Lancaster bombers over Stoodley Pike

I heard the sound of approaching aircraft engines and ran inside for my camera as the sound wasn't the usual jet engine or single engined private plane. Here is what I heard - 2 Avro Lancasters flying over the house and passing Stoodley Pike. Magnificent sound and sight!

 

Fairburn Ings or a trip to the Med?

As I was going over Selby way to collect my good lady from her sojourn in Thorpe Willoughby I thought I'd call in at Fairburn Ings. I haven't been there for ages and I'd also seen that a Glossy Ibis has been there for a while. So I packed my bins, scope and camera and set off early to get some birding in before leaving for taxi duties.

Lin Dyke hide was where the Ibis had been seen last so that was where I headed and I could see it from the path as it was right in front of the hide. Unfortunately for me the sun was behind it and no matter how I tried, a back lit black bird was still a silhouette to the camera even though I tried over exposing by many stops.

I also counted 7 Little Egret there, so with Glossy Ibis and Little Egret and with the sun beating down from a clear blue sky it was more like being in the Med than Yorkshire!

Speaking to one of the RSPB guys he told me that Avocets were breeding and could be seen down at Pickup hide with their chicks so I went down there and spent some relaxing time watching them, and also the Sand Martins flying in and out of their nests in the Sand Martin wall.

There were many species of birds seen during my time there and also several butterflies. The pick of my photos are these two - a Robin and a Ringlet:

Mankinholes, Lumbutts, Langfield and Gaddings Dam

Time for a local walk and I've been missing the local patch, so I spent a few hours wandering around and catching up on what's about.

Great Spotted Woodpecker - 1 at Mankinholes
Linnet - 4 (2 juvs)
Little Owl -1
Song Thrush - 1
Lesser Black backed Gull - 1 over Lumbutts
Willow Warbler - 2 at Lee Dam
Blackcap - 1
Reed Bunting - 3 at Langfield
Stonechat - 2
Kestrel - 1
Ringed Plover - 2 at Gaddings Dam
Dunlin - 1
Swift - 5
Mallard ducklings - 6, downy but no sign of adults

Lots of Mipits, Skylarks and Swallows.

Song Thrush

Ringed Plover and Dunlin

Dunlin at Gaddings Dam

Dunlin in flight

Tophill Low

A morning at Tophill Low in East Yorkshire was very enjoyable. The weather was fine and dry but a little breezy and there weren't as many butterflies around as I'd hoped for, but the birds more than made up for it.

A walk through the woods and scrub yielded singing ChiffChaff, Willow Warbler, Blackcap, Sedge Warbler, Whitethroat and a Reed Warbler (which was my first of the year). Another year first was when 3 Swifts flew over, screaming as they went.

I reached the hide overlooking D Res at the far end of the reserve and I went up to have a look to see if there was anything there. First impression was no, nothing there at all, just a load of waves. I scanned the reservoir again and found a Mallard or two and a Gadwall but nothing else. I was about to give up when I saw a black shape and thought aha - a Tufted Duck perhaps but it dived almost as soon as I'd got onto it and the way it dived wasn't a Tufties way of diving. Looking again once I'd located it on the surface once more and I waited until I could see more detail - its bill was what I was after.

 

A Common Scoter no less, with almost nothing else on the water at all - what a piece of luck!

I left the reserve and walked on the bank of the Barmston/Beverley drain up towards the reserve entrance and there were singing Reed Buntings and Sedge Warblers to enjoy on the way. A Reed Bunt looked stunning against the background of rape seed crop:

Into the reserve and over to the western end to visit a few hides there but although there were plenty of birds (Black headed Gull, Shelduck, Herring Gull, Little Grebe, Gadwall, Oystercatcher, Lapwing etc) there was nothing outstanding to latch onto.

