Garden day

A lovely day here in the North Yorks Moors. I spent the day recovering from recent travelling by lazing around at home. Siskin were singing in the garden and good numbers visiting the trees and feeders, a Tree Sparrow put in an appearance, at dusk two Long-tailed Tits were on the peanut feeder at the front. Chaffinch numbers are still quite high at 50 or so and Yellowhammers abound. Also of interest were 3 or 4 Small Tortoiseshell, the Large White, however, was released by the girls from their bedroom collection of pupae.

A Roe Deer was in the field below the house.

The large Slowworm found last week was found dead yesterday. Ellen named it Slither and spent half the morning carrying it around before making a garden home for it ....

On the road ... rail, plane, taxi, bus, tube etc

No posts and no posts, WhitbyBiriding has been on the road. A no birding trip to London and adventures northward with little opportunity for birding (mega dip on a nearby Snowy Owl which I didn't even try for - shame). Nice flocks of Long-tailed Ducks though.

Niger getting eaten

During much of the winter the Niger feeders have not attracted much interest but as spring is springing, the green shoots emerging, the Niger is being gobbled again. Chaffinches mostly but a few Siskin are now visiting regularly. Goldfinch continue to be very few and far between.

Ah, just seen a Jay from the window, 100 for the year.

In the autumn I omitted to report a Marsh Tit feeding on Niger. Ignoring the tasty peanut feeder nearby and the sunflower seeds around the back a Marsh Tit went five consecutive times to the Niger feeder, clearly took a seed, perched up in the tree and holding the tiny seed with its feet clobbered it in the usual style until it got the edible bit out. Not seen before or since but of interest I thought.

Yorkshire Bird Report 2006 published

The latest Yorkshire Bird report is now out and about.
£10 + £2 P&P to non-members from the following address. (Free to YNU members, £25 per annum, membership enquiries to: Mr J. A. Newbould, Stonecroft, 3 Brookmead Close, Sutton Poyntz, Weymouth, Dorset, DT3 6RS.)

Snow gone for now

As soon as the snow was on its way into the gutter birds began to sing. Song Thrush was singing at Runswick Bay on Monday and at home on Tuesday, today there were three singing in the morning. For a bird that I've not seen or heard around the garden for weeks their sudden emergence is interesting. Have these Song Thrushes come in or have they been skulking around all the time?

Also bursting into song around home were Mistle Thrush on Tuesday and Blackbird on Wednesday.

The Yellowhammers are no in evidence continually around the back garden feeders. They were absent until the beginning of last week from the New Year. Just before the New Year I only saw or heard the occasional bird for some weeks. This is the first time since 2005, when we arrived here, that this species has absented itself for any length of time. Did they know the snow was coming and move to lower ground?

Tree Sparrow has also reappeared although a little more sporadically, there was one on the feeder at the back this morning.

However, Marsh Tit has now disappeared. Having been so evident since the autumn there is now no sign of this species in the garden. Interestingly the Atlas site I covered yesterday, and have made the occasional visit to recently has also suffered an exodus of this species. Perhaps there is now sufficient natural food around and they don't need to lurk around the garden either here or at the Atlas site (where they were also found near feeders).

Lots of questions, not many answers.

I've had a few instances recently of Lesser Spotted Woodpecker reported in unlikely locations. I think these are misidentifications but .... It's always difficult to know what to do about these records, going to check them out is not usually fruitful with this species. I don't think this is a hard species to ID but maybe I'm just complacent. I haven't seen this species for quite a number of years now, I seem to have stopped bumping in to them. Yesterday's Atlas site looks perfect for them but after many visits at appropriate times of the year, no sight and more pertinately no sound.

Can't say, won't say

Red Grouse in the snow

Impressionistic Red Grouse in flight

This morning I went somewhere by car, a bit of a way, and saw some birds.

Unfortunately due to the vulnerability of some species and the prejudiced and ignorant attitude of a very few of the shooting fraternity (who sometimes monitor this blog) I can't say more than that.

This afternoon following up a bit of information from Louise I checked out another possible Barn Owl site. Nice, prolonged views of a hunting bird were obtained by all.

Most of the 696 Lapwing and 7 Golden Plover standing on ice,
The tyre crop is coming along well, organically grown too, we'll be harvesting soon so drop me a mail if your tread is running slim

Frozen Scaling Dam held 5 Goosander today (3 males and 2 females), not common here. There were 696 Lapwing and 7 Golden Plover standing on the ice. Duck numbers were otherwise severely reduced with only 7 Tufted for example. The now miserably miniscule gull roost held but 150 Common Gulls, 50 or so Black-headed Gulls and 22 Great Black-backed Gulls.

More Common Gulls in the dale today, c300 than in the Scaling roost

Barn Owl extravaganza

On the way home yesterday by another route due to birthday mission a Barn Owl was hunting at a new site.

Today after doing the Spa gull roost and Sandsend gull roost - no result. Decided to head back to yesterday's Barn Owl site, and found two more at another site on the way.

Over at Coastguards there is still a single Velvet Scoter, 40 or so Common Scoter, a flock of 18 Eider + another 15 or so, 2 Red-throated Divers, 3 Guillemots and assorted Shags and Cormorants.

