Treecreepers

It has been several weeks, probably since just before the late snow we had, that I've seen a Treecreeper. I can usually see these wonderful little birds flitting from tree to tree as I walk through the wooded cloughs but they have proved to be elusive recently. Time to remedy that I thought so I set out this morning with the task of finding one in the local cloughs.

Well, it actually didn't take as long as I thought! In the second wood I walked through a Treecreeper was spotted landing on the bottom of a tree trunk and working its way up the tree. I followed it as it flew off and landed on another tree about 20 yards away and moved a little closer so I could see where it would go next. A few minutes later I found its nest and stayed well away so I didn't disturb it, but close enough to have a good view.

 Only a few more minutes went by before it was obvious that there was a pair of birds with a nest and young as they were coming and going very regularly with food and I also saw a couple of fecal sacs being taken away. Mission accomplished and at least one local pair has survived the bad weather.

both birds together

 

Removing a fecal sac (even at 1/500th sec still blurred)

Delivering another food parcel

 As I watched a Great Tit also visited the same tree crevice several times and it became clear that they are sharing the same location for nesting. The Treecreepers are in the first floor and the Great Tits are in the ground floor apartment.

Elsewhere the Ravens have successfully fledged 5 chicks, the Dippers are nesting but I haven't seen any young yet and the Little Owls have at least one chick fledged.

Langfield and Gaddings Dam

I walked up to Langfield and Gaddings Dam this morning while the weather was reasonably warm. Not a great deal about as Spring is still lagging behind the calendar. The leaves on the trees are still not fully out, our blossom tree isn't fully in blossom yet and the daffodils are just about in full flower in the back garden. Hoping for the same haul of birds I saw this time last year was a little optimistic then, and it turned out that way too.

Linnet - 5
Reed Bunting - 3 singing males
Mipit - a fair number about but not really on a par with other years
Skylark - just 2 singing at Gaddings
Little Ringed Plover - 1 on the shore at Gaddings
Red Grouse - 1 calling

No Groppers yet (maybe the juncus being flattened by the snow is detering them?). Never mind there's still time for the year to catch up.

Hornsea walks

I took a few walks over the weekend around Hornsea Mere and along the cliffs in dry-ish weather although the wind was still chilly and quite strong.

On Saturday afternoon I picked up a bird flying in from the sea and soon made it out as a Sandwich Tern - my first of the year. I watched for a while as it turned north and flew towards the breakwater so I walked that way and had good views as it preened and was knocked off its perch by a Herring Gull. It was joined by 2 others before they all flew south.

Sandwich Tern digiscoped with the phone camera

Sunday morning brought a walk down Southorpe Road towards Wassand and a good haul of warblers and finches in the hedgerows. First off a pair of Yellowhammers feeding and flitting about

Yellowhammer

Greenfinch, Chaffinch and Tree Sparrows were making a noise both sides of the road and Swallows were zooming overhead singing away too. A very satisfying start to the walk.

Several Chiffchaffs were calling in the trees a little further down with a Willow Warbler, and further towards Wassand Hall a Blackcap was singing. Two Whitethroat were singing and adding their wonderful song to the mixture so nearly a full house of the warblers I hoped to see - just Sedge and Reed Warbler left to tick off.

Linnets and a pair of Lapwing were the next birds along my route and a Skylark was up and singing in the brief sunny spell. A couple of Reed Buntings were singing in the reeds at Snipe Grounds south of the Mere and the Sedge Warblers were now making themselves heard too. This Sedge Warbler was ringed but there was no chance of making out the details.

ringed Sedge Warbler

Skylark over the fields

At last I picked up the song of a Reed Warbler and had decent views of it soon after. Over the Mere there were good numbers of Swift, Swallow and House Martin but although I spent a fair amount of time scanning the Swifts there didn't look to be anything exciting among them.

Hornsea Mere Monday 6 May

A great morning for a walk so off I went round the Mere to see what was about.

Sedge Warblers were singing everywhere it seemed and I counted 17 individuals on my way on the south side of the Mere. Fabulous little birds and each one has a slightly different variation on the same song.

I heard my first Cuckoo of the year but the song was coming from over the north side so I didn't chase off to try and catch sight of it!

The only other notable bird was a Lesser Whitethroat being its usual elusive self and only providing brief glimpses, but I was able to get reasonable views, enough to give a positive id.

Other birds:
Great Spotted Woodpecker - 3
Whitethroat - 6
Chiffchaff - 9
Willow Warbler - 5
Blackcap - 1
Linnet - c.15
Tree Sparrow - 2
Long-tailed Tit - 5

BBS at Blackshaw Head

Time for my early Breeding Bird Survey visit today. I've delayed it by over a week to allow for the late start to Spring hereabouts but even so I'm still a little concerned that things may not be as far along as I'd like. I now have two BBS squares to cover as the BTO changed their stance a few years ago in that usually squares are allocated randomly, but for relatively remote squares which entail a fair walk to start off they said that adjoining squares could also be covered. This has two advantages - a) they get more squares covered and b) surveyors can use their time more efficiently. So I now cover a square immediately south of the one I've been doing for 20 years - double enjoyment!