A Great Spotted Woodpecker was calling in the woods as I went back to the car park, where there were a few people pointing and looking up into the trees. I asked what was up there and they said that a Tawny Owl had just flown into the tree. Sure enough, there it was:

 

A North Yorkshire Wildlife Safari

I went on  a Yorkshire Coast Nature wildlife safari at the beginning of April and I've only just got round to adding it to my blog. My only excuse is that I have no excuse for being so tardy, but what the heck, no one died as a result :)

The day was dry, overcast and cool so perfect weather for adders, but my prime target for the day was Goshawk.

Our guides for the day were Dan and Mark and our small group was myself, the two experts and a family of 4 consisting of 2 adults and 2 teenagers. Everyone was cheerful, friendly and interested in what was going on, and no one was a pain in the arse (apart from myself probably).

We started the day by dropping down into a small valley with a river flowing through it, hoping to see Kingfisher and Dipper. We got Dipper but dipped on Kingfisher although Dan had a brief sight of one as it flew upstream away from the perch it was sitting on right by his feet! Grey Wagtail, ChiffChaff and my first Willow Warbler of the year followed shortly and a Song Thrush kept us company most of the hour and a half we were there. Several Grey Heron, Redwing, Yellowhammer, Linnet and Siskin were seen and/or heard and there was also a brief, tantalising, distant view of Goshawk but I didn't see it well enough to id it so I was still waiting for my first sighting.

Dipper

Grey Wagtail

We then moved off up to a nearby forest in the hope of seeing basking adders and further on Goshawk was a possible. We got out of the cars and I decided not to take my camera and opted for the scope instead - mistake!!!

10 minutes up the track into the forest and Dan stopped us to look into the area between the track and the trees where dead bracken and grass were giving a good habitat for a male adder to rest. We would have walked on by without Dan expecting to see one there and picking it out for us. The snake was actually flattened rather than being cylindrical as you would expect, and Dan told us this was to present a larger surface area to be able to collect what sunlight and warmth there was. This was where I wished I'd brought my camera!

Male adder - photo courtesy of Mark Pearson

Mark took several good photos and emailed me this one so cheers Mark. It's better than mine would have been.  We walked on and Dan pointed out another male adder that we'd all walked past again. It stayed there for quite a few minutes while we had great views of it until it obviously sensed us being there and moved off into the trees.

A good walk into the forest along dry tracks and paths was interspersed with stops to see and hear birds and also to see Newts in a small pond. I'm sorry to say I can't remember whether they were Smooth or Palmate :(

The sun came out just in time for our lunch stop which was taken outside a pub on picnic tables. I have to say I was a little anti-social as I had my back to the party around the table hoping to see Goshawk over the tree line. Also I was on the end of the table so I couldn't get my feet under it anyway!

We returned to the spot we started at in the valley hoping for Kingfisher again and maybe Goshawk but neither was seen. We walked along the river bank upstream this time and great views of Dipper and Grey Wagtail were enjoyed once again, along with Nuthatch and Great Spotted Woodpecker.

 Off we went then for another place to try for Gos and this time we were successful. Parking on the road side was a little precarious but we all had great views of a Goshawk flying along the valley below the tree line. I had my camera this time but I decided that good views through the bins was more important than a record shot as the bird was flying away from us and would probably not hang around long enough for both looking and photographing. Again, Mark came to the rescue and he took several photos, this being the pick of them -

Goshawk - photo courtesy of Mark Pearson

We decided to try a location which was good for waders and wildfowl and also Little Owl. 20 minutes later we stopped to see Little Owl which the youngsters in the party particularly enjoyed. Just 2 minutes down the track Mark saw a pheasant in the field, but your normal pheasant - oh no - this was a Reeves's Pheasant which I'd never even heard of let alone seen -

On to the lakes and although the wind had strengthened to the point where the scope wouldn't stand on its own without me holding it, we got Little Ringed Plover, Egyptian Goose, Lapwing and Oystercatcher. Although I wasn't keeping count it transpired that I saw 53 bird species for the day. Mark and Dan saw more than that but they are expert birders and I was more than happy with seeing Goshawk for the first time.

