Dipper

The Dippers at Wrench Green were busy flying up and down stream searching for an early morning snack. I manged to find one individual having a rest on the side of the river which didn't seem to mind having its picture taken.

Hilla Green

Mandarin Duck

Goshawk

A fantastic couple of hours at Hilla Green gave me my first good views of the year of a pair of displaying Goshawk in the valley, also the third picture of the Goshawk above was a different individual taken earlier in the day at Wrench Green, note the missing primaries and secondaries, probably been in a scuffle with another bird.

Two pairs of Mandarin Duck were on the Oxbow Lake, but as usual were very timid and I only could manage a couple of flight shots. Also present at Hilla Green were Dipper, Grey Wagtail, Jay, Mistle Thrush, Long Tailed Tit, Kingfisher and Common Buzzard.

Whitby Harbour

Herring Gull

Eider

Old Lifeboat

New Lifeboat

A trip with the family to Whitby Harbour proved to be a fun day out, not only for the ice cream and fish & chips but gaining some decent pics of a drake Eider diving for crabs on the harbour bottom. There had also been reports of a Red Throated Diver but I did not see one whilst I was there.

Garganey

A drake Garganey has been present at Filey Dams YWT Reserve for the past two days. It has taken up residence with a small group of Teal and I even noticed it displaying to a female Teal, throwing its head back and forth. Quite an early record for this bird, migrating all the way from Africa (hope it doesn't catch a cold).

Red Throated Diver

Three Red Throated Divers in Scarborough Harbour today taking shelter from the rough sea's. Also present in the harbour was a single Kittiwake with Herring Gull, Great Black Backed Gull and Turnstone on the pier's.

Oystercatcher

Bad weather conditions recently across the country has made me stay at home and get on with all the backup of data taken over the last month or so. Found these images of an Oystercatcher on Filey Country Park at high tide. It will not be long now before Oystercatchers and other wading birds will be heading for the moors and dales to start breeding. I am going to try and make the effort this year to track down the Oystercatcher on its breeding ground.

Spring Is In The Air

Lapwing

Brown Hare

Brent Goose with Canada Geese

Whooper Swan

A drive around Wykeham showed me that Spring has nearly arrived with Lapwings displaying and male Brown Hares boxing for their territories to find a perfect female to mate with. Another grey dull day with frequent rain showers hence the lack of sharpness and colour in the images. Also in the area was Sparrowhawk, Stonechat, Brent Goose, Greylag Goose, Canada Goose, Mute Swan, Whooper Swan, Red Legged Partridge, Pheasant, Reed Bunting, Yellowhammer and Kestrel.

Return to Watton

Water Vole

Black-bellied Dipper

Another trip through to Watton for the Black-bellied Dipper produced great views again with the bird showing up to 4 feet at times. On arrival looking out for the Dipper I found a Water Vole resting in the sun before it decided to take the plunge back in to the river.

RSPB Bempton Cliffs - Visit 1

Gannet

Fulmar

Auks

Herring Gull

Jackdaw

An early trip to RSPB Bempton Cliffs Reserve to see what birds had arrived recently. Lots of mixed rafts of Auks on the sea below the cliffs mainly Razorbill with a few Guillemots, no sign of any Puffins, still quite early yet, but apparently one bird had been seen a week ago. The Gannets are back and already going through their courtship displays on the cliffs. Other species seen were Fulmar, Herring Gull, Rock Dove and Jackdaw.

More Peregrine

A passing Chaffinch was an unfortunate victim falling prey to the male Peregrine who then took its prey to the female.

The male Peregrine on the look out for more passerine's on the fly past. It tended to have its eye on a few Rock Pipits on the rocks below.

A zoomed in view of the Peregrine on its lookout perch, a splendid bird of prey.

Barn Owl

Came across the above Barn Owl hunting on the roadside between Driffield and Bridlington at around 3.00pm. It didn't seem to mind the car as a hide, so I followed it along the verges for a good 20 minutes - what a bird.

Peregrine Falcon

Just managed to catch some decent light before the bad weather pulled in and I also managed to get a few flight shots of our local Peregrines. Both birds were showing well and taking it in turns to have a fly by to stretch their wings.

Long Tailed Tit

A small group of 5 Long Tail Tits were busy visiting the bird tables and feeders at Forge Valley Feeding Station. The light was pretty bad all the above shots taken at 1250 ISO, plus did not have the time to run through Neat Image, but I am happy with the end results.

Scarborough Meds 2008 - Part II

5 Med Gulls present daily now at Holbeck, with 4 adults and 1 second winter giving unbelievable photo opportunities. Two of the adults have the full black hoods with the other two very close to gaining their full hoods probably just a matter of days now.

Check out Dave Mansell's and Terry Hobson's blogs through my links section to see more images of the med gulls.

Dalby Forest Feeding Station

Marsh Tit

Brambling

Chaffinch

Greenfinch

A drive through Dalby Forest and a brief stop at the feeding station which was very active with lots of Chaffinch and Greenfinch present as well as a single Brambling and Marsh Tit. Other birds feeding where Great Spotted Woodpecker, Nuthatch, Blue Tit, Coal Tit, Great Tit, Robin, Blackbird, Wood Pigeon, Moorhen and Pheasant.

Howden's Pullover, Lincolnshire

Glossy Ibis

Little Egret

Brent Geese

Skylark

Reed Bunting

I took a trip down to Howden's Pullover on the Lincolnshire Coast to see the spanish ringed Glossy Ibis. I set off from Scarborough at 5.30am and arrived at Howden's Pullover for 7.30am, the weather started off quite overcast before the sun started to break through mid morning. To get to see this bird a 3 mile walk was ahead , but the scenery made up for it as well as seeing Little Egret, Skylark, Reed Bunting, Brent Geese, Pink Footed Geese, Greenshank, Shoveler and Shelduck on the way.

Because I arrived nice and early there was nobody around, it took me quite some time to locate the Ibis but once found never forgotten, what a bird. Constantly feeding on frogs, newts and small fish the Ibis would occasionally take flight over to another pool to start feeding again looking for more tasty morsels to fill its appetite.

Eventually birders started to arrive to watch this bird in all its glory, with the sun peeping through the clouds helping to show this birds amazing plumage. As more and more birders arrived the bird didn't seem bothered that much with human presence and was showing well up to 20 feet. After my pack lunch and several images later I took the long walk back to the car once again taking in the surrounding scenery before the car journey back to Scarborough.