24th March

Visiting birders found four Garganey (two drakes) on the floodwater north of Morton Bridge this morning. Unfortunately the birds were flushed and flew off north. I assumed this would be ‘my’ pair plus another but when I walked along the original two birds were still on the floodwater south of the bridge this morning. Slightly better light but still ridiculously distant…

Amazing that three quarters of the Garganey reported in the whole of north-east England were attracted to this short stretch of the Swale!

The flood pools also held four Mute Swans, four Gadwall, 31 Shelduck, 150+ Herring Gulls and 45 Lesser Black-backeds. Along the river I saw two Little Egrets, four Goosander, three pairs of Oystercatcher and a Grey Wagtail. More Chiffchaffs in too, with four singing birds today.

22nd March

A day off today so a quick walk downstream along the river. Twenty five Redwings were the first I’ve seen for a couple of weeks and a Grey Wagtail on the first bend was a pleasant surprise…

Otherwise it was decidedly quiet until I got to a spot where floodwater from last weekend was still lying on the far bank. I could see dozens of gulls but also some whiter shapes. They were Shelduck and as I searched through I tallied up 23, the largest count I have had.

Birds were very distant but I could see a couple of darker shapes. There were three Gadwall, my first of the year, but the bird behind it was a superb drake Garganey! A new bird for the parish. (Terrible photo but it was very gloomy and very far…)

When I checked my other photos later it actually showed there was a pair present.

As I walked back up Potter Lane I had two more Corn Buntings (making a total of seven singing birds) and a flock of 59 Golden Plover drifted over...

I finished off by checking the river north of the road. Three Little Egrets here (none of them ringed) plus a Green Sandpiper and four Goosander. A good morning's birding.

20th March

Just about to set off for work this morning when I spotted a cracking skein of Whooper Swans. They flew straight over the house. By the time I’d grabbed the camera and shot out of the front door they were already well past…

I took some poor pictures but it did mean I could count the flock. There were 38 birds, probably the largest group I have had in the parish. They were also the first I have had over the garden. Normally Whoopers follow the line of the Swale. Someone tweeted me to say they had had a skein of 38 over Whitburn about an hour later. If it was the same birds they would have been travelling at an average of about 45 miles per hour.

Otherwise it has been a pretty quiet period. Floods at the weekend raised hopes…

But apart from a dozen Teal and 16 Curlew in the Bottom Fields they mainly attracted gulls although this included my first Lesser Black-backs of the year.

A Chiffchaff was singing on Monday and a single Little Egret was on the river. Unfortunately I flushed it before I realised it was carrying rings...

   

25th February

I planned an early morning walk along the river today but the fog was too thick so I didn’t get down there until lunchtime. Almost the first birds I had were a skein of nine Whooper Swans. This would have been a nice picture of them if I had remembered to zoom!

Nine birds flew north from Wheldrake Ings earlier in the day so I suspect these are the same birds. I will have to find out what time they left and work out the flight speed. There seems to be a very early movement of the species this year, perhaps not surprising in this stunning weather.

Otherwise it was very quiet, there were two pairs of Oystercatchers (both looking pretty settled rather than the usual February birds which just pass through) plus a single drake Teal, Green Sandpiper and three Common Gulls.

Earlier in the week the Bottom Fields held a flock of 31 Corn Buntings, the highest count for quite a few years, and sixteen Curlew. A pair of Buzzards were displaying over the Magic Garden and the regularity of sightings here mean there must be a good chance of nesting this year.

10th February

I left the trail camera in the Magic Garden last week, pick of the shots was this one of a pair of Jays. Being normally so wary this is better than any I’ve taken of the species!!

A bit of floodwater in the bottom fields today so a quick walk down there turned up three new bird’s for the year with five Canada Geese, three Shelduck  and a big female Sparrowhawk (surprisingly sending the Black-headed Gulls into a mass panic). Three Buzzards here too.

Carrying on down Greenhills Lane the beet field had a number of birds feeding around the sheeps’ feet. Expecting the usual wagtails and pipits I was surprised to see nearly all the birds were Redwing with about 40 in total in this field.  

In the avenue there were four Treecreepers, mainly feeding low down in the hedgerow, and in the end fields a group of 35 Lapwing, fifty plus Fieldfares and a cracking flock of over 100 Linnets. The first big numbers I have had of this finch for quite a few years.

3rd February

A nice smattering of snow yesterday morning so I went down the river in the hope of birds driven off the local lakes….