An early start meant that although the sun was shining, there was a distinct nip in the air, so I put on my liner gloves to ensure I could write when I needed to. Of course once I'd done the easy bit of my 3 mile walk to start the first square and started going back uphill, things got a bit warmer so the gloves came off pretty sharpish.

A trio of Roe Deer were in the woods and moved off at a pace when I approached. Getting a good view of them through the trees and branches was not easy and the best I could do was this photo as they paused to ensure I was indeed still coming towards them:

 Half a mile further up and out of the woods into the fields and farmland, a buck ran off through the field. It stood and watched me for a second or two then ran off barking.

Birds were singing all round and a Blackbird with a particularly full beak of nesting material was an amusing sight -

 Looking backwards over the valley towards home, Stoodley Pike was looking splendid in the morning sun -

Willow Warblers are usually here in good numbers so it was pleasing to hear them singing and it seemed my fears that Spring still hadn't arrived were unfounded.

Willow Warbler

Willow Warbler (same bird)

Down into the clough still accompanied by Willow Warbler song along with a few Dunnocks and Great Tits and I hoped to see a Dipper on the stream. The water level is very much down on usual levels but there is still a strong flow so no worries about a drought, as if that would be a worry after the 12 months we've just endured with almost constant heavy rainfall that left the ground saturated, and it still is pretty heavy underfoot but it is recovering now and drying out gradually.

Up the other side of the clough and I left the first half of my first square behind and started the first leg of my original square still in bright sunshine and rising temperatures. A cool breeze was blowing though to remind me that I was still in West Yorkshire and not in the hills of a Mediterranean country.

Meadow Pipits started appearing on cue and a nice find was a Wheatear. This is only my second record of Wheatear in this square so I was well pleased with that.

Wheatear

Wheatear (same bird as above)

I could hear Red Grouse with their "goback goback" calls from the moor just to the south west of me and a Curlew was also singing over there. The song of the Curlew on a sunny Spring morning with blue skies above is truly one of the joys of life and I went on my way heartened by the sights and sounds of wildlife here in the Pennines. A pair of Lapwing were seeing off a Crow that was at least a field away from their usual nesting location.

I reached the halfway point of my surveys and sat down for a rest and a drink, watching a lady tending her horses over in the field on the other side of the stream by the Pennine Way. As I watched a Great spotted Woodpecker came flying out of the wood and landed in a tree just in front of me, then it moved off into a dead tree by a derelict barn. I exected it to start looking for food and hopefully add another great sound to the morning, that of a woodpecker drumming, but unluckily it didn't and it flew off back into the wood.

As I sat there it would be good to say the morning was undisturbed by sounds of civilisation but that wasn't true. A large wind turbine has been erected by a local up on the hill top and although I was quite a way from it I could hear the whooshing sound of the blades. There are a few houses down here and I'd be well miffed if my peace and tranquility was broken by this noise. What do I think of wind turbines? Apart from people jumping on the bandwagon to get grants and make money from over-subsidised, inefficient, noisy, ugly and wildlife unfriendly monstrosities I think they are frankly a waste of time and space.

I set off on the homeward journey and the second part of my second square by walking up (down I guess as it's south?) the Pennine Way. Two Curlew took off from the field as I walked up and thankfully they flew away from the turbine. Research reports that Curlew are one of the species that are most sensitive to disturbance from wind turbines, being impacted up to 600 metres from them. Curlew don't breed in the fields here as the grass is too short so at least these birds won't be displaced from their breeding grounds by this turbine.

A pair of Pied Wagtails were catching insects on the walls, another addition to the mounting species list for the survey:

Pied Wagtail

I was approaching the top of the hill and the highest point of my walk when I saw a group of sheep and their lambs, with Stoodley Pike in the background this looked like an unmissable photo:

Sheep and Stoodley Pike

With the combination of walking and the sun getting higher in the sky I was overheating a little, so off came the coat - unheard of luxury this year...I'll be getting my shorts out next! Over the road and onto the last stretch of the square and a Small Tortoiseshell no less, the first of 4 I was to see on the remainder of my walk:

Small Tortoiseshell butterfly

The one real disappointment of the morning was that there were Skylarks. This section of the BBS square used to be ringing with Skylark song when I started doing the surveys all those years ago but numbers have tumbled until last year there was just one and this year none (yet). I still have the late survey to make in June so there is hope.  Down into Jumble Hole Clough and the expected Willow Warblers and Chiffchaffs appeared. Nuthatch and Coal Tit were added too, and a Blackcap singing away.

The stream is looking a little sad and quiet but offerred another good photo with a slow shutter speed:

I was almost done now and was approaching the last section of my second square - a Song Thrush seen at long last. Phew, I was getting worried that they'd disppeared.

The last two species added were Mallard and Grey Wagtail on the River Calder as I finished. By chance I met a friend of mine on the bridge over the river and we had a long chat about wildlife, birds and life in general. A grand way to finish the walk, although I still had a mile or two before I got home. Still, the weather was fine and I could look forward to a nice cup of tea.