February 2011 - Local Patch.

A walk through two local woods recently, yielded a surprising host of birds. A bright sunny day always helps and though cold, that big yellow ball in the blue sky made for good conditions for us and the birds! Across the road from our estate is a small wood...well, a wooded area beside Cantley Road. In fact on older maps, it is known as Church Plantation.

Earlier this year or late last year Sandra had seen 30+ Redwings here and she was keen to see if they were still in residence. Luckily they were. We're not sure exactly how many but we did see quite a few, 20+. Unless you are almost on top of them, they are not very photogenic as they spend most of their time on the ground amongst the leaf litter and so blend in remarkably well! I did get a few good pics as can be seen here.

A Chaffinch was very obliging and supplied an unusual shot from below. Blue and great Tits along with a few Long-tailed Tits were seen. We did see a Nuthatch but my photo doesn't do it justice as I was shooting into the Sun. A pair of Great Spotted Woodpeckers were conspicuous by their red underparts.

Once out of the wood we walked across the vast expanse of lawn between the flats the wood. Soaring high above was a Common Buzzard. Against the blue sky it made for a pleasant sight. A couple of passers-by were quite interested in what we had seen and asked if we were looking for Waxwings. We were but so far had drawn a blank. I did point-out the Buzzard overhead and that got an "aha!" from the pair.

Walking all the way down the road for about 2 miles, didn't produce anything in the way of birds but after a quick stop at my place we continued on to Kirk Moor Plantation Wood. Here in the mid-afternoon Sun we got superb views of a Treecreeper, so good that I didn't even take photos! At the other end of the Wood by the Pub, high up the top of Silver Birch and Alders were a small flock of what we believe we Lesser Redpolls but on examining the photos, I am 90% sure that there are a couple of Linnets mixed in with them! A great day walking around our local patch and still plenty more to see!

December 2010 - Bittern at Potteric Carr YWT

Friday 10th: Wow! What a day! An early start at a snowy Potteric Carr. Snow that fell in the area over a week ago was still lying deeply over all the nature reserve. All the marshes and lakes were totally frozen with no waterfowl at all (Ducks, Geese etc) to be seen. I have never seen it like this before. Where are all the birds? Well the only birds to be seen were the usual garden & woodland variety in small numbers, namely; Bullfinches, Chaffinches, Siskins, Goldfiches, Reed Buntings, Blackbird, Mistle & Song Thrush, Redwings, Pheasants, a few Moorehens, two Water rails and one BITTERN. Yes, Bittern, these are very elusive waders, part of the Heron family, that spend most of their time skulking amongst the reedbeds. During the harsh weather, especially when the lakes are frozen, this is the best time to see Bitterns as they tend to come out into the open more.

Sandra and myself happened to go into Willow Pool hide, expecting to see the usual song birds gathered around the feeders. What greeted us when we opened the door to the hide were the hushed words, "Bittern!" A mass of birding-paparazzi and cameras with lenses as long as your arm! The target in question was not 500 metres away hidden in a mass of reeds, but 10 metres away amongst the frost ravaged undergrowth!

It was close but looking at it through a fellow birders' scope was just fantastic! This is not an every day occurrence, these are amongst the rarest native birds in the country. I've been lucky enough to have seen Bitterns before but always at a distance and heavily camouflaged amidst a mass of reeds! But it got better, the bird came out of the undergrowth and as it slowly walked through the snow, the birding-paparazzi let loose, the sound of cameras working furiously (mine included) to capture these treasured images. It stood there for a while, posing like a celebrity-starlet while the volley from the cameras continued. It then made ready, launched itself into the air and its huge wings took it leisurely gliding off to the far side of the frozen lake. Afterwards the birders started congratulating each other and checking photos, one even chirped, "Luck's in today, think I'll buy a Lottery ticket". A cuppa was needed now to relax, if nothing else showed today then seeing this was worth the free entry..... thanks Potteric Carr!

