Sunday Bittern at Duffield

The day started well when I looked out of the back window to see a Peregrine shooting over, well it started well for me and the Peregrine, less well for the Wood Pigeon that got smashed!

The morning dog walk was interesting with Barn Owl, and an impressive mixed finch flock made up largely of Linnet and Greenfinch with a decent sprinkling of Goldfinch, Chaffinch, Siskin and Lesser Redpoll thrown in. The hedges were full of Fieldfare and Blackbird with a couple of Redwing and Song Thrush too and the pair of Mistle Thrush that have taken residence of a hawthorn bush were still present.

During the afternoon I met up with Natalie for some birding in the LDV, check out her blog: Natural(ist) Blonde.  We started off at Aughton Ings where there was a good number of Lapwing with at least 30 Ruff, 4 Redshank, 1 Grey Plover, 1 Dunlin and easily excess of 50 Snipe including a nice flock of 30 feeding out in the open. There was also a large number of Teal and Wigeon. The large number of waterfowl was a tempting treat for the local Peregrine and Marsh Harrier, both of which put in appearances. A rush of thrushes bursting out of the scrub was due to the attentions of a Sparrowhawk making a dash for dinner.

Next stop was over to North Duffield to see if 1) we could fit into the hide and 2) if the Bittern was still present. After a bit of manoeuvring seats were made available and after a short wait the Bittern appeared fairly close to the hide along the right of the pool. It was interesting to watch the bird peering into the undergrowth, after a quick stab it pulled out a fairly sizeable frog, which it continued to destroy! Happy with its meal it then headed to the back of the pool, eventually disappearing out of view for the rest of the evening.  I got a couple of pictures (below) but unfortunately the light wasn't the best by the time it came out!

A couple of Barn Owl were flying about at the back of the reserve and late on one appeared closer to the hide. A couple of Marsh Harrier were noted but again no Short-eared Owl, presumably the bird from earlier has cleared off.  There was a decent herd of Whooper Swans at the back of the pools (about 65) and plenty of Geese, Mute Swan and assortment of wildfowl (not enough room in the hide to get the scope out to look at/count properly), though there did appear to be more Pintail present.

Bittern © Andy Walker 2012

Bittern © Andy Walker 2012

Bittern © Andy Walker 2012

Bittern © Andy Walker 2012

Bittern at North Duffield: Excellent Views

Once the cricket was over and the rain and mist had gone away I headed across to the Geoff Smith Hide at North Duffield Carrs to see if yesterdays Bittern was still present. I wasn't to be disappointed.

Shortly after arriving at the hide I picked up the bird to the right of the pool, I then spent the next 5 hours watching it as it  moved all around the pool, often disappearing then appearing some distance away, it even gave a nice little fly-past at one stage too. It was fascinating to be able to watch this secretive bird go about its hunting activities. Occasionally it would come right out into the open which was brilliant! Often it's presence was noted by the resident Reed Bunting alarming and watching it move through the vegetation.  I took quite a few pictures, some of these are below.

Plenty of other decent birds about today including Water Rail (below hide by pool), Scaup, 2 Grey Plover, c60 Whooper Swan, 1 Black Swan, 70 Mute Swan, several Pink-footed Geese, with hundreds of Greylag and Canadas. There was at least 2 Marsh Harrier about, and 3 Barn Owl though no sign of the recent Hen Harrier or Short-eared Owl.

Other birds noted included c20 Dunlin, 20+ Ruff, Lapwing, Golden Plover, Goldeneye, Tufted Duck, Pintail, Wigeon, Teal, Gadwall, Shoveler, Mallard, Grey Heron, Cormorant. There was also quite a lot of Lesser Redpoll flying about, in with these were several Siskin and Goldfinch.  A sizeable flock of Starling (several thousand) and a good count of Fieldfare with low numbers of Redwing, Song Thrush and Blackbird were also noted.

An enjoyable afternoon! Same again tomorrow then? Don't mind if I do.

