Showing posts with label Owls. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Owls. Show all posts

Monday 8 January 2018

Wild Wirral, the rushing tide, Hen Harriers & Short eared Owls hunting & Water Rails a scurryin'

I went on a trip to the Wirral last week with good birding pals Mikey, Mark & Nick (add 'Timbo' to that and it almost sounds like an pop group nobody under the age of 50 will remember👴😀 so I won't even go there!)

Always great when a plan comes of and despite almost being blown away at times by the force of storm Eleanor, everything we wanted to see came about. Apart from that it was just good to get away from the post Christmas & New Year fug and head somewhere new.

Our destination was Parkgate RSPB reserve on the northern side of the Dee Estuary and we were there mainly to see wintering Hen Harriers that frequent the area seeing as all the the Yorkshire birds seem to have been shot by mindless gamekeepers! 😠😠.. not gonna go there either, not here anyway, but you can -  by adding your name to the petition to ban this mind numbingly pursuit by adding your protest here - Ban Driven Grouse Shooting and save the Hen Harrier




Dee Estuary & Flintshire coast in the background
Rant over and on with the grand day out we had at Parkgate. We got there early, almost first light and caught sight of our first Hen Harrier, a female, floating across the saltmarsh and flushing scores of waders as she went. The first of several good sightings and then later a smashing male whilst we were walking back along the front for high tide.


Snapping away I was confident of plenty of good pics after a recent lens repair but sad to say, apart from the odd one or two, nothing came out as I'd hoped and my 'soft focus' issue persists. In short its gone back to Canon again and I've had to pinch a few pics for this post.

Hen Harrier (female), Parkgate, 04/01/18
Here's my record shots of male & female Hen Harrier on the day and a couple of quality pics of Parkgate Harriers the like of which I can only dream of till I get my lens back...and even then I'd have to seriously up my game!

Hen Harrier (male), Parkgate, 04/01/18

Hen Harrier (female), Parkgate. Courtesy of RSPB

Hen Harrier (male), Parkgate. Courtesy of RSPB


The Dee Estuary is one of those places where the tide rushes in at speed and where peak high tides  send all the small mammals to scurrying for dry land. This was such a tide and both birds and birdwatchers were aware of it ... cue hungry gulls awaiting rich pickings and in amongst them Short Eared Owls, not one or two but amazingly 9 of these magnificent hunters came out of nowhere just as the tide and many rodents began to rush in!

Short Eared Owl, Parkgate, 04/01/18
'Soft focus' or not, here's the best and a few 'so so' pics of this awesome spectacle that will live long on the memory.

Short Eared Owl, Parkgate, 04/01/18
Short Eared Owl, Parkgate, 04/01/18

Short Eared Owl, Parkgate, 04/01/18
Short Eared Owl, Parkgate, 04/01/18
 Rather conveniently the 'shorty' above decided to alight on a patch of dry land as the tide rushed in, pulled a funny face and then regained his, or her's, composure for a nice pose!
Short Eared Owl, Parkgate, 04/01/18

Short Eared Owl, Parkgate, 04/01/18

Wow! That's all you can say when 9 Short Eared Owls fly past!

Water Rail, Parkgate, 04/01/18
A bit later, as the tide reached it's zenith and storm Eleanor threw a freak half an hour or so of huge wind at us, there was a mad scurry of Water Rails coming off the estuary seeking shelter from the storm. This was a crazy sight and I wasn't alone in struggling to stay steady enough in the wind to get some shots off ... there were only 30 or so birders and photographers sheltering behind Mark's van to get the best shots!

Water Rails, Parkgate, 04/01/18

Water Rail, Parkgate, 04/01/18
Stonechat, Parkgate, 04/01/18
Throw in 2 cracking Merlin sightings, Marsh Harriers, at least 2 Great White Egrets, plenty of wader & duck species, loads of Stonechats and it was as they say, a day to remember!



Grey Heron, Parkgate, 04/01/18

























That high tide brought us 9 Owls a hunting, rodents a scurrying and big winds in our sails,
Harriers floating, Great Egret's poaching, and who steal's the show ... 10 running Water Rails!



















Not my vid (it's courtesy of David Bowman) and sent to me by Mark P, here's some footage shot on the same day we were there featuring Hen Harriers, Short Eared Owls, GW Egret etc


Saturday 9 December 2017

Winter thrushes in Fangfoss, harsh winds, early snow and a broken lens!

