About time...

Managed to get out birding a bit this weekend, just around the North Duffield Carrs area. Didn't go further afield and was mostly on foot.

On Sunday I had 4 Peregrine Falcon sightings, possibly all different birds. The highlights were one (a male) over my garden and one over the reserve that nailed a Pigeon after a couple of attempts after I'd picked it up circling at quite a height. There was also a fair bit of Buzzard displaying going on on Sunday, watched 4 birds roller-coasting over the garden and had another 4 birds about 2 miles south of the village. Also had a pair of Kestrel displaying over the garden. Looking forward to my House Martins returning soon, in 2011 they arrived on the 23rd, so could be any day now...

There was still a single Pink-footed Goose present on the Carrs, in with some Greylags. Also had a first-winter Glaucous Gull. I seem to always get Glaucous Gull at NDC in the late winter/early spring, think that's at least one in each of the last four years. They are probably fairly frequent if you bother to look for them (which I don't).

It was nice to see/hear a number of waders coming back to breeding grounds, e.g. Oystercatcher, Lapwing, Redshank, Curlew etc... Still lots of ducks around, Pintail, Wigeon, Teal, Shoveler, Gadwall, Mallard. They are looking quite nice now, possibly even worth looking at for 5 minutes.

Unfortunately it started dumping it down with rain and the visibility went just as dusk came so no sign of any owls or the Bittern that was reported earlier in the weekend.

Bittern at North Duffield in November 2012 (Andy Walker) Details here.

Over the previous week I'd had several flocks of Fieldfare and Redwing all flying north or east, presumably heading back over to Europe to find somewhere to breed.

I had my first singing Chiffchaff of the year last weekend (16th), three near Kirkham Priory as I enjoyed a nice walk along the river.

I'm busy sorting out my preparation for birding trips coming up this year....

In May I shall be spending two weeks in Taiwan - the main target being Fairy Pitta, those who know me know how much I love seeing members of this family! There's also 20 odd endemics to get my claws into and a ton of potential armchair-ticks due to the number of very distinctive sub-species, just a matter of time!

In November I'm going to be having a bit of a big trip to Australia, will be spending time birding in South Australia, then in Queensland. I'll be birding in some great habitat with some great people so can't wait for that, will be visiting Adelaide, Brisbane, Cairns and a whole lot of forest, bush, desert, sea and jungle in between. I really cannot wait for this trip. I hope to get another Pitta on this trip, Noisy Pitta but to be honest even the Pittas may get eclipsed by some of the other birds/families... Bowerbirds, Riflebirds, Honeyeaters, Fairy-Wrens, Albatrosses and a huge list of Parrots and relatives! Should be ok I think! Warning, I may not come back...

Will try and fit some local birding news in over the next couple of weeks too.... Got a couple of good book reviews coming up too... when I can fit them in.

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!

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!