6th April

Large areas of floodwater south of the village again this evening. Birds on here included a record count of 22 Shelduck…

These flying birds included calls I have never heard before, high pitched almost passerine like.

I also had only my third parish records of both Gadwall (four birds) and Shoveler, a drake and this female…

A pair of Teal and eight Tufted Duck…

Plus Two Little Egrets…

Six Curlew, 120 Fieldfare and around 150 gulls including 40+ Common Gulls…

This gives just a small indication of how good the village must have been when it had managed flood meadows here and there were wartime reports of large numbers of wildfowl on the floods.

1st April

Birding can be a cruel hobby. I had a text from Tracey and Russ Palmer that they had three Hawfinches on their bird table. I dropped everything to run across but the birds had just departed. And to show it wasn't an April fools trick he had managed these photos through the kitchen window...

Great addition to the parish bird list but I am very jealous!

29th March

A good walk along the river today from Morton bridge along to the spinney on Potter Lane and back through Langlands to home.

No Sand Martins yet but I did see my first Mute Swan of the year (photo-bombed by a Goosander!)

And also my first Red-legged Partridges with a pair by the river and one in the Potter Lane fields…

Other birds included what looks like a nesting pair of Grey Wagtails near Morton bridge, two displaying Curlew, a pair of Grey Partridge, a total of 21 singing Skylarks, five singing Corn Buntings and 22 Yellowhammers (five singing birds)…

But on such a bright day a single Buzzard was surprisingly the only bird of prey seen and, apart from two pairs of Oystercatcher and one pair of Lapwing, there were no waders attracted to the excellent (temporary) flood pools.  

I also saw at least six hares (including three boxing)…

And this Roe Deer sitting in the hedge bottom…

Before emerging to graze in the field.

25th March

A glorious day today and a real feel of spring with the first (unidentified) Bumble Bees, a loud chorus of toads in the Magic Garden and  lots of birds in song including Chiffchaff (with one in the garden too), Curlew, my first Corn Buntings of the year and at least three Reed Buntings…

A flock of Yellowhammers were feeding near a pile of old pallets…

I would have had some better shots only as I took this one a bloody great rat appeared below it so that was the end of that session.

Other birds today included Grey Partridge (first for the year) Little Egret and three Snipe in the Bottom Fields, three Buzzards over Greenhills, a group of 40 Redwings in the Magic Garden and around 60 Fieldfares feeding around the remnant flood pools.

If these pools last into April they should really attract some birds but today the only waders were four Oystercatchers and a handful of Lapwings.

As I walked along the ‘avenue’ on Greenhills Lane there was an exceptionally loud metallic noise, it turned out to be this…

This Great Spot was using the mobile phone mast as its drumming post. Fantastic noise but the forces acting on its head must have been phenomenal.  

18th March

Despite the really bitter cold definite signs of spring today with two Chiffchaff in the Magic Garden. This is the best shot I could manage in the almost pitch black of the ditch they were favouring…

This capped a week of very poor weather but at least it brought the floods out. Both the Bottom Fields and Langlands were well flooded…

Pick of the sightings were these three distant Tufted Duck, my first of the year…

Unfortunately the radical clearing of the ditches means the water rarely stays around for long and the area that was deep enough for the Tufties to dive was dry by the following morning.

Other sightings on the floods included three Little Egret together, four Shelduck, seven Teal, 21 Mallard, two Oystercatchers, 70 Lapwings, a single Golden Plover and 12 Curlew. Gulls included around 200 Black-headed, two Lesser Black-backed, eight Herrings and my year’s first double figure count of Common Gulls.

March is the month for Commons through the Vale of Mowbray and the parish always picks up a few at this time of year. Back in the 1990s the numbers were much higher (I have had counts of up to 2000 birds) but whether this reflects generally lower numbers or a different migration route I don’t know.   

Yesterday I popped out between blizzards. Very quiet but I did at least get to photograph this obliging Treecreeper in the Magic Garden…

Less happily I was disappointed to see yet another little piece of good habitat going, this damp corner near the school was great for winter finches and thrushes as well as the odd wader.

11th March

Other commitments today meant very little opportunity for birding but I popped down to the Magic Garden this afternoon. A surprise find were a pair of Goosander on the lake…

The first I’ve seen on here.

The Little Grebes  and a pair of Canada Geese(my first of the year)  were also on, presumably the breeding pair of last year…

On the floodwater there were another six Canadas.

