Popped over to North Duffield this lunch time, had a couple of Peregrine and a Merlin which was nice. The river was pouring over the flood defences (again) and the Carrs were rapidly filling up with water. I bet by tomorrow we'll be back to where we were in November when if first came over properly this winter. Fairly disappointing in a way as it had finally dropped to a level where it was looking good! Nevermind, I guess it gives us a shot for divers/smew etc!
Bad news today was that a birders car was broken into at North Duffield this afternoon whilst they were in the hide so please be vigilant(e). It was highly likely that the person/people breaking into the car were in a small white/cream car so please be on the lookout.
Showing posts with label Birding in North Duffield. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Birding in North Duffield. Show all posts
Thursday, 31 January 2013
Tuesday, 15 January 2013
From a snowy LDV
Well, it wasn't that bad really but a light covering of snow in the area.
As I drove home from York this afternoon I grabbed 5 minutes at each of Bank Island and Thorganby viewing platform. Both were fairly quiet though a flock of c.45 Snipe were doing circuits of the reserve and there was a good 200+ Fieldfare around. Didn't see anything unusual-looking on the water.
Thorganby was fairly quiet, though the Barn Owl was showing well again in front of the platform. Lots of Wigeon and at least 8 Shelduck visible, but again nothing really interesting. In fairness if there was, I may have missed it given the brevity of my check! I was hoping for a drake Smew sat right in front of the platform! But then I don't seem to have Tims luck!
I had a quick look off Bubwith Bridge again and this area was heaving, looking forward to the weekend when I can hopefully get some time to carefully work through all the Teal and Wigeon. There must have been 2.5/3x the number of each of these present today than my counts on Saturday, presumably a combination of some frozen areas and a reduction in water levels throughout the valley. Surely there's got to be a Green-winged Teal or American Wigeon here.... I have had both here in the past.... There was at least 6 male Pintail, several male Shoveler, more Shelduck, Pocahrd, Tufted Duck etc (again due to the quick scan these are likely to be under-estimations as I was just looking for the obvious i.e. not females!). There was a couple of Whooper and Mute Swans and a good number of Lapwing, Golden Plover, Dunlin, Ruff, Snipe and over 20 Redshank again (feeding, not roosting this time).
I hear that the 2nd winter Iceland Gull that Tim found last Saturday at Rufforth has been seen again today! That may take up some/all of my time at the weekend! I hope it's more co-operative this time round!
I didn't get any pictures today for obvious reasons, so here's one from the other day.
As I drove home from York this afternoon I grabbed 5 minutes at each of Bank Island and Thorganby viewing platform. Both were fairly quiet though a flock of c.45 Snipe were doing circuits of the reserve and there was a good 200+ Fieldfare around. Didn't see anything unusual-looking on the water.
Thorganby was fairly quiet, though the Barn Owl was showing well again in front of the platform. Lots of Wigeon and at least 8 Shelduck visible, but again nothing really interesting. In fairness if there was, I may have missed it given the brevity of my check! I was hoping for a drake Smew sat right in front of the platform! But then I don't seem to have Tims luck!
I had a quick look off Bubwith Bridge again and this area was heaving, looking forward to the weekend when I can hopefully get some time to carefully work through all the Teal and Wigeon. There must have been 2.5/3x the number of each of these present today than my counts on Saturday, presumably a combination of some frozen areas and a reduction in water levels throughout the valley. Surely there's got to be a Green-winged Teal or American Wigeon here.... I have had both here in the past.... There was at least 6 male Pintail, several male Shoveler, more Shelduck, Pocahrd, Tufted Duck etc (again due to the quick scan these are likely to be under-estimations as I was just looking for the obvious i.e. not females!). There was a couple of Whooper and Mute Swans and a good number of Lapwing, Golden Plover, Dunlin, Ruff, Snipe and over 20 Redshank again (feeding, not roosting this time).
I hear that the 2nd winter Iceland Gull that Tim found last Saturday at Rufforth has been seen again today! That may take up some/all of my time at the weekend! I hope it's more co-operative this time round!
I didn't get any pictures today for obvious reasons, so here's one from the other day.
Barn Owl from before the time of continuous rain...
Tuesday, 1 January 2013
New Year off with a Bang.
Did the traditional 1st of January birding today, though due to a late/early finish to New Year celebrations I didn't get out till almost 11! Starling was my first bird of the year for the record.
The dog walk was fairly quiet at first, however it soon picked up with Mistle Thrush, Lesser Redpoll and 20 Brambling in amongst a flock of Greenfinch, Chaffinch, Goldfinch and Linnet. All this before I'd had Robin or Wren!
