Category Archives: Uncategorized

A day of leisure today, back at Old Moor on a sunny day, and I finally got to catch up with the Willow Emarald Damselfly at Old Moor along with Common Darter, Migrant Hawker, and Ruddy Darter. Still a couple of Butterfly species about with a Common Blue and a Small Copper (Caeruleopunctata).

Other insect highlights were Common Green and Hairy Shieldbugs, German and Common Wasps.

Bird List : Black-headed Gull, Blue Tit, Canada Goose, Cetti’s Warbler, Chiffchaff, Coot, Cormorant, Gadwall, Grey Heron, Greylag Goose, Kingfisher, Little Grebe, Magpie, Mute Swan, Robin, Tufted Duck (16)

Common Darter

Hairy Shieldbug

Common Green Shieldbug

German Wasp

Willow Emerald Damselfly

Migrant Hawkers

Grey Heron

Back at Bempton Cliffs after a visit to Bridlington to photograph the Purple Sandpiper, one bird present, and a few Turnstone, Bempton turned out to be a better day than expected with the highlights being Barn Owl (2), Short-eared Owl (2), Spotted Flycatcher (2), Whinchat, Stonechat, Common Whitethroat

Bempton Bird List : Barn Owl, Blackbird, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Gannet, Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Jackdaw, Linnet, Meadow Pipit, Pink-footed Goose, Purple Sandpiper, Red-legged partridge, Reed Bunting, Rock Dove/Feral Pigeon, Short-eared owl, Spotted Flycatcher, Stonechat, Tree Sparrow, Turnstone, Whinchat, Whitethroat, Willow Warbler, Woodpigeon (24)

Purple Sandpiper

Turnstone

Goldcrest

Spotted Flycatcher

Whitethroat

I was up on the Yorkshire coast again hoping for a couple of passing thru migrants, for the 200 bird year, nothing at Bempton to report, I was hoping for a Pectoral Sandpiper at Hornsea Mere but alas that wasn’t about today either, so my first day on the coast was a bit of a let down

Bird List Bempton : Blue Tit, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Dunnock, Fulmar, Gannet, Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Great Tit, House Martin, Jackdaw, Kestrel, Kittiwake, Linnet, Rock Dove/Feral Pigeon, Stock Dove, Swallow, Swift, Tree Sparrow, Woodpigeon, Wren (21)

Butterfly List Bempton : Comma, Green-veined White, Red Admiral, Small Copper

Dragonfly List Bempton : Common Darter, Migrant Hawker, Willow Emerald Damselfly

Bird List Hornsea : Black-headed Gull, Canada Goose, Common Sandpiper, Coot, Cormorant, Gadwall, Grey Heron, Greylag Goose, Guillemot, Herring Gull, Mallard, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Pink-footed Goose, Redshank, Ruff, Teal, Wigeon (18)

Tree Sparrow

Goldcrest

Small Copper

Common Darter

Willow Emerald Damselfly

A quick trip out for a few Black Terns for the 200 bird list, birds were seen on the Wintersett Reservoir (Six Birds), the flying visit lasted about two hours

Bird List : Black Tern, Black-headed Gull, Coot, Cormorant, Great Crested Grebe, Little Grebe, Mute Swan, Sand Martin, Tufted Duck, Woodpigeon (10)

North Cave Wetlands was our destination today, I meet up with a friend at about 10:30, but I had arrived early so I had a little wonder around, see if I could find any dragonflies whilst waiting. I found a lovely Common Hawker just hanging about on the hedgerow, did manage to get a few shoots before a car disturbed it. After my friend turned up, we headed down to the new part of the reserve, has he hadn’t been before, from the new hide we saw Greenshank, Common Sandpiper, Egyptian Geese and a very unusual bird, a Bar-headed Goose. Later we managed to find the resident Little Owl. After me friend had left I decided on looking around for some more Dragonflies seeing mainly Common Darter and Willow Emerald Damselflies

