Tag Archives: wildlife

A day out with friends today, first port of call was Blacktoft Sands, taking in the farmland a around Blacktoft, finding Meadow Pipits, and a single Corn Bunting.

At Blacktoft, we ventured into the Marshland hide first, seeing our target bird here, the Garganey, male and female birds, sleeping most of the time, occasionally lifting there heads, other birds at Marshland were Avocet, Black tailed Godwit, Shoveler, Snipe, Teal and Sand Martins, with a Barn Owl in the nest box. We made our way thru the reserve to the sound of Cetti’s Warblers, Blue Tit and Chaffinch, we saw many Marsh Harriers at Blacktoft, from various hides. At the feeders were Tree Sparrow, Great Tit and Chaffinch.

Our next port of call was North Cave Wetlands, with the Turret Hide being our first port of call, hoping for a Bittern, this wasn’t to be, so we made our way back to the shelter where we got sight of a Little Ringed Plover along with Shelduck, Redshank, and Tufted Duck. At the feeders, further along Dryham Lane, Goldfinch, Linnet, Long tailed Tit, Wren, and Robin.

With Bittern being our main target, we decided on going around to Far Ings, back on the road and across the bridge. On arrival we went to the East Ness Hide, where eventually I had my best ever encounter with Bitterns, what and ending

Birds at Blacktoft : Avocet, Barn Owl, Black tailed Godwit, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Canada Goose, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Coot, Cormorant, Corn Bunting, Dunnock, Fieldfare, Gadwall, Garganey, Great Tit, Greylag Goose, Lesser Black backed Gull, Linnet, Little Grebe, Mallard, Marsh Harrier, Mute Swan, Pheasant, Reed Bunting, Rook, Sand Martin, Shoveler, Skylark, Stock Dove, Teal, Tree Sparrow, Tufted Duck Wigeon, Woodpigeon, Wren (36)

Birds at North Cave : Black headed Gull, Blue Tit, Chiffchaff, Common Gull, Coot, Gadwall, Goldfinch, Great Tit, Greylag Goose, Kestrel, Lapwing, Lesser Black backed Gull, Linnet, Little Grebe, Little Ringed Plover, Long tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard, Moorhen, Oystercatcher, Pochard, Redshank, Robin, Shelduck, Shoveler, Teal, Tufted Duck, Wren (28) 145/200

Bittern

Black tailed Godwit

Little Egret

First port of call was to Bourne for the Dark Breasted Barn Owl. Arrived early to a few cars already parked along the road side, staying in the car, we eventually , were entertained to a great display by the Barn Owl . This bird originates in North East and Central Europe.

We then moved onto Deeping Lakes, a place run by the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust, a small reserve, but lots to see, large car park, but no amenities. Viewing from the car park, Sand Martin a plenty, coming and going to the Martin bank. Moving on from the car park and along the river, to place, where a viewing, where we could view the Glossy Ibis (2) and a single Cattle Egret along with Snipe, Egyptian Geese, the sound of Cetti’s Warbler and Chiffchaff. Further on we saw Little Egret, Little Owl and Green Woodpeckers. Further into the reserve we were showed where a roosting Long eared Owl, the Owl was partially obscured, but a nice sighting anyways. Other birds on sight were Black headed Gull, Coot, Cormorant, Goldeneye, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Herring Gull, Mallard, Mute Swan, Pochard, Teal, Red Kite, and Woodpigeon.

We then moved onto Eldernell, it was raining when we turned up, so we had dinner, watching Marsh Harrier, Spoonbill, Little and Great Egret from the car, we eventually moved off and we went down to the Tawny Owl roost site, it took some finding, but finding it we did.

Our last call of the day was to RSPB Frampton Marsh, and made our way down to the saltmarsh as soon as we arrived, as we made our way down, we saw the drake Scaup, Avocets, Black tailed Godwits, Sand Martins, the female Peregrine was on the barn, Spoonbill, Dunlin, Ringed Plovers, always lots to see at Frampton.