Bittern © Andy Walker 2012

Bittern © Andy Walker 2012

Bittern © Andy Walker 2012

Bittern © Andy Walker 2012

Bittern © Andy Walker 2012

Bittern © Andy Walker 2012

Bittern © Andy Walker 2012

Bittern © Andy Walker 2012

Bittern © Andy Walker 2012

Marsh Harrier © Andy Walker 2012

SEOs and MRs in the LDV

Worked at home today as I needed to finish a report so I got across to Geoff Smith Hide at North Duffield Carrs early evening to see what the score was today. First impression when walking to hide was "Whose pulled the plug out?" There was clearly a lot less water on Bubwith, was a similar story looking across to Aughton, though the water levels at North Duffield was not particularly [visibly] much different to Sunday afternoon when I was last down.

Anyway, as I set up my scope I could see that there was one Short-eared Owl sat on a fencepost.  It got up and hunted about for 20 minutes or so before it decided to hunt right at the top of the reserve making it more-or-less out of sight, which was a shame as the light was quite nice and I was hoping it was going to come close.  It did look a bit stressed and kept looking up, maybe there was something high up giving it cause for concern? A bit too far away for my camera, however just in range for the phone-scope combo!

Short-eared Owl (phone-scoped) looking at something.... 

Short-eared Owl (phone-scoped) looking at something...

Short-eared Owl (phone-scoped)  

Short-eared Owl (phone-scoped) 

There was much less Marsh Harrier activity tonight, with only two, possibly three birds present at the back of the reserve, maybe it's all coming to an end... There was loads of geese about tonight, though no interesting ones! Quite a lot of Teal, Wigeon etc. A sizeable flock of Lapwing was still present, though again distant. Had one Barn Owl and one Kestrel.  Lots of Snipe with a potential Jack Snipe that appeared to have been flushed from Bubwith as it dropped into some rank vegetation... possible.

The 'best' bird I had today was a Canary flying round the garden! Does that count on the year-list Tim??? Also had a small flock of Goldcrest move through in the morning, a bit of a garden rarity.

Hopefully not long for the proper rarities to start flowing...

Harriers and Owls in the LDV

Spent the afternoon at North Duffield today. The river has finally gone down a fair bit but the floods are still present, in fact there seems to be more flooding than last week!  The reserve was full of Lapwing, Teal and Wigeon with a good number of Golden Plover and a few Ruff thrown into the mix too.  Additional waterfowl included Pochard, Shoveler, Tufted Duck, Gadwall and Mallard.  There was also hundreds of Greylag and Canada Geese and a flock of 70-something Pink-footed Geese flew low north.

Pink-footed Geese 

Pink-footed Geese

Harriers appeared well down on my last visit, think I only counted 5 birds, however I was fairly distracted by  the two Short-eared Owls that were showing (relatively) close to the hide - still a bit too far for photographing them properly but I gave it a try anyway!

 Short-eared Owl

 

 Short-eared Owl

 Short-eared Owl 

 Short-eared Owl 

 Short-eared Owl 

 Short-eared Owl 

 Short-eared Owl

There was a few Siskin, Redpoll and Skylark passing south and I could hear a couple of Jays and a Great Spotted Woodpecker in the background too.

Marsh Harrier Roost NDC (Sunday)

I spent the late afternoon and early evening in the Geoff Smith Hide today waiting to see what was going on with the Marsh Harriers. I got to the hide a bit earlier than usual, at about 1600 hrs and it was actually quite interesting as several males were seen coming in to roost fairly early (possibly due to the weather, or possibly that's just what they do?).  Anyway, this evening (between 1600-1845) I had a minimum of 12 come in to roost, and as I walked back to the car as a torrential shower hit, another one flew in over the road in front of me, so a minimum of 13 birds in total.  There was still about an hour of light left but I was getting hungry and the visibility was decreasing rapidly so I gave it up!

It was apparent that there was an increase in wildfowl and waders about, with 250+ Teal moving about,168 Lapwing, 225 Golden Plover, 2 Ruff and c15 Snipe.  A Merlin made a dashing appearance after a flock of Linnet. No sign of any owls by 1845, but then the weather really wasn't conducive to it!