On the cliff top there were a good assortment of waders including 38 Lapwing, 35 Golden Plover, 3 Ringed Plover, about 50 Curlew, 4 Redshank and about 100 Oystercatcher. There was also a sizeable Fieldfare flock of at least 160.

On the way to work ....

... this morning a Barn Owl distracted me. I stopped the car and watched. The owl headed off up the field so I tried to head off to Whitby. Er, car not moving. Engine working - check; in gear - check; large sheet of black ice - check. I rolled gently down the hill backwards, the way I'd come and tried again and off I went to work.

Things were rather serious on the way home; where's the road gone? Lots of white stuff falling. Taking a bend out of Whitby somewhat injudiciously I found myself going back into Whitby again. No car not that way! Amazing how quickly that happened, it was a rather graceful spin - clearly I'm no McRae. I did manage to drive all the way home though, thanks to the thoughtful folk who had put half a beach on one particular hill.

More fun than birding?

Blogging again

Late yesterday p.m.

Please excuse the temporary disruption in service as my work interfered for the last few weeks. Hopefully the usual frequency of reporting will now be restored.

Well it's snowed a bit hasn't it? Looking at North Downs and Beyond it seems to have snowed very considerably "down South" whilst we have escaped relatively lightly, excluding last Monday and yesterday when there was some fairly significant precipitation.

Front garden at midnight, moonlight shadows

Driving home on Friday afternoon / evening a possible Woodcock flew in front of the car on one stretch, some ten minutes later on pulling up to reverse into home a definite Woodcock flew from the small wood by the road and over the house.

Yesterday's snow brought a Stonechat to within feet of the garden but it made neither the "seen from" or "within" lists as I couldn't get back into the garden fast enough to tick it - tetrad tick for me though.

The long absent Yellowhammers returned to the garden last weekend and yesterday and today there have been up to four at a time. Other absentees seen recently have been Tree Sparrow, one and Siskin, four yesterday.

Today Blackbirds have flooded in to the food with 16 at one point.


The local magazine, Valley News, brings to light a body I seem to have been oblivious of somehow; Upper Esk Valley Wildlife Group. Now I must make contact with them as they are publishing some interesting records that I seem to be missing. Anybody have a contact for this group?

Work, work, work, Glaucous Gull, work, work

Not a Glaucous Gull

Far, far too much working to be done at the moment. All today and tomorrow, well allish. I nipped out at lunchtime but no Waxwings in the gardens or decent gulls in the harbour. However, the Spa gull roost beckoned at tea time and I shot out again for a short while. Small gulls close inshore, all Black-headed or Common. A few Eider were beyond the suicidal surfers who were attempting a harbour wall incident. A distant Gannet joined the year list and Guillemot amongst the gulls did the same. 19 Eider in all and a Red-throated Diver. Then I started to scan the more distant big gulls and oh, ho ho, what's this big, boyant high in the water, white wing-tipped beast; tis a first winter Glaucous Gull. Having confirmed the id at some distance I drove up to Caedmon Avenue and bang opposite the roost searched through again. The quarry was on the wing and eventually flew a few feet over my head - camera in car for some reason. Well chuffed I returned to the grind-stone.

Mad moorland birding

Lovely morning yesterday so I decided to nip up on the moor.

It was a bit icy around us but seemed ok.

Halfway up the very steep road to the moor top I was beginning to question my sanity as the road was covered in frost, ice and some snow. Fortunately the trusty winter tyres did their job and the Fiesta got to the top. The less fortunate VW that had tried to go down a neighbouring route, I could see from the top, was way off the road - rather lucky it stopped where it did another metre or so it would have rolled a long way.

The top road was just pure ice and snow. Eventually the site was gained but it was all a bit still. Of the four target species none were confirmed, though two were maybe distantly heard. However, a beautiful morning.

I'm reverting to my youth ....

Well it would be nice to have the vigour.

I went twitching again yesterday. News of Rough-legged Buzzard not 25 minutes away and a sunny and available afternoon was sufficient motivation. Following my current good run in respect of the twitch, I got my gear out of the car, just about got organised and picked the bird up coming in from behind and had pretty decent views for about three or four minutes before it disappeared in to the distance. A drive further up the appropriate dale allowed me to reconnect and I enjoyed another hour of very good views. At one point a Common Buzzard appeared and for five minutes or so the two species were hunting together allowing rather nice comparison of structure, behaviour and jizz..

On the way home, whilst enjoying the harrowing drama documentary of the Piper Alpha tragedy on Radio 4, I dropped in at Lockwood Beck, another vice county site I'd not been to before. 4 Pochard and about 7 Goldeneye were the highlight here.

Chatting and listening to birders at these two sites was a rare experience as these days I'm usually in the field on my own. A theoretical second R-l B was proposed by one observer, today proven correct. Birding holidays in exotic but cold locations made me somewhat jealous. A proposed Black and White Warbler in someones garden last autumn made me wonder what they were on.

