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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Yorkshire Birding (6 Viewers)

"Drought"

We've had some unusual garden visitors in the last 10 days, almost certainly due to the extremely dry conditions. So, if it's as dry where you are this is just a reminder to please keep your gardens well stocked with water, as you never know what you may be helping & what you may see. One of the visitors is a bird we haven't seen before in 42 years of keeping an eye on the birds in our urban garden.

For some reason it won't let me upload the better photos of the Whitethroats as an attachment, so they are on the blog!
 

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Glad I went to London this weekend, no major rares about in Yorkshire. Would have been gutted if anything good had turned up and I'd missed it. As it happened I picked up a lifer on the trip, at last got the ring necked parakeets. From the coach driving down the M4 from Heathrow.
Now where to go tomorrow?
 
Glad I went to London this weekend, no major rares about in Yorkshire. Would have been gutted if anything good had turned up and I'd missed it. As it happened I picked up a lifer on the trip, at last got the ring necked parakeets. From the coach driving down the M4 from Heathrow.
Now where to go tomorrow?

nice one Keith i was just considering the same thing. you have one day to go birding anywhere in Yorkshire which would be your first pick?
 
We've had some unusual garden visitors in the last 10 days, almost certainly due to the extremely dry conditions. So, if it's as dry where you are this is just a reminder to please keep your gardens well stocked with water, as you never know what you may be helping & what you may see. One of the visitors is a bird we haven't seen before in 42 years of keeping an eye on the birds in our urban garden.

Funny you should mention that Michael, I had my first sighting of a Blackcap in my garden in 42 years of watching yesterday. By the time I got my camera it had gone. I have a pond with waterfall and that attracts lots, but usually all the common ones.
 
Spent a couple of hours in Strid Woods yesterday on a family walk. Despite trying to control 2 kids & a dog, and cope with the hordes I still managed to see some decent stuff.

Lots of Spring migrants in place now in the woods - Willow & Wood Warblers, Chiffchaff & Pied Fly all very active. Also had Nutchatch, Coal, Great & Blue Tits, Dipper, Mandarin & Pied Wagtail.

Definitily looking forward to the 22nd when it'll be hit with no-one else around.

Some of my efforts attached.

Richard
 

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Nice to see that im not missing anything...

Managed to finally get a glimpse of Quail out here plus a male Spectacled Warbler so a couple more lifers. Trip total 105 now with Little Stint, Sanderling, Turnstone, Curlerw Sandpiper, Little Tern, Hobby and Osprey. Now where is that Jim? Got some silhouettes of the Hobby and Osprey as they flew through ahead of a rain front last night. Speccy warbler was at the bottom of a bush with a Crested Lark on top...the Crested Lark is a scarce bird here - most in the locality are Theklas.
 
bit of a late one for yesterday

stopped off at hornsea mere on the way back from bempton yesterday.

stumbled over a blue headed wagtail in with some yellows on the end past the Cafe
 
Hey all.

Went to Bempton Cliffs Saturday morning, before the hoards arrived.

Managed to catch a lifer, and according to the warden I reported it to, was the first he knew on the site. Golden Oriole! saw it around 9.10am. Sadly couldn't get the camera out quick enough. Another chap who saw it had his camera out, so fingers crossed a photo of it appears somewhere.

Along with the normal Gannets etc, it was nice to hear two Grasshopper warblers, yet they alluded a fair few peoples sight, for a change.
 
Had a quick look at Hebbers Ghyll this morning, hoping for Wood Warbler to convince me they aren't in trouble. Unfortunately no song.

Plenty of Wren song. Infact I've heard loads of Wren everywhere I go, which after last winter is good news.

A couple of Cuckoo darting about on the moor above the Ghyll.

Plenty of Green Hairstreak on the bilberry.
 
Ken (Northernloon) and I had a quick trip over to Blacktoft and North Cave today. Got to Blacktoft just before the high tide but there were few waders on the reserve, 80 odd avocet but little else. However the harriers were putting on a championship display, there were times when there were at least 5 but probably more birds in the air simultaneously. Add in to the mixture around 4 or 5 buzzards and it was fun sorting the raptors out.
Walking back from Singleton we got a short burst of reeling from a gropper but it never really got into full flow. Plenty of whitethroat and sedge warblers on the reserve, although shown on the noticeboard as being present, reed warblers were conspicuous by their silence.
Moving on to North Cave, Ken's first visit to the reserve and only my fourth or fifth. Things have matured incredibly well since my last visit. We'd goldfinch, chaffinch and linnet from the lane whilst blackcap were singing well in the scrub. Waders were represented by lapwing and avocets on the various scrapes and from Turret Hide we'd a decent view of a little ringed plover. Only raptor on the reserve was a single kestrel. We found a few red-legged partridge but no grey, still needing the latter for the year list and it's getting harder to find them every year.
I'll not even attempt to estimate how many sand martin there were cruising the airspace above the reserve, but no house martins and only a handful of swallows.
All in a decent few hours birding with a species count of 50 without our really trying too hard.
 
nidd and ldv

A stroll through Nidd Hall greeted by six red kites circling above the hall,then into the gardens two very light coloured fieldfare and three shelduck, then into the trees to discover nuthatch,willow warbler and blackcap,buzzards had now joined the red kites.

then got wiff of a pied flycatcher at the ldv other local birder got it but sadly not me,did see wheatears 2,linnets 4, snipe 2 curlew,cuckoo,blackcaps 3, swallows then stopped off at the GS hide and had these two.....(first pic) all in all not a bad day.
 

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Keith, that maize in the NE corner at North Cave is a sacrifice crop to provide winter feeding. A fine afternoon out with a few more year ticks.
 
I can't add up Ken...just input all the gen into my database - it tells me we saw 55 species today.
Also the rose-ringed parakeet (not ring necked apparently) that I saw yesterday in London was my 275th species for the UK.
 
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Been down to Hatfield Moors this afternoon to try for the elusive ( to me ) Yellow Wags and dipped yet again. Sadly not much more about, I think the heat is keeping them subdued, However, as I left I managed to capture these two after about the fourth time of trying over the past fortnight. I usually only get pics of their backsides as they run away.
 

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I can't add up Ken...just input all the gen into my database - it tells me we saw 51 species today.
Also the rose-ringed parakeet (not ring necked apparently) that I saw yesterday in London was my 275th species for the UK.

Grey Partridges still hanging on in reduced numbers in Holderness. Had a pair near Stone Creek last week. Patrington Haven usually a good area to check for them
 
Had a twitch over the Humber today got 2 lifers, Dotterel and Tawny Pipit at Tetney Lock
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