You're learning Keith;)

You all seem to have really enjoyed yourselves, great report there. Though all those complaints about the cold - you'll notice from our pic I didn't even have gloves on :king: - ye're all softies

D

Thanks Keith, couldn't see their foreheads so there was no way of telling that they Redpolls. Still if that's what they were then it's only the second time I've seen them, they certainly gave me neck ache looking up at them.

Bittern at Potteric Carr
 

I spent an enjoyable coupleof hours today, watching a very obliging bittern on Piper Marsh. The bird had been showing well but fitfully most of the morning, and wasn't about when I entered the hide. There were a handful of people there and the bird had not shown for 30 minutes or so, I settled down to scan the lake to see what else was around. Other than about 50 teal nothing much. One of the couples in the hide decided to leave, freeing up the left hand end of the hide, I was a little slow in getting a seat there, buit within a few minutes the guy who beat whispered that the bird was back over to the left at the edge of the reeds.
I turned my scope in the indicated direction and scanned the reeds across the water from the hide, couldn't see anything. The guy indicated that I was looking too far away, the bird was at the edge of the reeds in front of the hide, roughly about 30-40 foot away. To say I was gobsmacked would be an understatement. The bird was hunting in the base of the reeds, but whether it was actually catching anything we couldn't tell. The bird slowly made its way towards us occassionally taking up the upright camouflage posture, which as it was out in the open was little disguise. The other people in the hide watched the bird for about 15 minutes before they decided to go, leaving me on my own to continue watching the bittern. Several times the bird was out in the open filling the field of my scope, cracking for a photograph but this wally had left his camera behind. After about an hour of watching the bird probing the reedclumps I was rewarded with a clear view of the bird catching a fish. The poor fish was speared through the head by the bittern which shook it vigourously several times before turning it's back to me to swallow it. From the views I got it would appear to have been a perch, it had the spiny fins and greeny coloured back with vertical stripes, in all it would have been just a bit longer than thef the birds beak. I was surprised to see the bird actively wipe its beak against the reeds after swallowing the fish, almost as if trying to get rid of the fish's slime. I left soon after this with the bird still showing quite well, indeed if it hadn't have been for having to cook the evening meal I would have stayed until dusk.
A cracking afternoon, less than 20 species seen but very easily the most unforgettable sighting of a bittern I have ever made.
sorry the post was a long one

Awesome report Keith!

I know your excitement and the bitter I saw was in the fading light at much greater distance but fantastic for me!

You do know if you'd had the camera you'd have seen cock all!!!

Here's one I took earlier

Great report Keith. Sounds like you had a great day. I'm hoping to get out birding this weekend, but not sure where. Will probably stay local so sod all chance of any Bitterns.

Just a few updates. Have been to Rodley recently and there are some passerines taking the limelight there notably tree sparrow and brambling. Pete had also said there has been several reports of stonechat too. Even more exciting was a melanistic Grey Heron, which was just this after racking my brains and checking my underwear after not being a glossy ibis or some other mega!

At Sicklinghall (the office) I saw my first GS Pecker, and today saw 9 Red Kites which was quite a site, and the highest since spring.

Nice sightings Marcus. Wish I could get GSW from my office. If there are brambling down at Rodley then I might have to amble on down there at the weekend

I now have automotive transportation so hopefully a bit more birding coming and contribution to the thread. Anyone for a thread Yorkshire list next year?

How would it work James?

Just a bit of cumulative year list for Yorkshire from all the contributers. I can stick it on a spreadsheet and post it as an attachmernt which people can download update and repost. Maybe? depends if people were keen. Bet we'd get over 250 species

What about applying the punkbirders rules to finding birds too? That may encourage us to go out and find stuff to boot rather than sitting on Spurn watching someones elese birds??? We could adapt it too as some birds in inland counties should be pointsworthy...

I'm up for anything. B (:

Also December the 8th is anyone up for a trip. It's a friday and I'll be driving?

I have a Birthday jaunt every year. lat year was a good un with HUMES WARBLER at filey!

Finders Keepers sounds good!

The Yorkshire list sounds good. I take it only birds seen within the ridings can be included?

Would love to make your Birthday trip Marcus, however Friday is one day I can not get off work, especially near Christmas. The Humes warbler will take some beating this year!

Warning to anyone going to Wheldrake Ings - wear wellies at least, if not thigh-length waders. I cheerfully made my way down to cheesecake hide, surprised that the path was only muddy given how high the water was everywhere else. After a pleasant two and a half hours in the hide, and with the rain easing, I headed back to find myself completely marooned and having to wade well above ankle deep back to the road. Wellies can be purchased in Selby from Rock One for a very reasonable £8.99, although he won't give free socks with them!

Birdwise, anyone seen Water Pipit there? I think I now have, but it would be a lifer and I couldn't remember the clincher (white wing bars) and panicked and fluffed it. But I really don't think they were Meadow or Rock.