This morning I had a really nice walk with the dogs, found a nice mixed flock with a number of Yellowhammer, Reed Bunting, Greenfinch, Chaffinch and Tree Sparrow. Also a decent flock of Linnet and Goldfinch too. A few Meadow Pipit and Yellow Wagtail were noted flying south, as was a migrating flock of 45 Swallow. On returning home a nice surprise was a flock of 15 Corn Bunting that flew over!

Here's a couple from late winter, looking forward for some more views like this please!

Short-eared Owl - about 800 m closer than the owls seen yesterday 

 Short-eared Owl - about 800 m closer than the owls seen yesterday 

Harrier Roost and SEOs are back...

Dog walk was quiet this morning, only a scattering of Meadow Pipit south though there was a decent flock of Yellowhammer and a couple of Skylark.  Got a phone call from Ollie late morning letting me know he'd just had 15 Marsh Harrier up in the air together at NDC, however most had dropped out of sight by the time I got there. I gave it an hour in the middle of the day which was quite interesting and then came home for a bit before spending the late afternoon and evening back down there in what turned out to be a stacked-out Geoff Smith Hide. Glad I got in early as it was practically standing room only this evening.

The Marsh Harrier activity tonight was much reduced on the previous few days that I've been down there which was a shame and there was no sign of the adult female, or of at least 3 males, and a couple of distinctive juveniles (e.g. a cream-crown with black diamond). I reckon at least (only) 8 birds came in this evening.

Extra interest was provided tonight by 2 distant owls, both seemingly flushed by the Vulcan Bomber that flew low through the valley (below).  Although they didn't ever come closer than 800m I'm fairly happy they were both Short-eared Owl (one was very dark - below), though hopefully they'll come a bit closer over the coming days.  There was also 3 Barn Owl flying about, one was fairly close to the hide and would allow me enough time to get scope on it, focus, get phone to scope before it would fly off! I then gave it up as a bad idea! There was also a Tawny Owl outside the hide again (and last Thursday there was a Little Owl too).

 Vulcan Bomber

There was a couple of fly-by Buzzard, Kestrel and Sparrowhawk and a small raptor getting mobbed by 4 Carrion Crows which look fairly good for Merlin, however the views were way too brief to call it.

Interesting was the number of Snipe flushed from a small presumably damp patch on Bubwith side of the river.  Several flocks were flushed up by Marsh Harriers, with a peak flock count of about 33 birds, however there was several smaller flocks (26, 12, 19, 8, 10) and it was difficult to tell how many birds were involved in total. Minimum 33, maximum 110ish! No Lapwing tonight.

Looking forward to some more patch birding tomorrow!

Some Good Local Birding This Weekend

On Saturday I had a quick hour or so over at North Duffield Carrs which was very enjoyable. There was at least 4 Short-eared Owls performing across the reserve, generally fairly distant from the hide but still nice to see (I thought there was 5 but couldn't confirm it). A bit of scanning resulted in a very very distant Barn Owl but then a quick look below the hide resulted in great views of one sat right outside the window! Unfortunately the angle didn't allow for photos. I also had another on the way home. A raptor was picked out sat on a fencepost at the back of the reserve, once in the scope it was clear it was a male Merlin. Buzzard, Kestrel and Sparrowhawk were all noted.

A typical range of waders were noted, with lots of territorial displaying (Lapwing and Curlew) with 2 vocal Redshank also seen.

This morning I had an enjoyable local dog walk with 2 male Great Spotted Woodpeckers chasing each other around.

Went back down to North Duffield Carrs this afternoon and got 5 Short-eared Owls. 2 of the birds were really close to the hide, 2 were mid distance and 1 was way off, though they all ranged about a fair bit. I managed a couple of record shots on my phone (below). Again the distant Barn Owl was observed. There appeared to be a few more waders present today with several snipe seen - all flushed by the hunting owls, with 3/4 Redshank and a number of Curlew and Lapwing present. Didn't see the Merlin around today but I bet it was out there somewhere!


