Yorkshire Birding (6 Viewers)

[Andrew Gibson]

Lots of signs of vandals unfortunately.

Can ou tell me the sort of stuff you refere to so i can advise the reserve office and we can see about a tidy up.
Cheers

 

[Marcus Conway - ebirder]

Can ou tell me the sort of stuff you refere to so i can advise the reserve office and we can see about a tidy up.
Cheers

PM sent.

Does anyone know of any reliable and relatively private Kingfisher sites where I can set up a small hide (outside the breeding season)? PM if necessary.

I am working on some out of hours access to Rodley, but any other sites would be really useful - all locations considered!

Thanks :t:

 

[Pete Mella]

All the way to rutland, there's one in the northeast, see the durham thread.

Visiting some friends in Leicestershire so Rutland's not too out of the way, but thanks for the tip.

 

[BirdFlower]

Headed to Sammy's Point. 1 fem Redstart, 3 Spot Fly and usual warblers. Spent a while getting shots of the Flycatchers. Curlew Sand feeding quite close in, but flushed it when I went in for a shot. Typical photographer Migrant Hawker and Ruddy Darter and another Brown Argus for Mr Flowers to send off for ID :t:

Pretty similar to Marcus's tally of yesterday, but one fewer Spotted Flycatcher, no Redstart, but one was near Canal Scrape. At least 2 Pied Flycatchers in the area, but not when we were around. Lots of Whinchat. Several Snipe on the move & a Flava wagtail or two. Full description of day on the blog - all on the threshold of Spurn. The expected large raptor didn't materialise!

 

[Auntystatic]

PM sent.

Does anyone know of any reliable and relatively private Kingfisher sites where I can set up a small hide (outside the breeding season)? PM if necessary.

I am working on some out of hours access to Rodley, but any other sites would be really useful - all locations considered!

Thanks :t:

All the sites I know are up the north end of the county, hides built are normally vandalised, so just a camo net or portable hide is recommended, you have from now until the first serious frosts or bad rains, normally late November, as they will start to head down stream to the estuary's for the winter.

They will return normally around late feb to mid march to start pairing up again, if you find a good site, apply for a licence and watch them through the breeding season, which can last into july/august, they normally have 2 broods but can have 3, it all depends on the weather.

Dani

 

[andy hood]

Flamborough

juvenile ortolan bunting seen in the brambles below the lighthouse today at 4 pm , dipped on the bunting but saw a merlin fly across selwicks bay and over the fog horn station at 7 pm, also 1 common seal close in the bay

 

[Mike Richardson]

juvenile ortolan bunting seen in the brambles below the lighthouse today at 4 pm , dipped on the bunting but saw a merlin fly across selwicks bay and over the fog horn station at 7 pm, also 1 common seal close in the bay

Common Seal quite unusual around Flamborough - they are usually Grey. I will have to pay more attention to any future seals I see in the area.

I almost went for the Ortolan but talked myself out of it for various reasons. Looks like I made the right decision for once!

 

[Martin Standley]

Pat Haven

I had a couple of trips down to Pat haven over the weekend.Some decent birds including common buzzard,marsh harrier,kingfisher,whinchat,little egret,greenshank,avocet,curlew sandpiper, golden plover plus lots of common waders some of which were extremely confiding.

 

[Simmo1111]

I miss ospreys all the time, that's one I'd love to see without going all the way to nesting sites. One day I'll time it right.
Too tired to go off on the bike yesterday so made do with a dog walk for two and a half hours and the best bit was watching a couple of spot flys catching flies.

It was obviously a case of 'right place at the right time' for me. The day before, I saw a Peregrine fly across the front of the hide within about 10 metres of me. This was my first Peregrine too so what with that and the Osprey I guess I was definitely blessed this weekend !!

I wonder if it can only go downhill from now

 

[Auntystatic]

The Scottish osprey was tracked to a present position (well at 1pm today) was Strines Reservoir, west of Sheffield. rspb tracking page http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/tracking/lochgartenospreys/index.asp

 

[Chris-Leeds]

It was obviously a case of 'right place at the right time' for me. The day before, I saw a Peregrine fly across the front of the hide within about 10 metres of me. This was my first Peregrine too so what with that and the Osprey I guess I was definitely blessed this weekend !!

I wonder if it can only go downhill from now

I'm often in the right place but at the wrong time.

 

[James Thomas]

The Scottish osprey was tracked to a present position (well at 1pm today) was Strines Reservoir, west of Sheffield. rspb tracking page http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/tracking/lochgartenospreys/index.asp

Looks like it's following the A1/M1, nearly did Loshpotts!

 

[andy hood]

Flamborough

Up at the lighthouse this morning 3 Wheatear on the golf course ,2 Willow Warblers in the golf course willows, 1 Common Whitethroat, 1 Male Sparrowhawk, in the bay brambles, 1 Wood Sandpiper east in of the sea at selwicks bay

 

[BirdFlower]

Big news from a client this afternoon. "We told you that we'd successfully had Quail raise some chicks on the farm this year, didn't we"? "Er, no" (thinks: I wish you had, as I'd have gone for a look, & may have actually seen the little bleeders!")

 

[Pete Mella]

Not super exciting, but finally caught up with my first whinchats of the year after much trying, with two cracking birds by Redmires Res. Also 1 stonechat, 2 red grouse, and a probable peregrine.

 

[Richard G]

Blacktoft yesterday

I had the best visit I've ever had to Blacktoft yesterday. Only spent a couple of hours there with my two kids but we had a great time.

Loads of waders - Redshank, Dunlin, Green Sandpiper, Greenshank, Snipe, Black Tailed Godwit, Spotted Redshank (lifer 1 of the day). Also had Marsh Harrier, Teal, Heron, Goldfinch, Swallow, Shovler & the briefest of glimpses of a Bearded Tit (lifer 2).

When we got into the first hide it was packed with what appeared to be an organised trip. Whilst I wondered where to sit my daughter had already plonked herself next to this very nice pensioner lady & struck up a conversation. They'd been given a "Wildlife Challenge" by the warden to see stuff on a laminated card. Once this group knew what they had to do they were pointing stuff out to the kids left, right & centre, which made the slight disturbance to their day more acceptable. Thank you to them, whoever you were.

Will try & add some pictures once I sort through them tonight.

Richard

 

[BirdFlower]

I had the best visit I've ever had to Blacktoft yesterday. Only spent a couple of hours there with my two kids but we had a great time.

Richard

Can only say, I told you so!

 

[Richard G]

Can only say, I told you so!

Thanks for the pointer, Michael, was appreciated.

I've been going to Blacktoft on an irregular basis for a number of years, and can honestly say yesterday was the most productive trip there. I'm not someone who goes birding every weekend, but when I do go I like to enjoy myself, and yesterday certainly lived up expectations, although trying to keep a 6 year old interested was hard work!!

Richard

 

[Pete Mella]

Decent morning on Huxter Well at Potteric - little stint, 16 black-tailed godwit, spotted redshank and three little egrets being the highlights. Bar a couple of flyover green woodpeckers the rest of the reserve was very quiet, though.

 

[Martin Standley]

Patrington Haven

I had a quick look at Pat Haven again last night very gloomy in the last hour before dark.
3 little egrets, greenshank,curlew sandpiper more dunlin than the weekend ringed plover.

For anyone interested I've updated my blog from the weeked with more curlew sandpiper shots.