A Busy Day at North Duffield

North Duffield was the place to be today it seems, in the local area anyway. However, I was a good couple of miles away on a dog walk when it got going...

Got a phone call from Jono "Osprey at north Duffield, sat on a post". Argh.... I was two miles away, on foot having just been enjoying watching a vocal Willow Tit with the dogs. A very quick walk/jog back and quick race across to the reserve. No sign! It had flown off about 2 minutes before I got there and possibly gone down behind some trees.... luckily after 20 minutes of constant scanning I picked it up heading back towards us. We had it for a good 20/30 minutes flying around. Eventually I lost it in a cloud as it gained height. Jono got a decent photo of it when it was sat on the fencepost - check his blog out for it sometime soon.

After enjoying the Osprey a Little Egret flew in to the reserve and fed for a while on the floods. There was plenty of ducks about, surely a Garganey or better out there somewhere... however by this point I needed some caffeine so headed home where I had a Yellow Wagtail fly over the garden.

Not long after lunch I got a message from Elaine from the village letting me know there was in fact a Garganey out there, a drake showing well, but I had to see if I was to become a millionaire first... I wasn't, so I headed back to the hide. A short wait and the drake Garganey flew in and continued to show very well for a good half hour - I got a couple of photos on my phone (below). There was a lone breeding plumage Black-tailed Godwit on the floods that looked very smart and a Lapwing in front of the hide. [There was actually a minimum of 5 Garganey in the LDV today - probably lots more hiding in the floods too]

I left to watch a pair of Gadwall get ringed, just after I'd left a first-winter Iceland Gull flew in, bathed briefly before flying southeast and two Swallows also flew through but I didn't see those either. Things are picking up....

Garganey North Duffield Carrs (IPhone-scoped)

Garganey North Duffield Carrs (IPhone-scoped)

Garganey North Duffield Carrs (IPhone-scoped)

Garganey North Duffield Carrs (IPhone-scoped)

LapwingNorth Duffield Carrs (IPhone-scoped)

Osprey on the patch!

Well, Russ patch really.

This afternoon I was meeting Russ to go to do a dusk survey so thought I'd have a quick look off Thorganby viewing platform, which is more of his local patch than mine to be honest. I gave it a good scan for a few minutes and soon picked up on a huge bird heading low my way - OSPREY! I took great joy in notifying Russ that I'd just found an Osprey on his patch (once I'd definitely ruled out Great Black-backed Gull). Luckily he got down in time to see it as it gained height rapidly before vanishing in front of our eyes.

I managed a couple of typical-quality phone-scoped pictures of it in flight (below).  This is my second local Osprey this spring which is great. Nice to find one too, and have someone else see it! Unfortunately some of the local year-listers  missed it, but hopefully for them there'll be another one...

Osprey - honest (phone-scoped) 

Osprey - honest (phone-scoped) 

Survey was generally quiet, although this Short-eared Owl perked us up a bit. Can't believe how cold it is for mid-May. Not fun at all!

Short-eared Owl (phone-scoped)

Osprey on the patch

I checked out Bubwith this morning to see if the water had attracted anything in, there was over 20 Tufted Duck and several Shoveler, Wigeon, Teal and Shelduck as well as an arrival of Swallow and Sand Martin. It was freezing though so I didn't hang around too long!

Mid-afternoon I got a [much appreciated] phone call from Mr Zing informing me there was an Osprey sat on a fence post at North Duffield! I was checking on the horse at the time at Escrick so knew I was at least 20 minutes away... would it stick?

I raced back, typically getting stuck behind 3 tractors en-route! A quick run down to the hide, one space left to sit down, and there it was sat at the back of the reserve eating a massive fish! I managed to get a good half hour watching as it ate its afternoon tea. This was my first on the local patch and also my first in the York Area too (and a year tick). I've had several in the neighbouring Harrogate area so guessed it was only a matter of time, and this was, funnily enough, the subject of conversation yesterday between me and a few other local birders!

Anyway, I managed a couple of record shots on my phone (below)


Osprey North Duffield Carrs (Phone-scoped)


Osprey North Duffield Carrs (Phone-scoped)


Osprey North Duffield Carrs (Phone-scoped)

This evening I had another quick half-hour back in the hide and the Osprey was still present, however while I was scanning Bubwith (enjoying a flock of over 100 hirundines - 95% Swallow and 5% Sand Martin) it vanished!