Yorkshire Birding (1 Viewer)

[Hotspur]

Thats a lovely picture Marcus. Seeing as everone else is doing it on their respective threads, what are your Yorkshire Birding highlights of the year. For me there have been so many but the Great Shear has gotta be my best. Followed by the whooping and hollering and may i just say it was a tender hug Marcus gave after the high five

 

[Marcus Conway - ebirder]

Highlight: Too many to pick really in a spetacular Autumn. Finding my own firecrests and yellow browed warblers in Hlompton was good. Also the day the hen harrier mobbed a red kite that mobbed the buzzard. But the Great shearwater will live long in the memory! Good one James.
Lowlight: Dipping the WTP twice, and calling an oystercatcher a bullfinch at Bolton Abbey

 

[Hotspur]

Lowlight, spending the run-up to my wedding refusing to go for the Roller and spending too muc time dipping an aberant Common Swift

 

[Keith Dickinson]

Highlight......increasing my total of little auk seen by a factor of 10.....

Lowlight......being tied to work when various one day rarities turned up over the year....


by the way...Marcus can I have your memory cards...this is getting beyond a joke...you are posting too many bloody great pictures....you got to leave something for us lesser mortals to have a go at!

 

[liverpool_bob]

Highlights - 1) getting back into birding / patch-watching after a couple of years half-heartedly trying following a long break, 2) the one addition to the patch list this year - Little Egret, 3) raptors, lots of them, sort of.

Lowlights - 1) one of my favourite spots being taken over by water-skiers in spring and hardly any birds seen after and many waterfowl nests lost due to the disturbance, 2) not getting out and about enough (but still managed 25 days).

Midlights - call me weird but still feeling no temptation to start twitching again though very much enjoying following the news/pictures. It's like being born again, it's just a different experience this time round.


Cheers,
Bob.

 

[Marcus Conway - ebirder]

Barn Owl in the usual place today, also 3 siskin were new.

BTW if anyone wants any barn owl pellets let me know...

 

[Hotspur]

Had 2 Woodcock flyover the car on my commute home at Kexby on the A1079

 

[Chris-Leeds]

Marcus,
great report, glad your birthday bash was a success.

Chris,
shame about the owls, but a nice shot of the smew. I'm hoping the one at Fairburn Ings hangs around until Thursday so I can have go dipping it.LOL

Hi Keith,
I had a look for the smew on Sunday and didn't see it. Time was limited and I looked from cut hide in the afternoon from 1:30 onwards. I suppose it could have gone somewhere else in the reserve or gone altogether. I did see 7 snipe, 3 of the black swans, kingfishers and the closest view of a green woodpecker ever. Could've done with more time to check out the other areas.
Chris.

 

[Lawts]

Highs and Lows

For me the 2007 Yorkshire hi was securing the Pacific Diver on its first afternoon. I knew on my first view of the bird as it swam into view hunched up, grebe like that the whole structure of the bird was different. I knew there'd be huge interest and much debate as the story unfolded, and it was a great feeling that evening to think it was already utb.

A second hi was seeing the stonking eye-ring on the Brown Fly, when a birder let me look through his scope on its second morning, just moments after it had been found.

The year hi (non Yorkshire though) was the Scops Owl in Thrupp. The setting, the camaraderie in the small hours, the constant call note as he gave us the runaround. Magical. I even enjoyed the dip the year before as well. If it's back next year I recommend it. I'll go again, and I'll be totally relaxed as well this time.

The low without question had to be at the Buff-breasted Sand at Flamborough when sadly a fellow birder watching it with me and a couple of other birders collapsed and died. Very poignant as the PC took away his bins and scope after the ambulance had gone. I made a promise to myself to get out there and enjoy as much of this superb hobby as I can.

I'll be doing that in 2008 - Osprey, Raven and Nightingale beware!

 

[Mike Richardson]

I really can't think of just one Yorkshire birding highlight for the year.