Hey-ho, where did anyone else go?

Graham

EDIT PS: There is still one Bewick's at North Duffield Carrs with the Whoopers, just in case anyone needs it for Yorkshire Year list or 'owt stupid, or perhaps for the sheer joy of a pretty little swan in the sunshine. There's also >25 Ruff, and loads of Pintail courting. It was nice there today!

December 8th is a possibility for me, Marcus, but not sure yet. As a student presumably you have no problems with a weekday, James?

Graham

erm....might b okay, will check when you guys decide on what your gonna do. p.s. water pipit at Wheldrake Graham? grrrrrrrrrr would be a lifer and on my patch

Get your wellies on and get down there at dawn, sir. It's the only way. I am not ticking them as Water Pipits, although I would be surprised if they weren't. I don't know how (un)likely it is. I know Blacktoft get them and the habitat seems right, but I'd like to know if someone else had seen them there. BTW - PM me your mobile and I'll text you when I next go there - I do it all by ear so there'll be little notice, but it'll save you a gripping! And I'm going to give Pocklington Canal a good investigation - I have heard positive whispers.

Graham

Marcus,
Sorry cannot make the 8th, but thanks for the info on the bramblings at Rodley. Got myself down there this afternoon and although I didn't see any brambling, I did manage to get a photo of a kingfisher and a few of a gs woodpecker.

All these three pictures were hand held, forgot the bracket, getting better though as I remembered the camera this time LOL.
I also digi-binned a picture of a pheasant but as I had been playing with the iso settings I had got too fast a speed selected and the picture is as grainy as hell.

That pheasant's so grainy it looks like a heron! Love the Kingfisher, Keith, you must be well pleased with that one. A worthy new avatar.

Graham

Glad you noticed Graham, I previewed the pheasant pic and it would have been too grainy to make out things. So substituted the heron pic.

Good sightings Keith, I was there on Saturday and got the same selection as you it seems. Managed to get some of the finch flock on the deck and counted as far 36 linnets before they flitted away again. They were doing some strimming on the duck marsh and in one small area this put up 5 snipe, just goes to show there must be a load in the swamp. Not had water rail there yet, maybe waiting for a big freeze. Highlight of Saturday were three goldeneye that flew into the reserve from the river. I noticed it was in flood so this must be pushing more birds onto the reserve.

My pics attached....

On the whiteboard at Fairburn today, Twite seen from the boardwalk on Sunday 26/11. Interesting? Does anyone know how reliable observers have to be to make the board?

Depends on the vol' who's manning the desk. When Lance was there you had to be bloody good to get your sighting on the white board. Lately I've seen some right old b*****ks written on the whiteboard. I've yearly reports for Fairburn going back to 1994 and twite has never featured, in fact it is one of the species that you have to submit written records to vaildate the sighting. So I can't see how it got onto the whiteboard as a recent sighting unless the warden saw it, or maybe Charlie, as his word is good.

back in the mists of time When Steve Dudley was an assistant warden at Fairburn he saw some Twite there I believe, and in a rare moment of discovery I had a few at Knotford Nook north of Leeds, but these were all spring records

Knotford Nook - rings no bells with me - would love to hear more

Knotford Nook
on the Otley to Pool road, best approached from Otley, just after the Otley Rugby Club grounds there's a little road to the left signed Yorkshire Water works. Park on this road and you can view the 2 small lakes. Be careful if you decide to have a walk round them as they are owned by the Bradford Angling Association and the members can be very nasty. If you walk back towards Otley from the small road there is a footpath that takes you to the river, you can follow this along the side of one of the lakes, thus avoiding any confrontation with the anglers.

Some controversy over the Twite. It has now been wiped off the board, but one of the young assistant wardens, who says he knows Twite, has seen a photo that the visiting birder took and is convinced that the bird really was a Twite. All I could find were Redpolls, and a lovely Treecreeper.

Graham

Had an unusual id dilemma on my way to uni today. From the beverley bypass in the early morning half light an all white bird took off fromsome rank grass associated with a small flood. Now my gut said initially little egret but afer watching the bird for at least 2 seconds i had changed my mind to Barn Owl (views from a very moving car). Think a barn owl on the deck is more likely than a wandering little egret there. However did look pure white. Likelyhood is of course that i didnt get good enough views to see the buff colours.

I would personally go for a little egret I think, but then again I mdidn't see the bird. Have you got yourself down to Fulford Ings yet? Checked the history of this site on birdguides and it seems to consistnelty produce Jack snipe, white winged gulls and yesterday lesser pecker.

Like you say, Barn Owl is more likely. I often see them around East Yorkshire, even around lunch time. A Little Egret may be unusual for the area but they are getting increasingly common. Who knows?

I also had a problem today. I had some farms to visit this morning around the Driffield area and also some deliveries to make. On such working visits I never take my bins, despite seeing lots of wildlife. The reason for leaving my optics at home is partly because I don't want to damage/ get them stolen, but mostly because I would always be stopping to look at birds etc. and wouldn't get any work done.