After lunch I went down to North Duffield Carrs to see what was doing. It turned out to be fairly productive. There was a female-type Marsh Harrier flying around for a bit before it went North up the valley (pics below). There was 14 Whooper Swan stood out on the riverbank (the water levels had actually increased on yesterdays levels!) along with the usual wildfowl and waders (47+ Pochard, 2 Tufted Duck, 1 male Shoveler, 4 Pintail).
Ollie and Chris joined the crowd in the hide mid-afternoon and it wasn't long before I picked up a gull coming in towards the hide at a tight angle, I could make out that it was a 'white-winger' although the light wasn't great on it, luckily it came towards us and so we nipped out of the back of the hide and caught it as it carried on heading southeast. It was with a Herring Gull. I managed to get a couple of images as record-shots but I think you can just about make it out (heavy crops below)! Was having camera difficulties today. It was larger than the Herring Gull, fairly deep chested with a long bill that appeared pinkish with a dark tip! Unfortunately it didn't drop onto the reserve and just kept going, presumably towards the River Humber.
About an hour later an adult Yellow-legged Gull briefly dropped onto the riverbank but before I could get the camera on it everything took off, I didn't see what caused the disturbance, but whatever it was it was effective! With the large number of Black-headed Gulls and Common Gull roosting on the site I was hoping it would come in and join them, but there was only 2 Herring and 3 Great Black-backed Gulls in by the time I left amongst the thousands of smaller gulls.
A Little Grebe put in a brief appearance on the other side of the river, but was sticking close to the edge for the majority of the time. Two male and a female Bullfinch around the bird feeder was a nice surprise.
I ended the day on 50 species. Not bad from 4 hours of not really doing much or going very far!
Review of 2012 will come over the next few days when I can't do any actual birding!
Tim got 174 species in the York Area during 2012 so I've only got 125 species to go to beat that. EASY!
The dog walk was fairly quiet at first, however it soon picked up with Mistle Thrush, Lesser Redpoll and 20 Brambling in amongst a flock of Greenfinch, Chaffinch, Goldfinch and Linnet. All this before I'd had Robin or Wren!
After lunch I went down to North Duffield Carrs to see what was doing. It turned out to be fairly productive. There was a female-type Marsh Harrier flying around for a bit before it went North up the valley (pics below). There was 14 Whooper Swan stood out on the riverbank (the water levels had actually increased on yesterdays levels!) along with the usual wildfowl and waders (47+ Pochard, 2 Tufted Duck, 1 male Shoveler, 4 Pintail).
Ollie and Chris joined the crowd in the hide mid-afternoon and it wasn't long before I picked up a gull coming in towards the hide at a tight angle, I could make out that it was a 'white-winger' although the light wasn't great on it, luckily it came towards us and so we nipped out of the back of the hide and caught it as it carried on heading southeast. It was with a Herring Gull. I managed to get a couple of images as record-shots but I think you can just about make it out (heavy crops below)! Was having camera difficulties today. It was larger than the Herring Gull, fairly deep chested with a long bill that appeared pinkish with a dark tip! Unfortunately it didn't drop onto the reserve and just kept going, presumably towards the River Humber.
About an hour later an adult Yellow-legged Gull briefly dropped onto the riverbank but before I could get the camera on it everything took off, I didn't see what caused the disturbance, but whatever it was it was effective! With the large number of Black-headed Gulls and Common Gull roosting on the site I was hoping it would come in and join them, but there was only 2 Herring and 3 Great Black-backed Gulls in by the time I left amongst the thousands of smaller gulls.
A Little Grebe put in a brief appearance on the other side of the river, but was sticking close to the edge for the majority of the time. Two male and a female Bullfinch around the bird feeder was a nice surprise.
I ended the day on 50 species. Not bad from 4 hours of not really doing much or going very far!
Marsh Harrier putting everything up!
Marsh Harrier putting everything up!
Marsh Harrier putting everything up!
Glaucous Gull flying through (big crop of image)
Glaucous Gull flying through (big crop of image)
Glaucous Gull flying through (big crop of image)
Glaucous Gull flying through (big crop of image)
Glaucous Gull flying through (big crop of image)
Review of 2012 will come over the next few days when I can't do any actual birding!
Tim got 174 species in the York Area during 2012 so I've only got 125 species to go to beat that. EASY!
Monday, 31 December 2012
Final Bash of the Year at North Duffield Carrs
A massive flock of 800 Wood Pigeon flew low over the garden this morning which was an impressive sight, along with a few Stock Dove in amongst them. The dog walk produced a decent flock of Chaffinch but I couldn't find any Brambling today. There was a small flock of Fieldfare and Redwing about and quite a few Blackbirds. Still more Wood Pigeon went through.
