started to freeze up! (Fieldfare 1st pic, Redwing 2nd)

Of course it's much easier to take pictures of the berries that these thrushes were feeding on than of said birds themselves!!












If I'd been at the reserve a bit earlier I might have been lucky and got some pics of the Otters ..... here's some pics from the reserve's blog that I suspect were taken the same day I was there. It must have been some sight to see both adults and cubs slitherin across the ice!