Well nothing much did happen for the rest of the day. Except that both I and Sandra yomped through the snow and around the rest of the NR, getting extremely wet boots and feet, only seeing the occasional bird. Tired after trekking through the snow, we departed just before the sun set.

October 2010 - Spurn Point YWT

Sunday 10th: The morning started overcast but as the Sun got up, the cloud was quickly burnt-off by the Sun. It looked like Sandra and I were going to have a very good outing to Spurn Point. The autumn migration is underway and Spurn is a good place to see birds coming into these islands.

A 2-hour drive soon passed and we were greeted by the sight of an army of Birders marching along the narrow country lanes. As I slowed to pass some Birders, I looked down to the roadside on my right and saw what was to be the first of many Siskins at close quarters. There were so many birds about that we didn't know which way to look! We went on through to the Reserve and immediately saw large numbers of Redwings criss-crossing the fields.

A lone female Chaffinch seemed to be interested in us when we ate our sandwiches and hung around the parked car. We wandered over to a hide on the Humber estuary coast where we saw Robins on the beach, Little Plover in another Birders scope, 3 Redshanks, a couple of Oystercatchers and other Waders not identified, some Great Black-backed Gulls and even a Meadow Pipit or two also on the shore. Through my scope 11 Brent Geese waded in the shallows. It seemed that the shoreline attracted a great many birds, presumably as they arrive exhausted and drop down on the beach to feed!

We decided to move on and drive down to the Point. I volunteered us to walk around the Point not knowing that it was going to be a bit of a hike. Down on the Humber-side of the beach I lost count of the number of Northern Wheatears patrolling in and around the clumps of seaweed and shingle. We saw at least two males but many more females. Also there, large numbers of warblers; Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler. Siskins were abundant as elsewhere. At the Point I managed to see and photograph a Common Redstart (another first)!

Climbing up to the Nature Reserve, I saw vast numbers of Redwings together with numbers of other unidentified birds! In fact Sandra did well in getting up a steep incline from the shore on the North Sea side to the roadside! There were so many Wheatears and Siskins that I lost count but we both got some good photos! Most of these birds would be making ready to migrate back to Africa while yet more; Robins, Redwings etc would be just coming-in for the autumn/winter. A truly amazing spectacle! I've not seen so many different species of bird in such a small area before - no wonder Spurn Point is a mecca for birdwatchers!

To round off the day, we drove back to Kilnsea and after some refreshments, a fellow birder lined-up a Lapland Bunting in my scope. We were treated to some first-class views of this rarity. It's just a shame that the photo I took through the scope was a crock... A flock of 9 Curlews flew over the car towards the north and as I watched them through my binoculars, I neglected to call Sandra to which I got a stern rebuke! Sorry Sandra!

A great day out and one of the most spectacular places that I've been too for watching birds. So I can count Northern Wheatear, Common Redstart and Lapland Bunting as new species for my Life-List. Another visit is definitely on the cards next Spring!

Above: The Kilnsea Sunset.

January 2010 - Garden Fieldfare

Tuesday 12th: This recent cold-snap has been bringing some unusual visitors to our garden in the hunt for food. Today, another FIRST...a Fieldfare! Now in all the years we have been feeding the birds, we have never seen a Fieldfare in or anywhere near our garden in the Winter. But today, today technically this bird was the 2nd Fieldfare in 4 days that has visited the garden. Melanie grabbed a series of 4 photos through the windows of today's bird, two of which are shown here.

Last Sunday, a good showing of a Fieldfare on top of the conifers by the house and later in the day, a second visit by a Redwing. This after a Redwing came into the garden late Saturday afternoon! So the appearance of these two unusual birds was preceded by the Pied Wagtail last week. This cold-snap has shown us that if you put the food out, you will help the birds in their time of need and may even see some uncommon visitors!

PLEASE FEED THE BIRDS DURING THIS COLD WEATHER!