Bewick's Swans and Bramblings

Had a late start today, woke up to several messages/missed calls and was initially gutted I'd missed a Ring-billed Gull on the local patch, but then relieved when it turned out not to be one! Certainly lots of gulls about. One day maybe....

Nice walk at lunchtime resulted in a massive finch flock including a mixed flock of 100+ Bramling and Chaffinch. Lots of Greenfinch and Linnet and a couple of Goldfinch, Bullfinch and some Tree Sparrow and Reed Bunting. These showed really nicely, especially when they came down to the puddles to drink. Unfortunately no camera with me as I had the dogs with me!

I'd heard that two Bewick's Swans had been present at North Duffield in the early morning so thought I'd have a look this afternoon, but it was fairly quiet to be honest. There was a couple of Whooper Swans but no sign of the Bewick's. The light was a bit strange and there was a real haze making use of the scope on high power more or less impossible so some stuff may have been missed/was unidentifiable. There was two possible Scaup to the left of the hide but they spent more time underwater than above it so a bit difficult, especially with the poor visibility... a few Shelduck, Shoveler, Pintail all showed well with all the regular suspects. Several Dunlin and Lapwing were noted. A few Pied Wagtails showed nicely as they walked about on the ice in front of the hide and a Barn Owl appeared out of nowhere but was too quick for me to get a proper picture.

As dusk approached numerous gulls started to come in to roost, mainly Black-headed and Common's with a  few Herring and Great Black-backed Gulls.

I heard from Tim that there were 2 Bewick's Swans at Ellerton this afternoon, another York Area Year-tick for him!

Pied Wagtail

Pied Wagtail

Barn Owl