At the saltmarsh, it was now very windy, a few Meadow Pipits, Brent Geese, a few Marsh Harriers, Sparrowhawk, Peregrine again, we were hoping for a Short eared Owl, to make it five Owls for the day, none showed up, but at 5:15pm however, a Ringtail Hen Harrier showed up

Birds at Deeping Lakes: Black headed Gull, Cattle Egret, Cetti’s Warbler, Chiffchaff, Coot, Cormorant, Egyptian Goose, Gadwall, Glossy Ibis, Goldeneye, Green Woodpecker, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Herring Gull, Lapwing, Lesser Black backed Gull, Little Egret, Little Owl, Long eared Owl, Mallard, Mute Swan, Pochard, Red Kite, Red legged Partridge, Robin, Sand Martin, Snipe, Teal, Tufted Duck, Whooper Swan, Woodpigeon, Yellowhammer (33)

Birds ar RSPB Nene Washes (Eldernell) : Great White Egret, Little Egret, Shelduck, Spoonbill, Tawny Owl (5)

Birds at Frampton Marsh : Avocet, Black headed Gull, Black tailed Godwit, Brent Goose, Canada Goose, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunlin, Goldeneye, Greylag Goose, Hen Harrier, Lapwing, Linnet, Little Egret, Mallard, Marsh Harrier, Meadow Pipit, Peregrine, Pintail, Pochard, Redshank, Ringed Plover, Sand Martin, Scaup, Shelduck, Shoveler, Snipe, Sparrowhawk, Spoonbill, Starling, Teal, Wigeon, Woodpigeon (33) 142/200

Butterflies : Comma, Peacock, Small Tortoiseshell

A few of the birds can be seen on this Video, especially the Dark breasted Barn Owl HERE

Today I was out on a visit to a local site, Pugneys Country Park, about 20mins drive from home, why was I at Pugneys, I had come down to try and find an American bird the Green winged Teal.

The Green winged Teal was last seen on the nature reserve lake and not the main lake, so I headed out towards the nature reserve lake. Settling into the hide, it was a matter of scanning thru all the ducks on site, there were Tufted Ducks, Cormorants, Grey Herons which seemed to building a nest close to the hide location, one bird was actively flying too and fro with nesting material, mainly large sticks, still scanning, Gulls about were Lesser Black backed Gull, Herring Gull, and Black headed Gull, a few Great Crested Grebe were present along with Coots and Moorhens, but alas no Teal at all.

I then walked over to the other hide, which overlooks the main lake, adding Wigeon and Goldeneye to the day. I then went walking around to the flooded fields, in vain the hope, but only saw a few Blackbirds.

So as a last resort I went back to the Nature Reserve Hide, and once again settled in, with eventually a couple more birders joining me, so with further searching we managed to find some Common Teal, hiding amongst the reeds, and with close scrutiny, I finally managed to find the Green winged, it was really tucked away in the reeds. I kept an eye on it in the hope it was the one, it did eventually give itself up for a brief moment, but positive identification was certain, then it went even deeper into the reeds and not seen again, hence giving no photos’

Another visit on the 16th, didn’t bear fruit either at Pugneys, so I went onto Sands Lane (Mirfield) again in the hope of a Caspian Gull, see video HERE for the results

Birds Seen at Pugneys : Black headed Gull, Blackbird, Cetti’s Warbler, Common Gull, Coot, Cormorant, Goldcrest, Goldeneye, Great Crested Grebe, Great Tit, Green winged Teal, Grey Heron, Kingfisher, Lapwing, Lesser Black backed Gull, Mallard, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Pochard, Shoveler, Teal, Tufted Duck, Wigeon (includes birds from the 16th visit) (23)

Birds Seen at Sands Lane : Black headed Gull, Canada Goose, Caspian Gull, Common Gull, Cormorant, Goosander, Grey Wagtail, Herring Gull, Kestrel, Lesser Black backed Gull, Magpie, Mallard, Pied Wagtail (13) (112/200)

Herring Gull

Caspian Gull (First Winter)

Pied Wagtail

Grey Wagtail

Never heard of the place, until this last week, when a Black Redstart and Twite had drawn my attention. I arrived at Knott End early, then took a look around the area where the birds had been last seen, no show, but there was plenty of other birds to look thru, out on the mudflats were Redshank, Oystercatchers, Dunlin, and Curlews. Out on the sea, I picked up plenty of Shelduck and also Eider.

Around 9:30am, an hour after I’d been there, other birders started to arrive, couple of guys pointed a Peregrine out on the mud flats, it had taken a seat on a tree branch, and during the morning sat there for a while, until a dog walker disturbed it and took flight, there was still no sign of the target birds. I got talking to another couple, local birders, after the chat, I decided on going around the back of the hotel, where the couple said, that that’s where the Black Redstart usually hangs out. Sure enough after about five minutes of looking I spotted it, a distance away, and I couldn’t get nearer due to railings, I put other birders on to it, then went taking video footage of other birds that were around, the Twite were a no show.