Anyway way, driving alongside the Driffield canal I saw a large group of swans (15+) in a field at some distance. I couldn't get stopped near, and like I said, I didn't have my bins. They looked the size of Mute Swans, but I didn't note any ID features to confirm this.

My question is do Mute Swans gather on ploughed fields in Winter, or could they have been Whoopers? Any ideas?

From now on I am going to put my old bins in the glove box, but only get them out for swans, possible Turtle Doves/ Corn Buntings on wires, and distant flocks of Partridge (which I seem to see all the time).

Probably Whoopers - flocks of 15 away from known bread-chucking locations unlikely - but does Driffield Canal fall in that category?

Was the field ploughed or planted? Personally I've only seen Whoopers in grass or root veg crop fields, not on bare mud, but I've only seen them in half a dozen locations.

Graham

I'm going with Little Egret on the grounds that I also thought I saw one from the car on the M62 going, I think, past Walling Fen last Sunday (nr North Cave - my grid ref would have been around SE890306, although I'd have to drive it again to be sure.) I discounted it at the time as too unlikely but don't know what else it could have been - I was trying to make it into a GBBG. Mine weren't a Barn Owl, and it would have been somewhere between 5 and 10 miles from your putative sighting, James? But this also falls foul of any likelihood test, doesn't it? What are the chances that we would both see the same bird from the car?

Graham

I'd go with lil egret as well, the dark legs would disappear in the half light. I think barn owl flight is so distinctive that it would be hard to mistake it for egret. Egrets are certainly on the move northwards, so very likely to be wintering in the area.
As to Mike's swans I'd also go for whooper just on the presence of a number of them in fields, mutes tend to avoid flocking don't they, usually just family groups

Driffield Canal has several resident pairs of Mute Swan (and also a Black Swan!), and further up the canal towards Driffield Mill there are areas where some numbers gather for feeding.

The area where I saw the swans today was several miles away from the town. I should mention that the field possibly contained some crop. I didn't really pay much attention, although I realise it would have been useful to note if the field was planted.

Thanks for the input Graham. I should be visiting the same area next week so I might get some more clues. I'm going to Essex tomorrow to see the missus. Might get a peek into Rainham Marshes or look for 'Rossi' The Ring-billed Gull at Southend. Hope you all have a good weekend.

Had a look round Fulford Ings today, Marcus, and it's an OK place. There were lots of birds, which is always a good sign, but don't go expecting Minsmere. I found only common birds, but I wouldn't draw too many conclusions from that. That said I can't think it is more likely than Rodley to produce Jack Snipe other than that you can tramp around in your wellies at Fulford. ;) I suspect the unusual birds are the result of daily patch-watching by a very good birder, but I have only visited once. There are about 3/4 of a mile of flood meadows supporting a range of sedges and grasses alongside a rather barren looking stretch of the River Ouse. It's bordered to the other side by some big houses with big leafy gardens and wellies are essential. Other than the roar of the A64 which only diminishes to the north end of the site it isn't easy to realise you are so near the centre of York.

A lot of gulls came over on the way to roost but did not land. Perhaps they do stage here when the river is in full flood. Nonetheless, a good gull watcher could pick out the white winged birds which would surely turn up as flyovers in the huge winter crowds, but I reckon St Aidan's is a better bet.

I did find the lesser spotted woodpecker some two hours and three miles after walking straight past it. PM me if you want really precise directions or not if you want the challenge.

1320-1530:
5 Lottie flocks produced 2 Goldcrest and 1 Treecreeper
4+ Reed Bunting
2 Great Spotted Woodpecker
Loads of Redwing, flocks 10-40, but just singles of Fieldfare
Hedgefuls of Blackbirds, and at least 15 Mistle Thrushes.
Seriously loads of Blue Tits and Great Tits
Lots of Greenfinch and Goldfinch in flocks of 5 - 80
>1000 gulls over to roost - HG, LBBG, GBBG, BHG, CG.
1 Kestrel
Dunnocks calling everywhere and lots of Robins.
3-4 Magpie, 20+ Crows, 40+ Woodpigeon.
20 Mallards
1 Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (male, very cute)

Graham

Hi Skink1978,

Most probably Mute Swan, though Whoopers can't be ruled out. Good numbers of Mute Swan regularly winter in the area between Driffield and Tophill Low NR. Three figure counts are not uncommon. In most winters there are generally a few Whoopers about also.

Paul.

bit weird ths but im not entirely sure where this is! Have wanderred around some meadows along the side of the ouse in Fulford but they didnt look that promising. Apparently its had Marsh Warbler singing there recentlyish and GG Shrike!

Whoopers is my guess, plenty around and about.

Cheers Paul

I guess I will never really know, although Mute Swan now seem more likely. Like I said in my above post, I will start start taking my bins to work for special occasions.