Snow on the Yorkshire Wolds, from Fangfoss Park 01/12/17
Not that we're breaking any records nor that I'm in any way complaining but blimey its got cold early this year...harsh winds, frost and snow and it's not officially winter for a week or so!

I don't mind the cold too much.. get wrapped up, hats and gloves and all that, but I do mind slipping and dropping my rucksack and then discovering that my Canon 400m lens took the brunt ..ouch! Took me a week or so to find out but after image after image came out blurred I made the connection😭. Its away to the menders for a barrel realignment and I decided to get the front glass element replaced to sort a niggling little scratch. Net result - £411 and a wait of 3 to 4 weeks but still cheaper than a new lens. I miss it like I'd miss my right arm, had a few quiet grumbles but I'm over it .. it'll feel like getting a brand new lens back with all the servicing these optics firms throw in for free😜😛

So before the lens broke I took advantage of some crisp winter sunshine at both ends of the day around my local patch and got some pleasing pics of the many Fieldfares and Redwings that descended en mass last month.

Redwing, Fangfoss Park, 06/11/17
Fieldfare, Fangfoss Park, 06/11/17
 

Redwing, Fangfoss Park, 16/11/17

Redwing, Fangfoss Park, 16/11/17



Fieldfare, Fangfoss Park, 25/11/17
Fieldfares, Fangfoss Park, 06/11/17
400+ each of Fieldfares and Redwing plus scores of Blackbirds, Song & Mistle Thrushes have been typical over the past few weeks plus many large finch flocks, 300+ Golden Plover and several skeins of Pink Footed Geese overhead.






Pink Footed Geese, Fangfoss Park, 06/11/17
I'm lucky to get regular sightings of Grey Partridge around the fields here, absolute devils to photograph but I got reasonably lucky with this little grouping out of a covey of 16.
Grey Partridge, Fangfoss Park, 06/11/17
Away from Fangfoss (I haven't been far!) this Nuthatch was a pleasing shot at the Arboretum during the Hawfinch twitch.
Nuthatch, Yorkshire Arboretum, 06/11/17
During a walk with my good friend Mikey and mad dog Ivy on Sand Hutton Common we had an amazing 3 Peregrines flying over together - never seen anything like that away from a nest site, plus a Corn Bunting and a flock of c80 Skylarks, and down by the river Derwent on Low Catton Ings I had a great view of this Barn Owl.
Barn Owl, Low Catton Ings, 03/11/17
 We had a 'super moon' this month and so bright was it when it rose over the Wolds it looked like the sun rising!
Super Moon rising over the Yorkshire Wolds, 03/12/17


.....and finally, a pic I meant to post last month a nice Green Woodpecker on Strensall Common I stalked for ages and one of my local Kessies.

Green Woodpecker, Strensall Common, 30/10/17

Common Kestrel, Fangfoss Park, 30/11/17

Sunday 20 March 2016

Pre Spring mish mash ... various Yorkshire trips out and about in Feb / March

At long last I've decided to move back into the property market, nothing too grand (beggars can't be choosers!) but my oh my its taken over the first 2 and a half months of this year. Maybe its my age but all of the deliberations, decisions and 'u turns' involved in what should be a relatively straightforward process has distracted me massively and left me frazzled!

Almost Spring now - so enough is enough, its time to take the plunge! No worries, this post will not  in any way resemble an episode of 'location location' but it is a bit of mish mash of late winter / early spring around my way.

I spent a much needed break with gud fellah No1, Mr Mark around his patch on Hatfield Moor last month and got some great landscapes on a still and clear day....

Hatfield Moor, 24/02/16
Hatfield Moor, 24/02/16

Hatfield Moor, 24/02/16

Hatfield Moor, 24/02/16
Stonechat (female), Hatfield Moor, 24/02/16
as well as a rather nice pair of Stonechats that were flitting about and looking to set up a territory .. more and more of these birds are being recorded on Hatfield as the habitat develops and matures.





Stonechat (male), Hatfield Moor, 24/02/16


 
 
 
Its been the Duck season of course and I've popped out to the Lower Derwent Valley a few times and seen lots, and I mean 1000's .. Teal, Wigeon, Pochard, Tufties and the like but there's nothing more appealing I think, than a few of these mainly overwintering wildfowl pairing up and getting into breeding mode!
 