We returned to our starting point at Seamer railway station after a superb, enthralling, informative and enjoyable day with good company and decent weather. If anyone is thinking about a day out with Yorkshire Coast Nature then I can fully and whole-heartedly recommend them. Money well spent and I'll be going on another adventure with them as soon as I can.

After some reflection, although I wanted to see Goshawk more than anything, seeing adders so well and for so long was definitely the highlight of the day for me. Thanks Dan and Mark.

A diary of last week - ramblings and Bramblings

Sunday 16 March
Walked over to Withens Clough reservoir and back on the Pennine Way down to the Rochdale Canal - only 7.2 miles but with a total ascent of 1097 feet which felt like more! Not much about apart from a Curlew singing on Erringden Moor and a Grey Wag at Callis Bridge.

Monday 17 March
Spent the day decorating at our daughter's house.

Tuesday 18 March
Ditto above entry. A single male Brambling visited the back garden feeders.

Wednesday 19 March
A 3 mile walk down the hill to the canal and saw 14 Brambling feeding on beech mast in Shaw Wood. Also in the wood were 2 Great Spotted Woodpeckers, both drumming, and a Nuthatch singing.

8 Bramblings

Thursday 20 March - first day of Spring
A 4.1 mile walk across Strait Hey and down the Pennine Way to Callis Bridge. My first Chiffchaff of the year was singing by the canal and a Green Woodpecker was yaffling too. 2 Goosander were on the canal. Brambling in the garden with the Chaffinches, Greenfinches, Goldfinches and Redpolls.

Friday 21 March
Ditto 17 and 18.  Brambling in the garden again.

Saturday 22 March
Shopping so best not mentioned :(   but a Brambling was in the garden.

Sunday 23 March
Walked 8.8 miles down to the local garden centre and home again. A few Mipits were in the fields and a couple of Pied Wags too but nothing else - did I mention the Brambling was back in the garden?

 

A Walk Through Mankinholes to Gaddings Dam

It was a fine morning but the early morning mist was still rolling in and at times Stoodley Pike was obscurred by clouds.

Walking through Mankinholes the mist descended so visibility was very poor, although a Mistle Thrush singing from a tree top brightened things up.

Along towards Langfield there were Meadow Pipits singing and parachuting at last, and a Skylark could be heard from above Langfield Edge. Up to Gaddings Dam and 3 more Skylarks singing. At Gaddings it was clear for all of 2 minutes then the mist came in again and didn't look like clearing for a while so I set off along the dam wall rather than walking along the Western shore, not expecting to see much as there is very little shoreline. I put up 2 Ringed Plovers almost straight away and they flew off into the grey morning mist.

The lovely views from Gaddings are being changed by these things, just about visible through the murk:

Going down to Jail Hole to look for Wheatear, a Red Grouse took off into the mist - calling after me as it landed about 30 yards away.

Back through Lumbutts and Mankinholes the mist had gone and visibility was good. A Pied Wagtail flew over and a pair of Little Owls were in their usual place with a third also seen in its normal location at Cross Lane.

 

The final sighting for the walk was a pair of Stock Doves also at Cross Lane, we don't get many of them here so it was a good record.

Redhead Smew and Drake Eider

A good Monday indeed. Called in at North Cave Wetlands to see the redhead Smew again that has been lingering at the reserve for knocking on a month now. It was pottering about in the reeds just 20 yards from the Turret Hide and eventually decided to stretch its swimming legs out into the open water.

Back home I walked down to Walsden to see if the reported drake Eider was still on the Rochdale Canal, as this is a very good record for Calderdale. We do not see many Eiders in the part of the country so it was worth an 8 mile round trip to see this elegant bird on home waters.

Luckily it was still there, although it had moved a little upstream from its reported position yesterday.