Short-eared Owl (NDC)


Short-eared Owl (NDC)


Short-eared Owl (NDC)

Peregrines and SEOs: Garden strikes again

I worked at home today as I had some reporting to do. A quick glance out the window mid-morning provided a rather nice surprise in the form of an adult male Peregrine cruising over the garden heading towards Skipwith! This is about the 4th/5th time I've recorded Peregrine over the garden in the last year! Other birds noted in/over the garden during the day included Buzzard, Sparrowhawk, a steady passage of Skylark and plenty of finches, Chaffinch seemingly much more abundant today.

Interestingly my first Peregrine garden record was on the 5th March 2011 - almost a year ago to the day! It was also my 50th garden tick!

A late afternoon trip down to the reserve for the last hour of light resulted in good views of 2 Barn and 2 Short-eared Owls, there seemed to be a slight increase in Curlew again too though Lapwings appeared to be present in lower numbers.

Owls about that: Amazing SEO Pictures!

Barn Owls were again present this morning with all three seen again, even though I was a bit later than on Monday morning.

I thought they may have gone off to roost before I got to their favourite field but luckily they were still out feeding. As cool as Barn Owls are though they can be trumped, for example by Short-eared Owls. There was at least 1 again on the local patch this evening, with another Barn Owl too! So another owltastic day! Apparently there was at least 6 Short-eared Owls in the lower part of the Lower Derwent Valley (LDV) on Saturday - awesome stuff. I wonder what the record count in the LDV is???

Check out this incredible set of hunting Short-eared Owl pictures taken just up the road by Paul McMullen. These are reproduced here below with permission.


Short-eared Owl © Paul McMullen


Short-eared Owl © Paul McMullen


Short-eared Owl © Paul McMullen

The rest of my walk this morning was fairly uneventful but the snow having almost gone now made for a nice change! There was a couple of Dunnock and Chaffinch in full song too! Spring here soon!

I worked at home today, didn't notice too much in/around the garden as I had my head in a laptop most of the day however I did notice a Cormorant fly over while having my breakfast and a male Sparrowhawk while I was having my lunch that was putting the fear of god into the local Goldfinch, Chaffinch and Greenfinch - oh and I had a Tree Sparrow fly through. Thats about it. Honest!

Some Good Local Birds

The morning dog walk was a rather Baltic -11 C. (it was 8am) but made for some nice landscape scenes with the heavy frost and lying snow. There was however very few birds about, a couple of Tree Sparrow, Fieldfare and Sparrowhawk being the highlights.


Cold morning


Cold morning

By contrast a late afternoon walk was very enjoyable, and a barmy -2 C. I took a route along the River and it wasn't long before I connected with a female Kingfisher. It was sat deep in a bush but I managed to get a couple of record shots on my phone, not the best but you can just about tell what it is!


Kingfisher - Phonescoped (note red to base of lower mandible = female)


Kingfisher - Phonescoped (note red to base of lower mandible = female)

Kingfisher - Phonescoped (note red to base of lower mandible = female)


Kingfisher - Phonescoped (note red to base of lower mandible = female)

The river was rammed full of Wigeon and Mallard with a few Teal, Pintail, Mute Swan and Moorhen present too. A quick scan of a distant field held a nice surprise - a hunting Short-eared Owl, my first on the patch. It was fairly distant, and after it caught a vole it got a bit of undesired attention from two local crows which chased it up quite high. I managed to get a record shot on my phone before it dropped back down low again.


Short-eared Owl - Phonescoped


Short-eared Owl - Phonescoped

Whilst walking back to my car a Kestrel was hunting the river bank and a Buzzard flew through to roost but the highlight came in the form of 2 further Short-eared Owl that showed really well. Unfortunately they were moving too fast to get any pictures!

Really pleased with 3 Short-eared Owl so close to home! I've said before this winter that there seems to be tonnes of them around. I wonder how many more are still out there to be discovered?

Off to Potteric Carr tomorrow for the NATURAL ARTS OPEN DAY. Looking forward to seeing Mike Bowman Images there and hopefully some Bittern activity too. Thermals at the ready!