Good Birding at Potteric Carr

Went to the Natural Art Open Day at Potteric Carr Yorkshire Wildlife Trust Reserve today which was good fun. There was some amazing artwork on display which was great to have a look at. I got a couple of really nice limited edition prints of an Osprey and Bittern from Mike Bowman Images which I'm really pleased with. Check out Mikes website - highly recommended.

Whilst at the reserve I thought it only polite to have a little look around to see what I could find, however the first stop, as usual was the cafe. This actually paid off as due to the lack of seating inside I was forced outside onto the park benches. No worries I could bird while enjoying my cup of tea. Assorted tits and finches moved through the vegetation towards the bird feeders and the smell of a Sparrowhawk was in the air. However it was due to being sat outside that I found bird of the day - as a juvenile Iceland Gull flew low overhead, straight over the cafe!

A short walk around the reserve resulted in a very showy Great Spotted Woodpecker that was incredibly vocal high in the treetops (phone photo below).


Great-spotted Woodpecker (phone-scoped)


Great-spotted Woodpecker (phone-scoped)

However highlight was a very showy Kingfisher that caught a couple of fishes in front of us. Unfortunately it was sat in the dark under a bridge so I wasn't able to get a brilliant shot but the following gives an idea.


Kingfisher (phone-scoped)

I got home in time for a quick blast to Bubwith Bridge to see if I could scope anything off there in the fading light, a large flock of Wigeon and Mallard were on the river, a Barn Owl hunted a distant field and another Kingfisher flew down the river.

A great weekend!