Winter thrushes in Fangfoss, harsh winds, early snow and a broken lens!

Snow on the Yorkshire Wolds, from Fangfoss Park 01/12/17

Not that we're breaking any records nor that I'm in any way complaining but blimey its got cold early this year...harsh winds, frost and snow and it's not officially winter for a week or so!

I don't mind the cold too much.. get wrapped up, hats and gloves and all that, but I do mind slipping and dropping my rucksack and then discovering that my Canon 400m lens took the brunt ..ouch! Took me a week or so to find out but after image after image came out blurred I made the connection😭. Its away to the menders for a barrel realignment and I decided to get the front glass element replaced to sort a niggling little scratch. Net result - £411 and a wait of 3 to 4 weeks but still cheaper than a new lens. I miss it like I'd miss my right arm, had a few quiet grumbles but I'm over it .. it'll feel like getting a brand new lens back with all the servicing these optics firms throw in for free😜😛

So before the lens broke I took advantage of some crisp winter sunshine at both ends of the day around my local patch and got some pleasing pics of the many Fieldfares and Redwings that descended en mass last month.

Redwing, Fangfoss Park, 06/11/17

Fieldfare, Fangfoss Park, 06/11/17

 

Redwing, Fangfoss Park, 16/11/17

Redwing, Fangfoss Park, 16/11/17

Fieldfare, Fangfoss Park, 25/11/17

Fieldfares, Fangfoss Park, 06/11/17

400+ each of Fieldfares and Redwing plus scores of Blackbirds, Song & Mistle Thrushes have been typical over the past few weeks plus many large finch flocks, 300+ Golden Plover and several skeins of Pink Footed Geese overhead.

Pink Footed Geese, Fangfoss Park, 06/11/17

I'm lucky to get regular sightings of Grey Partridge around the fields here, absolute devils to photograph but I got reasonably lucky with this little grouping out of a covey of 16.

Grey Partridge, Fangfoss Park, 06/11/17

Away from Fangfoss (I haven't been far!) this Nuthatch was a pleasing shot at the Arboretum during the Hawfinch twitch.

Nuthatch, Yorkshire Arboretum, 06/11/17

During a walk with my good friend Mikey and mad dog Ivy on Sand Hutton Common we had an amazing 3 Peregrines flying over together - never seen anything like that away from a nest site, plus a Corn Bunting and a flock of c80 Skylarks, and down by the river Derwent on Low Catton Ings I had a great view of this Barn Owl.

Barn Owl, Low Catton Ings, 03/11/17

 We had a 'super moon' this month and so bright was it when it rose over the Wolds it looked like the sun rising!

Super Moon rising over the Yorkshire Wolds, 03/12/17

.....and finally, a pic I meant to post last month a nice Green Woodpecker on Strensall Common I stalked for ages and one of my local Kessies.

Green Woodpecker, Strensall Common, 30/10/17

Common Kestrel, Fangfoss Park, 30/11/17

Hawfinches irrupt into the UK!

Hawfinch on Yew tree, illustration

A natural event is currently taking place across Britain that is genuinely exceptional, and rather exciting for anyone with an interest in birds. Every birder, me included, is well aware of the difficulty of finding and seeing a Hawfinch. One of the scarcest of British breeding birds, a fleeting glimpse of one of these big beaked, shy and beautifully plumaged finches is normally all we birders can expect, but over the past few weeks many 1000s have been spotted ..its a proper 'irruption'! 

Hawfinch sightings across the UK, 25/10/17

Hawfinches are birds of tall tree-tops or root clusters where windfall fruit seeds gather.

Those hefty beaks powered by strong jaw muscles can exert pressures that make cracking cherry pips and even olive stones a cinch. Mass movements of this kind or 'irruptions' are usually associated with dwindling food sources in a bird's native land as per Waxwings (been a few of those about too) and this may well be the case here but another theory has been gaining credence for this unexpected influx - remember that storm Ophelia? Paul Stancliffe at the British Trust for Ornithology, explained how, in many years living on the Isles of Scilly, he could count on one hand the hawfinches he saw. Last weekend there were 70. “Birdwatchers in southern Britain have enjoyed an influx of this large finch, almost certainly courtesy of ex-hurricane Ophelia. “While this huge storm was spinning anti-clockwise off the west coast of Europe, it was sucking a stream of warm air northwards towards Britain, and presumably, hawfinches, too. “The hawfinches are likely to be birds heading from breeding woodlands in Central Europe to the Mediterranean, but were then pushed towards our shores.” (Paul Stancliffe talking to the Daily Express, 22/10/17)

Hawfinch, East Lancashire, 27/10/17 (pic c/o Jen Coates)

Hawfinch, Poole, 01/11/17 (pic c/o Brian Whally)

They've now spread right across the country with scores of new daily records. Fantastic but I still haven't seen one! Hope to remedy that tomorrow with a trip to the arboretum at Castle Howard where there are a reported 50 or so. I 'll post pics if I get anything decent but as well as the one above here's a few more of these big billed and elusive finches that have been seen up and down the country.

Hawfinch, Sandy, Beds, 31/10/17 (pic c/o rspb images)

Hawfinch, Cotswolds, 03/11/17 (pic c/o Richard Tyler)

I'll get my lens on one soon!