Then it was down to Southport for Snow Bunting and Twite, but on looking around Southport they were a no show here too, could have been down to the amount of dogs and walkers about, so I went to RSPB Marshside for the rest of the day. At Marshside were plenty of Tufted Duck, Teal, Mallard, Pintail, Moorhen, Canada Goose, last place to look around was across the road at the saltmarsh, here I saw Marsh Harrier, Grey Heron, plenty of Pink footed Geese, Canada Geese, Little Egret, and Great Egret to finish the day

Video of the Day can be seen HERE

Birds at Knott End: Black Redstart, Black headed Gull, Blackbird, Carrion Crow, Curlew, Dunlin, Eider, Great Black backed Gull, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Magpie, Mallard, Oystercatcher, Peregrine, Redshank, Shelduck, Turnstone, Woodpigeon (18)

Birds at Marshside: Black headed Gull, Canada Goose, Carrion Crow, Coot, Great Egret, Grey Heron, Herring Gull, Lapwing, Little Egret, Marsh Harrier, Moorhen, Pink footed Goose, Pintail, Shoveler, Teal, Tufted Duck, (16) 109/200

Carsington Water in Derbyshire was to be the place to be today, the attraction for me today was Red throated, and Great Northern Divers plus a female Ring necked Duck. I arrived at about 9:30am, on a cold but sunny day, plus a bit of wind.

I parked in the Carsington Water Visitor Centre car park which is just of the dam road at what3words (perfume,reclined,rotations), the car parking cost, as of date, free for 15mins, up to 1 hour £2, up to 2 hours £3.50, up to 4 hours £6, and over 4 hours £7 with pay on departure.

The visitor centre is right next to stones Island, where all three target birds were hanging out. I decided on looking for the female Ring necked Duck first, this was around by the sailing club area, which unfortunately you are not allowed to enter, but the bird was viewable from Sones Island, but distant. There were a couple of other birders there when I arrived, so got on to the bird fairly quickly, not good views however, to it snoozing, so I decided on looking for the divers, then come back for better views.

It only took five minutes to get around to where I could view a good area of water and was soon on to the Red throated Diver, due to a guy putting me on to it, this one was very distant, but alas no Great Northern, other birds seen here were Goldeneye, Tufted Duck, Black headed Gull, Cormorant, Pochard, Great Crested Grebes, and Little Grebes.

After about 45 minutes here I moved on back to the sailing club area, the Ring necked Duck was now awake and giving better views, but still distant, other birds here were, Wigeon, Little Grebes, Great Crested Grebes, Pochard, Mallard, Tufted Duck and a couple of distant Red Kites, and a fly over Sparrowhawk, I spent a lot of time here, getting other birders and non-birders on to the bird, however when I got news of the Great Northern Diver having been found again, I was off, it was near to the spot where the Red throated Diver was, there was a guy still there watching it, and with his help I was on to it at last, and once again this bird was distant too.

I decided having seen all three target birds to visit the Sheepwash area, a lovely hide down here, whilst walking down to it I had a couple of fly over Ravens, there wasn’t nothing here that I hadn’t already seen, the last port of call was the Paul Stanley hide, and again all birds distant, none water birds of the day were Blackbirds, Blue Tit, Pied Wagtail, House Sparrow, Robin, Song Thrush, Wren, Long tailed Tit, all mainly around Stone Island

Video of the Day can be seen HERE

Bird List : Black headed Gull, Blackbird, Blue Tit, Common Gull, Coot, Cormorant, Goldeneye, Great Crested Grebe, Great Northern Diver, Grey Heron, House Sparrow, Lapwing, Lesser Black Backed Gull. Little Grebe, Long tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Pied Wagtail, Raven, Red throated Diver, Redwing, Ring necked Duck, Robin, Song Thrush, Sparrowhawk, Teal, Tufted Duck, Wigeon, Wren (31) 103/200

Swans winter Swans, the day took me to a place in South Yorkshire, a place called Branton, a place of fields and hidden in these fields, were Swans. Has I came closer to the fields, I could see white blobs as I approached, I stopped at the closet blob, these turned out to be Mute Swans, nice to see but not the swans I was looking for, I was looking for the winter visitors.

I moved on down the road to where there were more Swans, these turned out to be mostly Whooper Swans, there were supposed to be a couple of scarcer Bewick’s amongst these, so graping the scope, I started to scan thru them, and eventually I found them, stuck at the back of the field in what seemed to be a furrow, typical, at least I found them.