No real sign of this but I saw my first Redshank of the year with other year ticks including Little Grebe, a pair of Mute Swans, two Snipe and a Golden Plover. Other birds seen included five Goosander, two Kingfishers and a pair of Teal.

This Great Spotted Woodpecker decided trees were too analogue and has been using the mobile mast again for its drumming post

Best sightings of the day though were hares with at least 15 seen on the walk. Nearly all concentrated in three big open arable fields along Potter Lane...

Last week the Greylags started to disperse from the fields at the end of Greenhills Lane but the last flock did attract a single Pinkfoot. Very poor picture in foggy conditions but only the second one I have seen on the ground in Ainderby.

13th January

Yesterday I did My first walk along the river this year. Highlight was a Barn Owl hunting in the field next to Morton Bridge. A couple of friends at work had mentioned seeing one in this field over the last week so great that it’s still there. This used to be a regular haunt for them before the mysterious disappearance of most of the local birds. Unfortunately the light was appalling so no picture.

Other birds seen included two Little Egrets, up to 28 Cormorants, eight Goosander, half a dozen Teal, 40 Curlew, two Green Sandpipers and a single Oystercatcher.

On Friday night as I got home from work the local Greylags were flying over the village in four great skeins, probably around 500 birds. A magnificent sound and, partly lit by the floodlights on the church, a magnificent sight too. I stood hoping to film them going over last night but they were too high and lost in the darkness.  

Today I added Kingfisher and Jay in the Magic Garden and also watched a group of five Roe Deer feeding down Greenhills Lane…

And talking of the Magic Garden these are a couple of recent images from the trail camera we put in there…

29th December

It’s been a big gap since I last wrote this blog, indicative of too little time and too few birds but given it’s almost the end of the year I need to make an effort. Fortunately this has coincided with a nice find. Yesterday evening I walked down to Langlands to look for a reported ‘rare’ owl which turned out to be only a Little Owl. But whilst looking for this I noticed large numbers of geese moving over from the east and apparently dropping in to roost near Greenhills farm.

So this afternoon I walked down Greenhills Lane. Little en route other than two Buzzards, a Bullfinch and a good sized flock of Long-tailed Tits…

But in the big open fields here there were high numbers of Greylag Geese

I counted around 400 birds and then a further flock of about 50 flew high in from the east and noisily joined the birds on the ground (doing an impression of a Peter Scott painting on the way)

Despite searching I couldn’t find any rarer species amongst them but in trying to get closer I flushed two Woodcock and then heard a vaguely familiar call, Raven! The bird flew across and seemed to be dropping towards the ruined farmhouse before I lost sight of it. This is the first record for the parish of what is still an exceptionally rare bird in the Vale of Mowbray. A fantastic, and timely, way to clock up my 100^th species of the year in the village.

4th November

Pick of the sightings was a Mealy Redpoll in my garden! The bird was so tame that I literally almost stood on it. Unfortunately by the time I had gone back in for my camera the bird, along with all the other garden passerines, had gone. Probably not unrelated to the fact a Sparrowhawk had just flashed through the garden!

On Friday a walk along the river had turned up three more Redpoll, my first of the year. I assume these were Lessers but only heard them and saw them in flight. They were associating with a large arrival of winter thrushes with over 100 Fieldfares in the hawthorns and willows along ‘Migrant Alley’.

Other birds along here included Kingfisher, two Little Grebe, Little Egret, a total of eight Goosander…

Green Sandpiper and two Snipe, including this one in ‘threat pose’

Earlier, on a walk down the waterworks lane, I found ten Bullfinches around the Christmas trees, probably the largest group I have ever seen in the parish, and there were up  to four Treecreepers along Warbler Hedge…

And yesterday along Greenhills Lane I had another Treecreeper  near the ruined barns, 60+ Lapwings feeding in the large field here and the first winter gatherings of buntings, mainly composed of Yellowhammers…

Year List to end of October – 98 species.

7th October

I can’t remember an autumn so devoid of birds as this one but at least the first Fieldfares and Redwings moved west over the village this afternoon.

In the secret garden the first Kingfisher was back and other birds there today included two Buzzard, two Jay, Sparrowhawk, Bullfinch and Chiffchaff. A Migrant Hawker was also still present hunting around the fen area…

This golf-tee shaped mark is one of the ways of distinguishing this species

Talking of insects this is, I think, a Hawthorn Shield Bug, photographed in Morton a few days ago…

Elsewhere I had a small movement of Skylarks over the house last night and this morning, all moving south-west. I also photographed this Chiffchaff through the window…

And that was it! Hopefully still time for things to pick up.

Year List to end of September – 97 species.