Sunday 28 April 2019

28th April


Chris rang yesterday to say he had seen a drake Mandarin on the river near Thrintoft and it had then flown downstream. Torn between listening to Rovers critical survival game against Fleetwood or looking for this bird I opted for the latter. Unfortunately there was no further sign (but Rovers did manage a draw, guaranteeing League One football next year!) but I did see my first Common Sandpiper of the year…


And a nice bonus in the form of a (rather distant) Little Ringed Plover. It has been three or four years since the last LRP in the parish…


This morning I walked along the river downstream of Morton bridge. Disappointingly quiet but I did see my first Yellow Wagtails with a pair on the fence near Swalefields. Other birds included a pair of Shelduck on the river, three Grey Partridge, a Green Sandpiper, one Little Egret and a total of around 20 Goosander in small (non-breeding?) groups. The first Greylag goslings have also hatched…


I also watched this Pike in ambush mode…



Poor picture given the light and no polarising filter but interesting to watch its technique, it faced upstream with just enough movement from its tail to hold its position. It didn’t catch anything whilst I watched but a huge Barbel, bigger than the Pike, swam very close to it at one point.  

Sunday 21 April 2019

21st April


My mothing friend John has happily recovered from his back injury so we had the first village mothing session for over 18 months last night. As usual we set the traps in the Magic Garden. April is still early so we weren’t expecting a bumper catch, and so it proved with only 40 moths of eight species caught. However, this did include two new species for the parish, Red Chestnut and this rather handsome Early Tooth-striped…


Commonest species was Hebrew Character…


But also had five of these Powdered Quakers …


Generally it’s been a good weekend for insects with the unseasonably warm weather. Butterflies were prominent with at least six Speckled Woods in the Magic Garden yesterday…


Plus ten Orange-tip, two Peacock, Small Tortoiseshell, Brimstone and my first Comma of the year.
I also photographed this rather striking Dark-edged Bee Fly (see the long proboscis)…


And a reminder how little I know about beetles!


Birdwise the highlight was my first Whitethroat of the year singing near our house this morning, three Lesser Whitethroat along Greenhills Lane and another flock of summer-plumaged Golden Plover with 250 near the river on Friday evening. 

Incidentally I was speculating in my blog of 30th March about whether the flock which behaved differently was composed of two different populations of Goldies. I recently had an email from a researcher who has written a paper on moult in Golden Plover and she confirmed that both ‘local’ and Icelandic birds would be moving through our area at this time of year so that may explain the difference between the two groups.  Otherwise it’s been pretty quiet although migrants are drifting in and nesting is in full swing…



The Treecreeper was collecting sheep wool from the barbed wire fences.

Sunday 14 April 2019

14th April


The most intriguing sighting this weekend was a pipit seen very briefly flying over the river yesterday, it seemed to have plain underparts and my first thought was Water Pipit but despite searching by Chris and I the bird wasn’t seen again.
Although the weekend was generally sunny it was distinctly cold and this seems to have slowed migration so it was a pretty quiet period. Only one more Swallow record this week; a single over the church seen by Andy J as he came out of the pub. Sand Martins are well established back now…


With around a dozen Chiffchaff in total seen/heard...


A couple more Blackcaps were singing near the river and I had my first Willow Warbler yesterday with a second bird singing behind our house this afternoon.

Winter thrushes were still around with a flock of 50+ Fieldfares by the river on Friday and small numbers feeding in the fields on the Thrintoft path yesterday…


More surprising were three Redwing seen over Ainderby today, the first sightings for almost a month.

The only other sightings of note were six Snipe on the oxbow and a pair of Teal, six Goosander, two Little Egret and a flock of around 75 Golden Plover on the river by Swalefields.

I also photographed this Goldcrest in the Magic Garden, a relatively common bird but for once showing relatively well as it tried to out-sing a rival…



Sunday 7 April 2019

7th April


A relatively quiet weekend but I did visit the river north of the bridge yesterday. This is one of the best parts of the patch with willow and hawthorn near the water (affectionately known as Warbler Corner) and a small oxbow pool.
I saw my first Blackcap of the year along the old railway line but as I tried to photograph it there was a temporary distraction…


Lots of Chiffchaffs were singing, a Grey Wagtail was near the waterworks along with the first Marsh Tit that I've seen for two or three years. As I approached the oxbow I flushed two pairs of Teal and a Green Sandpiper. Over the river there were good numbers of Sand Martins but feeding very high, on the water itself around 100 large gulls (mainly Herring), two pairs of Oystercatchers, three Little Egret and two pairs of Goosander…


I met Andy J down here and he had had two Swallows around Morton Bridge earlier. No sign as we walked back but as I was about to leave a single bird flew in to feed around the old barn, always one of the highlights of spring.

Year list to end of March: 78 species