 


Shoveller pair, North Cave Wetlands, 16/02/16
This pair of Shoveller for instance look as if they're going places! Not in the Derwent as it happens but during a visit to North Cave Wetlands.
 .... and here's some Gadwall action...of all our ducks these seem to me act the craziest at this time of year with little groupings of boys chasing boys chasing girls (there might be a song in there somewhere?!)
Gadwall action, North Cave, 16/02/16
 
At the same location I spotted my first ever Green Winged Teal (it had been there a while) but it never came close enough to photograph. Interesting though and though at first glance this American version of our own Common Teal looks almost the same, that vertical chest stripe really is quite distinctive!


Green Winged Teal (pic courtesy of Ian Davies)
So, what else have I had recently? Well as the winter tails off without much of cold blast this year, I've seen many of our northern birdies depart of late ... Fieldfares and Redwings gathering in the tops of trees have been a common sight and many flocks have passed over north along with small flocks of Starlings. I had a couple of big flocks of Pink Footed Geese heading in the same direction over Fangfoss late Feb, one of which flew over early morning as I was heading out for a shower and prompted one of my mates to 'tut tut' me for not having my camera to hand! Best of all though was a big flock of calling Whooper Swans (I estimated c140) heading north over the Wolds last week (10/03) too distant and misty to get a shot but great to see and hear .. another flock passed over my caravan earlier in the morning (heard them but couldn't see 'em) so I guess there must have been a major passage that day.
 

Barn Owl, nr Sutton Forest, 5/03/16
Seen a fair few day flying Barn Owls of late too with regular sightings in the Lower Derwent Valley, the Wolds and around Fangfoss. This individual I came across nr Sutton on Forest after a good day's recruiting at Moorlands ... both reasonable captures but rather marred by interfering twigs and telegraph wires!


Barn Owl, nr Sutton Forest, 5/03/16

Redpoll, fangfoss, 02/03/16
On my local patch at Fangfoss  I'm still getting the odd Redpoll in with bigger flocks of Yellowhammer, Chaffinch & Tree Sparrow. Thought at first this one looked a bit pale and maybe a 'Meally' race but on closer inspection turned out to be just a Lesser.

Redpoll, fangfoss, 02/03/16

A few weeks ago in mid Feb during a mild spell everyone was marvelling at early Daffodils and the birds were showing breeding intent like this impressive looking cock Yellowhammer and a nest prospecting little Wren at Askham Bog.

Yellowhammer, Fangfoss, 11/02/16



Wren, Askham Bog, 14/02/16

Snow on the Wolds, 02/03/16
As is often the case though, a remarkably early promise of Spring was halted in its tracks by a cold spell, the daffodils retreated and there was snow covering the ground for a few days up on the Yorkshire Wolds.
Starkness and a bitter chill for the first couple of weeks of March put pay to any hopes of an early singing Chiff Chaff and here we are in the middle of said month with hardly any early migrants to speak of, the fields are bare though not without some degree of photographic appeal ...
Bare corn field, Fangfoss, Feb '16

Goldeneye, Tophill Low, 14/03/16
...and even a tramp around Tophill Low, a regular spot for early Sand Martins produced little other than winter ducks. This nice male Goldeneye was displaying but the female of the species looked like they were saying 'no'! 



baggins on the loose, ducks, winter
Goldeneye, Tophill Low, 14/03/16

A house hunting trip to Hull combined with a couple of hours at Spurn Point produced a Long Eared Owl flushed from the roadside (nr Sammy's Point) and a nice Merlin fly by nr the Blue Bell cafe, but no spring migrants. Jolly nice skeins of Brent Geese though and here are just a few of appx 1100 on the reserve ....
Brent Geese, Spurn, 18/03/16


Brent Geese, Spurn, 18/03/16
 ...and some reassuring numbers of our old calling friends the Curlew with upwards of 500 on and around the estuary .. here's a nice one that flew past quite close

Curlew, Spurn, 18/03/16

 Chiff Chaffs, Blackcaps and Sand Martins have now been spotted in Yorkshire at various locations over the past week or so of course, but not by me! There's always next week!