I've enjoyed every single moment of our BF meets and added a good number of Lifers on our days out. Seeing Lesser Spot, Greater Spot and Green Woodpecker within a couple of minutes at Potteric has to go down in Yorkshire Birding Legend.

Catching the Izzy Shrike at Buckton was a good moment, especially as I nearly missed the Birdguides text and headed down to Essex!

I've tried to bird local this year instead of heading off to Blacktoft etc. My walks at Flamborough has given me great views of Peregrine and Merlin, not to mention eventually getting the Laps.

My obvious lowlight is missing the Brown Fly, although the birds I saw on holiday more then compensated (Bald Eagle, Florida Scrub Jay, Crested Caracara, Snail Kite). I also failed to connect with one of the many GG Shrikes. I can't really complain.

Here's to next year.

 

[peterpiper]

smew

Marcus,
great report, glad your birthday bash was a success.

Chris,
shame about the owls, but a nice shot of the smew. I'm hoping the one at Fairburn Ings hangs around until Thursday so I can have go dipping it.LOL

Keith,
Couldn't make it down "Cut Lane" yesterday,so don't know if smew is still there, but if not, see Swillington sightings
pete

 

[liverpool_bob]

The low without question had to be at the Buff-breasted Sand at Flamborough when sadly a fellow birder watching it with me and a couple of other birders collapsed and died. Very poignant as the PC took away his bins and scope after the ambulance had gone.

OMG! ||

 

[liverpool_bob]

Osprey... beware!

Would love to catch one in Yorks too. Most annoyingly I heard about one seen years ago, sat in a tree, that would have just about been visible from my old man's house! Hmmm, nice house tick! :eek!::eek!:


Cheers,
Bob.

 

[Marcus Conway - ebirder]

Pager has arrived!

Not with instructions for being a single bloke.

 

[Hotspur]

Sweet. Never shall you miss a rarity again! *



*unless domestic circumstances dictate otherwise

 

[James Thomas]

Nice walk round fairburn today LSW down at the cut being the highlight, Green Woodpecker and and GSW also found so all three in a day (and before you start, I know). Little Owl, Curlew, snipe. Mentioned at the centre there was a grebe I needed to check out as first impression of a very fleeting glimpse in thick fog was BNG (probably greyed out in the fog!), came back through a couple of hours later being told there was one there but no-one could find it! Chinese whispers eh?

Stopped off near St Aidans and saw a v. odd looking fieldfare. Structure, white underwing etc looked spot on for fieldfare but it had a clear beige breast, no markings and a solid colour all the way underneath. As I said, pretty certain it was a fieldfare so how do these pigment variations show in FF?

 

[Hotspur]

Was at fairburn this afternoon, heard only GSW and no other woodies down cut lane. No Smew or small Grebes visible but it was very cold and my enthusiasm had waned a little by the time id got there. A few Jays kicking about and a couple of very vocal Willow tits were nice.

 

[Sandra (Taylor)]

Been to Tophill Low today. Saw Great Northern diver on the 'O' tank. Also two 'grebey' birds that I have still to identify - thought they were black-necked but they weren't on the board so I kept quiet. Going to look in the book shortly. I'm still thawing out! Gosh, it's a long drive to there from Tod. Glad it was a coach trip.

Sandra


Edit: Please disregard the above re black-necked grebe - they weren't!!

 

[zacatzooba]

Hi everybody,
I've been following this thread for the last few weeks and just signed up so I can leave a post. I'm a fairly recent convert to birding so am interested to know where the best local sites are - any advice appreciated. however, I think I'd better leave it a couple of years to tot up my 'lifers' tally to avoid embarrassing myself alongside some of you guys!

here's hoping you all have a great x-mas and productive new year, and I look forward to reading the Yorkshire BF threads over the coming year.

cheers

rob

 

[davidtucker]

Hi Rob, welcome on board you will find lots of info on the Yorkshire thread, and the members are very welcoming, ask questions...meet..and a whole new world opens:king: