Barn Owl, Nosterfield

A little break from Foot It and the patch took me to Nosterfield today.  I often find the Quarry more productive than the NR.  I spent a while in the afternoon sunshine (I know, not a typo!) watching this stunning Barn Owl hunt, perch and preen:

Foot It - Week 1

As we come to the end of the first week of Foot It, I have reached the not so dizzying heights of 40 species.  I set a target of 67 species at the end of December and I have managed to record 38 of these and two which were not on the radar - LBB and GBB Gull, both of which I have seen on patch for the first time during Foot It.   It just goes to show!

January 1 presented me with a day off during the week, something of a rarity itself these days.  After the initial scan of the garden in the morning and the sky  and trees visible with the scope from the house, I spent a couple of hours to the west of the patch taking in some arable and unimproved pasture, a sewage works and some of the A19 and its verges.  

Before leaving the house I hit it lucky with 4 species of gull circling a freshly turned over field, the crow "commute" and a party of winter thrushes including Blackbird, Fieldfare and Redwing (scarce generally here) and a single Brambling in amongst them.  There were some noteworthy finds in a sheep field with 7 Pied Wagtails and 12+ Yellowhammers enjoying the stubble and manure heap.

A few of the more common visitors to the feeders this winter have been Coal Tits (often up to 6 in the garden at once), Tree Sparrows (resident) and Greenfinches (back to normal it seems after trichomoniasis).

A patrolling Kestrel is likely to be one of a pair resident in a nearby stand of trees.  A small flock of Lapwings was an uncommon sight too.

Mud was very much the theme of the day and a lot of disturbance due to shooting with gunfire seemingly coming from three directions.

Saturday allowed a stroll for a few hours taking in Thirkleby and Balk, adding Goldcrest at Thirkleby House and a Buzzard on the ground near Balk.  A few flyover Canada Geese being welcome as there are no public sites I am aware of with geese in my nominal patch.  Monk Park Farm (as seen on Blue Peter does have some Greylags from what I remember). 

Sunday added a brief Dipper at Sowerby, just on the edge of the 3 mile radius, but the sewage works next to the tip yielded nil.

38/67 57% plus 2 not on list 40/69 58%

Buff-bellied Pipit, Berkshire

I had a trip to the Queen Mother Reservoir in Berkshire on Sunday.  It can be found nestled under the flight path for Heathrow and boasts Windsor Castle as a backdrop.  I went to see the American Pipit of course and was not disappointed by views at literally point blank range.  The weather was overcast with the odd speckle of rain, but all things considered, not bad.  The bird was tending to favour the south side of the reservoir which was a fair walk around from the Sailing Club, but should help to prepare me for January's Foot It challenge!









There was a bonus cast of three Ring-necked Parakeets, two Red Kites and a Common Buzzard to keep everyone entertained, plus a small flock of Siskins around the car park.

It was good to catch up with Andy Walker on the day.  You can read his blog here.

I called in at Chenies, Buckinghamshire on the way back round the M25 to catch up with a Great White Egret found alongside the River Chess along with 4 Little Egrets and a Grey Heron.  A pair of Green Woodpeckers and a pair of Kestrels were occasionally seen and heard.

Now back to the Christmas festivities...

Red-spotted Bluethroat at Hartlepool Headland

A quick check of my email before I came away from work on Thursday revealed a Bluethroat had been located on the Headland in the afternoon.  It was found by Chris Brown and was a cracking adult male.  It scurried and flitted about the plants and shrubs and made the odd excursion to the gardens of 15-17 Cliff Terrace and apparently flew to Icky Alley earlier in the afternoon. A drizzly evening with a bit of a sea fret, but brightened up by this little beauty!










Fingers crossed for some more Spring crackers!

Nosterfield Crane

Here is a little collection of shots and footage of the Common Crane at Nosterfield over the last six months or so. Will it stay another six? Let's hope so.

14 January 2012, Flasks Lake

6 August 2011, Ladybridge Farm

3 July 2011, Lingham Lake

Desert Wheatears

I had a wander round East Yorkshire today dipping out on both the Tophill Low Cattle Egret and the Fraisthorpe White Stork, but did connect with the obliging male Desert Wheatear at RSPB Bempton, barely having left the car park.

Today's bird seemed far more well marked than the one I had in December at Newbiggin.

Glossy Ibis at Saltholme

I had a trip to Saltholme on the way back from Tyneside today and got to catch up with a Glossy Ibis on the new Fire Station Field scrapes:





There were four white morph Snow Geese on Back Saltholme and also a Merlin and Hen Harrier about, plus on Bottom Tank a Grey Plover and Garganey. Keep them coming!