27th November

A quick pre-dark walk upstream from Morton bridge on Friday turned up this Oystercatcher. The first I’ve seen since the summer and probably the latest I’ve ever had one in the parish…

I also saw my first Goosander since late spring…

And on the interesting looking flood pool here…

There were a handful of Teal and half a dozen Snipe. Two Little Egret also flew over.

The Bottom Fields in Ainderby looked very promising for birds this morning too.

They would have been covered in gulls, Curlews and corvids if it hadn’t been for this…

Which, despite appearances, is not a speck on the camera lens but my second Peregrine of the year. The falcon sent everything up before flying up and over the village.

One bird that was on here was this cock Lapwing which looks to be in virtual full summer plumage, very strange at this time of year.... 

It appeared to be paired up and even seemed to have a half-hearted attempt at display flight.

The other highlights were a Fox which jumped out of the fen area almost at my feet and two Woodcock (flushed from the bog area and the willow patch). The only times I have seen Woodcock before have been on passage or in very hard weather. 

20th November

It has been very quiet recently hence the gap in posts. Thrushes have continued to flood in with a conservative estimate of 600 Redwings in the Magic Garden early last week. There is also a regular thrush roost here. The Redwings tend to use the trees on the island or the young oaks but the Fieldfares drop in to the tops of the more mature trees.

  

Cormorants used to be uncommon visitors to the village but are now seen very regularly. The bare Ash tree in the Magic Garden seems to be the perch site of choice.

This second bird looks to be of the continental race sinensis from the shape of the orange gular patch.

  

Another bird which has become much commoner in recent years is the Jay. It was the big autumn influx from the continent in 2012 which marked the real change with regular sightings since then (although they seem to disappear in the summer). The Magic Garden is the best site but birds are often seen on Langlands Farm too. I’ve included this poor picture as this is literally the only shot of this ultra-wary bird I have ever taken in the parish.

The only other birds of note were three Snipe in the bottom fields, a pair of Teal in the Magic Garden and a Grey Wagtail amongst the leaf litter on the village green (can you spot it?)

In terms of the weather there seems to be a real contrast at the moment. Both these pictures were taken within a few minutes of each other, snow on the Hambletons…

And this almost summery view in the Magic Garden...

And as if to emphasise the delayed autumn, driving to the pictures last night (‘Arrival’ – very good!) we saw quite a few moths and a bat out hunting.

I’ll finish with this striking sky-fire picture photographed last night (surely a warning from the gods after Trump’s victory!)