My listening pleasure interrupted again by this birding business as a further stop was required at the recently neglected Scaling Dam. Not too much reward for the effort but in excess of 500 Lapwing and a late forming and rather diminutive gull roost of about 250 Common Gulls and a scattering of the three other commoner species. I soon retreated to the warm environs of the homestead, having missed the end of the drama - I'll dig it out on Listen Again.

Bill paying

A nip down to the garage to pay the bill :-( produced Nuthatch singing in the tree opposite and two or three Marsh Tits by the river. On my return home there was a Marsh Tit in the garden , absent since the turn of the year. Sparrowhawk raided the front feeders scaring a Treerat on the feeders so much it froze for over a minute, now if that had been a Gos you'd have been toast my son.

Waxwings, maybe

Rushing out of work earlier than usual to collect offspring some Starling like jobs flew over the car. They weren't, they were almost certainly Waxwings. I was short of time and it was gloomy but Starlings rarely look brown and do that spread tail thing. There were more, I glanced at 50 m.p.h. in the big tree by the Victoria Garden Centre. I'll take my bins tomorrow, perhaps I'll have lunch at The Stables (pub on that junction). Looked like there were quite a few.

If you do one more thing today ...

My personal position is I will never go birding (that means visit) Israel until there is an equitable peace agreement that is lasting. Click here to protest the behaviour of the Israeli state.

Russell's new book

Russell's new book is about to be published, reserve your copy here.

Stonechat at last

"He'd better hurry up with that photo or we'll all topple over!"

It had been quite a while since I'd seen a Stonechat but on Saturday the familiar call caught my ear across the beach, where succeeded in photographing Oystercatchers beside a very sloping sea and a quick scan brought the species on to the year list.

I spent a few hours around the east side of Whitby relocating the Velvet Scoter by the coastguards, seeing the reduced Common Scoter flock, admiring a very fancy drake Eider in the inner harbour and a good number of his peers offshore and then moving on to Saltwick where amongst other things like a single Red-throated Diver offshore, there was the afore mentioned Stonechat. I searched for the Chiffchaff unsuccessfully and then having warmed up in the Coop spent a bit more time mooching around the harbour.

Herring Gull (1st winter) on roof of pickup


Carrion Crow, for once obligingly tame.

GB-bG 1st winter in colourful surroundings, Whitby

Having been sent some superb photographs of a Chiffchaff (maybe a tristis) from Starr Carr near Scarborough (thanks Dave) I had a browse of the Birdguides picture archive looking for definitive tristis. Many labelled tristis but few convinced and surprisingly few had been heard to call. I think I'd better dig out the BB article and see what it says. This does seem to be a form that we are still struggling to pin down (so to speak). The call should nail this id but of course this individual failed to call - unlike the Chiffchaff I found beofre New Year at Saltwick, there was no doubt to that id.

Here's a slightly odd Chiffchaff call from Hawsker in the autumn. You'll have to turn the volume up somewhat - bit of a rubbish recording, sorry.

Twitching

The twitchers

The twitched (the bird directly behind the Carrion Crow)

Ok, there's a proper picture of it here.

I know why I don't often do this, it seems more like stamp collecting than birding (no doubt I'll be in trouble for that remark). However, part of me likes to see a rare thing occasionally. I can excuse myself with my interest in gulls and not having seen this species before, how could I find one if I don't know what to look for?

The Glaucous-winged Gull was smaller than I expected, the tertial step was not as pronounced as I expected and the bill was not as heavy as I expected. At rest and at range it was hard to be certain always that the primaries were indeed grey rather than black. The dark, blue, grey mantle was distinctive and allowed the bird to be picked out at range. The tertials formed a very broad white band on the closed wing and in flight the grey rather than black primary tips were very evident. An interesting bird. I should have been more patient and waited at the ploughed field further in to the afternoon as it later gave very good views there, but I spent about an hour sifting through the gulls there and wanted to see other things. Other nice birds of the morning were Little Egret, a flock of Black-tailed Godwits, Red-breasted Merganser and I heard Spotted Redshank. I somehow managed to avoid any other interesting gulls except a leucistic Herring Gull (well that's what I thought it was) that roosted briefly with the G-wG.

Interesting twitcher moments - someone shouting repeatedly that they had it in flight when my understanding was it was half a mile way at the time. This caused a stampede of twitchers and then considerable bewilderment. Shortly after this the word was spread quietly that the bird was elsewhere, this resulted in one of the most thoughtless and stupid pieces of driving by one individual, a grey Renault Megane estate to my recall. This individual needs help, seeing the bird is not more important than the life of the many birders on foot between yourself and the bird, let alone other road users. Rather sad, as everyone else I came across was polite, friendly and helpful.

No visit to Teesmouth is complete without a ride on the Transporter Bridge (note the sign)

I then went to a place I've never been before, South Gare. The most north-easterly bit of vice county 62 (North Yorkshire). There were Sanderling and delight, Grey Plover, a bird I see most infrequently.

Sanderling

The South Gare, looking south to Kettleness (I think) in the distance

Song Thrush

Turnstones

So yesterday I go along to Runswick Bay and just about the first bird I see is Song Thrush, then Grey Wagtail ..... Rock Pipit was heard but briefly though.