Bird List : Blackbird, Canada Goose, Carrion Crow, Common Sandpiper, Coot, Cormorant, Curlew, Egyptian Goose, Gadwall, Green Woodpecker, Greenshank, Grey Heron, Greylag Goose, Jackdaw, Jay, Lapwing, Little Egret, Little Grebe, Little Owl, Long-tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard, Meadow Pipit, Moorhen, Rock Dove/Feral Pigeon, Rook, Sand Martin, Shoveler, Starling Swallow, Tufted Duck, Water Rail, Woodpigeon (33)

Butterfly List : Green-veined White, Red Admiral (2)

Dragonfly List : Blue-tailed Damselfly, Common Blue Damselfly, Common Darter, Common Hawker, Willow Emerald Damselfly (5)

Common Darter

Willow Emerald Damselfly

Common Hawker Dragonfly

Greenshank

Today I was out at Blacktoft Sands, to catch up on some wader action. Today’s wader highlights were Black tailed Godwit, Common Sandpiper, Curlew Sandpiper (5 birds), Dunlin, Green Sandpiper, Greenshank, Redshank, Ringed Plover, Ruff, Snipe and Spotted Redshank.

Bird List : Black tailed Godwit, Carrion Crow, Cetti’s Warbler, Common Sandpiper, Curlew Sandpiper, Dunlin, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Green Sandpiper, Greenshank, Grey Heron, Little Grebe, Mallard, Marsh Harrier, Redshank, Ringed Plover, Ruff, Snipe, Spotted Redshank, Stock Dove, Water Rail, Woodpigeon (21)

Common Sandpiper

Ruff

Back at Old Moor again, a fairly good day for bird species but now the insect life is slowly dropping away with Common Blue, Speckled Wood and Small Copper Butterflies with Common Darter and Migrant Hawkers the only insect highlights

Birds Seen : Black-headed Gull, Black-tailed Godwit, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Canada Goose, Coot, Cormorant, Dunnock, Gadwall, Goldfinch, Great Crested Grebe, Great Tit, Green Sandpiper, Greenfinch, Greenshank, Grey Heron, Greylag Goose, Herring Gull, Lapwing, Lesser Black-baked Gull, Linnet, Little Egret, Little Grebe, Little Ringed Plover, Little Stint, Magpie, Marsh Harrier, Moorhen, Pied Wagtail, Reed Bunting, Starling, Stock Dove, Tufted Duck, Wigeon, Woodpigeon (35)

Back at RSPB Old Moor, a familiar place, home from home, good wildlife, great staff, and a lovely cafe, a good place to be. The nature today was great, Birds, Butterflies and Dragonflies abound

Birds seen : Black-headed Gull, Black-tailed Godwit, Blue Tit, Canada Goose, Cetti’s Warbler, Chaffinch, Coot, Curlew, Dunnock, Goldfinch, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Greenshank (4), Grey Heron, Greylag Goose, Lapwing, Little Egret, Little Grebe, Mallard, Moorhen, Redshank, Ruff, Wigeon, Woodpigeon

Butterflies seen : Small Copper, Small White, Speckled Wood

Dragonflies seen : Common Blue Damselfly, Common Darter, Migrant Hawker, Ruddy Darter

A quick stop at Bullcliffe to see if there was anything of interested about, I did find the European Hornet still hanging around the same hedgerow, I also found a couple of hoverfly species, a Common Darter, which was a nice surprise, and a white butterfly species

Decided on a visit out to North Cave Wetlands on my way back home from the North Yorkshire Wildlife Photography Hide, seems to be a good place to on my way way back home, as I was in the car park at the hotel I was stopping at Burythorpe Hose Hotel, beautiful place, fully recommend, a Hobby flew thru chasing a couple of Swallows, good start to the day.

I arrived at North Cave Wetlands at about 10:30am and left a few hours later, about 3pm, I decided that today was going to be an insect day, hoping for Willow Emerald Damselfly. The car park at North Cave is free at the moment, this will soon be changing to a pay and display, the site is run by Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, the car park will be free to members

Birds Seen : Black-headed Gull, Blue Tit, Chiffchaff, Coot, Cormorant, Gadwall, Green Sandpiper, Greenshank, Greylag Goose, House Martin, Little Egret, Mallard, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Sand Martin, Swallow (17)