Sunday 9 December 2012

Weekend Birding LDV: Whooper's and Waxers

Minimal effort with a fairly decent return this weekend! Starting with today first.  Had a flock of 9 Snipe flyover the garden this morning and a skylark was singing too. Then this afternoon, just as the sun was setting I got a message letting me know there was a small group of Waxwing in Escrick, so I shot across with my camera in the hope that I'd be able to grab some quick shots before it got dark.  Unfortunately they weren't in the berry bush and had moved to a distant tree and were sat in the top of it! So I could only manage the following record shots:

Waxwing © Andy Walker

Waxwing © Andy Walker

Waxwing © Andy Walker

Waxwing © Andy Walker

Waxwing © Andy Walker

Yesterday afternoon I popped across to the Geoff Smith Hide at North Duffield Carrs to see if there was much on the floods. In the couple of hours I was there I had a single Marsh Harrier, female Scaup, several hundred Lapwing, 7+ Ruff, several Pintail, Shoveler amongst all the common usual suspects.  With the water still right up to the base of the hide it meant that several birds were much closer than usual (e.g. Mute Swan and Mallard), there was a family party of Whooper Swans that came fairly close and another group flew north towards Thorganby.

The main highlight here however was whilst I was watching a field full of waders (Golden Plover c350, Lapwing c400, Dunlin c30, Ruff c15) and Starlings c750+ and Fieldfare c200, just as the sun was setting a Peregrine Falcon shot low over the car I was sat in and started to hunt the waders about 10 feet in front of me, I got spectacular views as the bird looped round making several attempts at the waders, as they all took to the air.  The Peregrine picked out a lone Lapwing away from the main flock some 500m away and went careering off after it.  It made a few dives at the Lapwing which dived out of sight into some scrub near Bubwith Bridge.  Breathtaking stuff leaving me regretting my camera being in the boot of my car! Next time...

Mallard © Andy Walker

Mallard © Andy Walker

Mallard © Andy Walker

Mallard © Andy Walker

Mute Swan © Andy Walker

Mute Swan © Andy Walker

Whooper Swan © Andy Walker

Whooper Swan © Andy Walker

Whooper Swan © Andy Walker

Whooper Swan © Andy Walker

In my last post I mentioned I'd got some bad news, that will wait for a while until I have a few more things in place.
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6 comments:

  1. Zing's LDV9 December 2012 at 20:27

    Really chuffed you posted these last pics we sometimes take the common stuff for granted but they look stunning in the light.Cheers

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  2. Andy9 December 2012 at 20:58

    Thanks Zing, yeah the Mallard looked particularly impressive in the late afternoon sun yesterday!

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  3. northernloon9 December 2012 at 22:19

    Easy to forget. As I commented to a mate on Wednesday, the Cormorants sunning themselves at Angler's were far more impressive than the American Wigeon

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    Replies
    1. Andy10 December 2012 at 18:27

      Yeah you're right there! I think the light on the Mallard above makes it look really smart!

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  4. Andy Kiz10 December 2012 at 12:09

    Nice one Andy, where did you see the Ruff, golden plover etc? Will have to call down soon if im ever home when there is light!

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    Replies
    1. Andy10 December 2012 at 18:26

      Hi Andy, I know that feeling! Roll on April! The ruff and GPs were all in the field next to the car park, though there was also Ruff and Lapwing along the river bank in front of the GS hide

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