Yesterday’s heavy rain was equally unconducive to birding but I walked briefly along Warlaby Lane in the gap between the showers. Very quiet (and murky) along here but the first Lapwings were displaying and a small flock of Linnet were in a ploughed field.

On the flooded area there were a pair of Shelduck, my first of the year, and they aggressively drove off another group of four that attempted to land…

A total of six Herons were dotted around the edge…

The only other birds here were 150 Fieldfares, a handful of Mallard, 19 BH Gulls and this pair of Herring Gulls…

These two have been together in and around these fields all winter. I didn’t think they stayed in pairs in winter but there you go…

3rd March

There were still impressive amounts of snow around today and it remained very cold. I walked along the river for about a mile downstream of Morton bridge and then back up Potter Lane.

A single Curlew was by the bridge and my first Lesser Black-backed Gull of the year flew over. Then along the river I clocked up 49 Greylags, 11 Teal, nine Goosander, 24 Mallard and seven Wigeon…

Waders included, unexpectedly, a Woodcock flushed from the river’s edge, two Redshank, four Oystercatcher…

And a good total of 14 Snipe. Another four Snipe were feeding on the ice of some frozen flood water along Potter Lane…

Near here a large field held around 100 Skylarks and a handful of Meadow Pipits…

And a single Treecreeper was in the trees by Swalefields. The first time I have seen the species in this part of the village.

I also got a call from Tracey Palmer saying she had a strange bird in her garden. It was our old friend the White-eye which I last saw around Christmas. Amazing it had avoided predators and survived the recent cold spell, particularly given it’s natural home is East Africa!

1st March

Working from home today because of the snow but hard not to get distracted by a very busy traffic in garden birds…

There were also seven Jackdaws, four Rooks, Goldcrest and a couple of Redwings, the latter being distinctly scarce visitors to the garden.

Year list to end of February a feeble 62 species.

25th February

Well the Beast from the East hasn’t arrived yet and it’s been a glorious weekend weather-wise, only the birds have disappointed. I didn’t add a single bird to the year list this weekend (and only four so far in February). If you took out corvids, tits and Woodpigeons I saw virtually nothing. I didn’t even see a single winter thrush (although there was a flock of around 400 Fieldfares in the paddocks around Yafforth church yesterday). It’s not really even lack of habitat it’s just a general, and worrying, dearth of birds.

The bright weather did get the birds singing though, including this Reed Bunting in the Magic Garden…

This morning I headed over to the north of Ainderby. I don’t walk this way that often because of the rather bleak open fields here but there are some patches of nicer habitat including a thin strip of the nearest we get to woodland in the village. A Treecreeper, a Great-spotted Woodpecker and a small group of Long-tailed Tits were the best of slim pickings there…

Around 20 Tree Sparrows were around the waterworks…

A flock of 30 Lapwings, a pair of Buzzards and a Kestrel were near the Christmas trees…

...and, as I checked out a Common Gull flying over, I picked out another five Buzzards drifting over very high up. I wouldn’t have seen them if I hadn’t been looking at that precise spot. It’s probably a good lesson in keeping your eyes skywards.

This part of the parish seems to be good for birds of prey moving over (including a ‘kettle’ of 20 Buzzards last year). I don’t know whether it’s just coincidence or if it’s because the open fields generate more lift or perhaps it’s a shortcut between the Wiske and Swale?

    

Sandra photographed this blizzard of gulls this evening following the plough in the fields between Ainderby and Morton...

10th February

A bitterly cold day gave me thoughts of birds driven on to the river but in the end it was distinctly quiet. No Snipe or Redshank on the muddy margins although, in terms of waders, I spotted a flock of around 80 Golden Plover in the fields by the A684 and also ticked off my first Oystercatchers of the year…

These are the real harbingers of spring in the parish although these early birds usually move on up the Swale and over to breeding sites in the west. Our local breeding birds don’t tend to arrive until late March or early April.

The other year ticks were a total of three pairs of Goosander and a single Little Grebe on the river. Not a lot for near frostbite!

I also spotted more of the striking Willow Bracket fungus…

Earlier in the week I had Treecreeper in the garden, the first for quite a few years…

The other news this week was Chris had a Red Kite over Thrintoft and John reported a Cattle Egret on his land. No sign since but there were a couple of North Yorkshire records around the same time so who knows…