After Branston I moved on North again and up to Wombwell, where unfortunately I found very little, so I moved over to Old Moor. Visiting the Tree Sparrow Farm feeders, once again very little here too, did see Blue Tit, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Chaffinch, Woodpigeon, Dunnock and Long tailed Tit. After here I moved over to the reedbed hide and joined the party of gatherers looking at the Bearded Tits which were showing rather well but in very windy conditions, making photography very hard.

A few days before this trip, I travelled over to a place called Lower Laithe Reservoir to see the Red necked Grebe and also found Red Grouse

Video of the Day can be seen HERE

Birds Lower Laithe Reservoir : Black headed Gull, Canada Goose, Common Gull, Grey Heron, Grey Wagtail, Jackdaw, Red Grouse, Red necked Grebe, Robin, Tufted Duck (10)

Birds at Branton : Bewick’s Swan, Linnet, Mute Swan, Whooper Swan (4)

Birds at Wombwell Ings : Black headed Gull, Blackbird, Canada Goose, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Common Gull, Coot, Cormorant, Gadwall, Great Black backed Gull, Greylag Goose, Herring Gull, Lesser Black backed Gull, Magpie, Mallard, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Pheasant, Reed Bunting, Woodpigeon (16)

Birds at Old Moor : Bearded Tit, Blackbird, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Coot, Cormorant, Dunnock, Gadwall, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Long tailed Tit, Pheasant, Robin, Stock Dove, Teal, Wigeon (16) 100/200

Today’s day in nature was to be at RSPB St Aidan’s near Castleford, the bird attraction today were , Slavonian Grebe and Red Crested Pochard.

Arrived at about 8:30am to a very cold but dry day, getting the gear together, I opted for wellies today, as St Aidan’s can get a bit muddy in places, and it was also going to be a scope day, mainly due to the distance of the birds being far, I also expected the target would be also, I would also be videoscoping today.

By the time I got everything together, it was about 9am, the first port of call was to be the Little Owl, which was always around the dragline, and not to be disappoint, there it was on the railway sleepers, sleeping, of course, also around the dragline were Stock Dove, and Woodpigeons. Around the visitor centre feeders (Little Owl Cafe) were Great Tit, Greenfinch, Robin, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, and Woodpigeon.

Moving on, I decided on going around Bowers Lake first, this was the last reported place for the Red Crested Pochard, it wasn’t here, birds that were, Goldeneye, Pochard, Tufted Duck, and Cormorant. Next course of action was to go down to the last reported place of the Slavonian Grebe, looking around, I got sight of Great Crested Grebe, Teal, Wigeon, a perched up Common Buzzard on one of the islands, Great Black backed Gulls, Herring Gulls, Common Gulls, Black headed Gulls, Oystercatcher, Gadwall, Goosander, Greylag Goose, Canada Goose, Shelduck, and then right over at the other side in with the Great Crested Grebes was the Slavonian Grebe, talk about being distant, but close by in the reed edge were Bearded Tit and a Cetti’s Warbler, by this time I was getting hungry, so I headed back towards the car park, stopping off at the Eastern Reedbed on my way, here I found Meadow Pipit and Water Pipit along with Pied Wagtail and Grey Wagtails and a Common Snipe, I missed the Jack Snipe, that was seen here. Over the hillside were a couple of Red Kites along with Common Buzzards.

After dinner, I decided on going around the back pathway to try and get closer to the target birds, the plan worked, I got better views of the Slavonian Grebe, and a surprise find whilst I was here, was the Red Crested Pochard, a nice ending to the day

Video of the Day can be seen HERE

Birds Seen: Bearded Tit, Black headed Gull, Blackbird, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Canada Goose, Carrion Crow, Cetti’s Warbler, Common Gull, Coot, Cormorant, Gadwall, Goldeneye, Goldfinch, Goosander, Great Black backed Gull, Great Crested Grebe, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Grey Wagtail, Greylag Goose, Herring Gull, Kestrel, Lapwing, Lesser Black backed Gull, Little Owl, Magpie, Mallard, Marsh Harrier, Meadow Pipit, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Pochard, Red Kite, Red-crested Pochard, Robin, Shelduck, Shoveler, Slavonian Grebe, Snipe, Stock Dove, Teal, Tufted Duck, Water Pipit, Wigeon, Woodpigeon (49) (96/200) 7 added