I had a look at North Duffield Carrs this lunchtime to see if there was anything doing. It was fairly interesting with an adult male Peregrine putting all the Wood Pigeon and Lapwing from the valley up as it hunted at leisure. I'd estimate 2,500 Lapwing around the Carrs, with several thousand more along the valley - a very impressive sight. Quite a few Dunlin about and still plenty of Ruff and a few Golden Plover too.
Again plenty of wildfowl with the flock of 50+ Pochard still present and 13 Tufted Duck amongst thousands of Wigeon and Teal. A very nice pair of Pintail remain, but again just too far for the camera!
There was a very showy Wren close to the hide, though trying to get a photograph was quite hard amongst the vegetation, and a Great Tit popped in briefly too. As I was walking back to the car a Barn Owl gave a very nice fly-past. I just managed to get back to the car before the heavens opened!
Happy New Year to all my followers & readers, hope 2013 is good. I'll probably put my 2012 review up tomorrow if I have time.
I had a look at North Duffield Carrs this lunchtime to see if there was anything doing. It was fairly interesting with an adult male Peregrine putting all the Wood Pigeon and Lapwing from the valley up as it hunted at leisure. I'd estimate 2,500 Lapwing around the Carrs, with several thousand more along the valley - a very impressive sight. Quite a few Dunlin about and still plenty of Ruff and a few Golden Plover too.
Again plenty of wildfowl with the flock of 50+ Pochard still present and 13 Tufted Duck amongst thousands of Wigeon and Teal. A very nice pair of Pintail remain, but again just too far for the camera!
There was a very showy Wren close to the hide, though trying to get a photograph was quite hard amongst the vegetation, and a Great Tit popped in briefly too. As I was walking back to the car a Barn Owl gave a very nice fly-past. I just managed to get back to the car before the heavens opened!
Happy New Year to all my followers & readers, hope 2013 is good. I'll probably put my 2012 review up tomorrow if I have time.
Mute Swans
Mute Swans
Wren in front of the hide
Wren in front of the hide
Wren in front of the hide
Wren in front of the hide
Great Tit near the hide
Thursday, 27 December 2012
Meanwhile, back at North Duffield
Came back from the Midlands this afternoon and headed down to North Duffield Carrs to see what the water levels were like. Surprise surprise, they were up again! Garganey Hide pretty much totally submerged again!
I had a good count of Pochard, possibly one of my highest counts here and a few other species of wildfowl like Pintail etc. The following were fairly close but there was lots of wildfowl further away that I couldn't count properly.
Pochard x54
Teal x357
Wigeon x170
Pintail x4
Gadwall x6
Mallard x26
Mute Swan x9
Canada Goose x34
Greylag Goose x221
I had a good count of Pochard, possibly one of my highest counts here and a few other species of wildfowl like Pintail etc. The following were fairly close but there was lots of wildfowl further away that I couldn't count properly.
Pochard x54
Teal x357
Wigeon x170
Pintail x4
Gadwall x6
Mallard x26
Mute Swan x9
Canada Goose x34
Greylag Goose x221
Sunday, 2 December 2012
More at North Duffield
Took a walk round a frozen local patch this morning which resulted in a very interesting discovery - and not an interesting discovery for a good reason, one for a very, very bad reason, but one I'll detail tomorrow/later in the week when I have some more stuff together...
I spent a couple of hours down at North Duffield in the Geoff Smith Hide this afternoon in the hope that there may have been some decent birds down there. It didn't start well as on arrival at the site a guy had decided to show his 3 screaming kids the flood, not from the hide, no they'd jumped the fence and walked right out to the edge of it. Therefore for the first 30 minutes after they'd cleared off there wasn't much to look at!
After a while birds started to move back in but numbers were down on yesterdays totals, presumably they were widespread feeding with less wildfowling going on in the general area, and species diversity was down too, no Shoveler, no Pintail, no Goldeneye. There was an increase in Coot though with 3 now present! The good stuff to really make you glad you bothered visiting!!
Three vocal Whooper Swans flew in, two adults and a juvenile.
I spent a couple of hours down at North Duffield in the Geoff Smith Hide this afternoon in the hope that there may have been some decent birds down there. It didn't start well as on arrival at the site a guy had decided to show his 3 screaming kids the flood, not from the hide, no they'd jumped the fence and walked right out to the edge of it. Therefore for the first 30 minutes after they'd cleared off there wasn't much to look at!
After a while birds started to move back in but numbers were down on yesterdays totals, presumably they were widespread feeding with less wildfowling going on in the general area, and species diversity was down too, no Shoveler, no Pintail, no Goldeneye. There was an increase in Coot though with 3 now present! The good stuff to really make you glad you bothered visiting!!
Three vocal Whooper Swans flew in, two adults and a juvenile.
Coot Andy Walker
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