Male Hen at last!!...

An all day session around the local patch today got me my first local patch record of a male Hen Harrier after missing several reported individuals over the past few years,i have at last connected with this winters cracking male.The bird is in fact a 2nd winter/3rd cal yr.,as it has areas of brown feathering on the mantle and looks like it has a more reduced white rump than an adult bird.I first saw him today hunting a newly developed wetland area at Bonby Carrs,he then was watched as he headed towards Worlaby along the river bank,giving superb views of this stunning raptor species,a real joy to watch!.We later saw him again hunting the fields to the north east of the car park at Worlaby again enjoying great views.After talking to some other local birders,it seems this bird has also been encountered at Alkborough Flats and possibly over the humber at Brough Haven,so he is certainly ranging widely,as they often do.Other birds today included the continued prescence at the railway crossing of the wild swan flock, which still contained 5 Whooper and 8 Bewick's Swan,the Bewick's and Whooper's being particularly appealing and great to study alongside the commoner Mute's with me on several occasions,seeing all three species in the same scope view,great stuff!.Other species recorded included 2 Green Sandpiper(Flooded fields to the north of the car park),1 Merlin,1 Peregrine,2 Barn Owl,1 Short-eared Owl(Soak drain),107 Corn Bunting(Railway crossing),1 Little Egret and at least 9 Common Buzzard(With the superb pale morph juv. being seen in the railway crossing/river area).Mammal sightings today comprised of 3 Roe Deer and at least 5 Brown Hare.A good day on the local patch,shame about the crap weather.

Local Patch Wild Swans...

Four hours on the patch this morning produced some great sightings,with a large mixed flock of swans on fields at the railway crossing,with 47 Mute,5 Whooper and 8 Bewick's,the Bewick's being the first i have seen on the patch since the winter of 2002/2003 and all gave great views despite being a bit nervy,with the whole flock being flushed by a 4x4 vehicle when they all flew into the wet pasture field,later returning to their original field after a wash and brush up!.Also seen today was my first patch record of Barnacle Goose,with a single bird being seen with a flock of 70 Greylag as they all flew towards the humber,who knows where this bird originated as there are a few free flying flocks of feral birds in the region,but an unexpected record all the same.Also quite rare on a local patch scale of things,was my first multiple record of Little Egrets,with 2 feeding in the small ditch which runs north to south before you get to the soak drain,a species i always enjoy seeing!.Other highlights included a single Merlin which flew across the fields while i was watching the Egrets,2 Peregrine,a juv. male which landed in the wet pasture for a quick drink,before flying off and chasing an adult female,a great sight,a whopping flock of 87 Corn Bunting,my largest patch count!down at the railway crossing,28 Curlew,female Marsh Harrier and 140 Fieldfare.A very productive and enjoyable few hours.

Filey Brigg...

Another visit today up to this great Yorkshire coastal site,after Nige did a great job of negotiating the treacherous roads,got us several good birds through the day.The best of which was 2 Great-northern Diver,1 passing by north and 1,an adult which fed off the end of the brigg,giving fairly good views of this superb monster diver,which at times was hard to keep tabs of in the big swell today.In the same area,there was a single female Velvet Scoter watched feeding and loafing with a mixed flock of Common Scoter and Eider and gave good views.Also present from our previous,recent visits where the super Long-tailed Ducks,which gave nice views as they dived for food in the rough water near to the end of the brigg,later being seen in the calmer water off the side of the brigg and where watched dozing in the lovely afternoon sunshine.Other species observed today included the afore mentioned Eider,with 41 being seen,at least 15 Red-throated Diver,31 Common Scoter and at least 20 Purple Sandpiper,which gave great views,lovely little waders!.Just as we where about to leave i saw a raptor chasing something over the bay,it was a cracking Peregrine and was watched chasing a Bar-tailed Godwit,the Godwit finally escaping,a great spectacle to watch!.The only other bird of note seen today was a single Barn Owl at Speeton.A great day out in some nice weather at last.

Laughton Forest.

A visit this morning to Owlet plantation,part of the large Laughton Forest complex,to look for Woodpecker's didn't reveal a single bird,possibly due to the high concentration of dog walkers on site,but i did manage to find a nice flock of 56 Lesser Redpoll with a cracking male Mealy in amongst them.When i first located the flock they where feeding high up in a group of Silver Birch and i thought i saw a paler and bigger bird in amongst them,but they then scattered when flushed by a birders worst enemy,you guessed it,some gobby dog walkers shouting something along the lines of come here fluffy kins,i fealt like killing them.Luckily about ten minutes later i re-located the flock coming down into a field at the side of the wood and got pretty good views of them with a bit of patience and there he was,a stonking male Mealy,complete with pale mantle lines,paler looking plumage than the Lesser's present,pale rump and a really disitinctive red 'poll' on the top of his head,coupled with a really pink breast and large greater covert bar,this bird was also bigger than the Lesser's and really stood out amongst his drabber cousins.The flock then exploded again flying off into the wood,so i concentrated my efforts around the feeding station area finding a pair of lovely Brambling in with the local Chaffinches,the male of this species really are smart and i love the 'eeeehp' contact call.The only other birds of note were a couple of Common Buzzard.A nice few hours despite the lack of Pecker's.

Crowle And Thorne Moors...

After hearing last autumn that a Great-grey Shrike had been seen at Thorne Moors and had been seen through the winter period subsequently,i decided to make a trip to this great area.This would be my first visit here at this time of year,as i only usually visit in the Spring/Summer months.
 I arrived at Crowle just as it was getting light and nearly had a road casualty,as a Roe Deer shot across the approach road,my first of an impressive 19 individuals seen today!!.After i had calmed down after the near miss,i had a quick drink and got my gear together as a squally sleet shower passed overhead,then i was off.I saw very few birds on the Crowle section on the journey out,apart from a couple of Jays and Great-spotted and Green Woodpeckers.The first notable species i came across was a nice group of 4 Goosander seen on Will Pitts after i crossed over the Yorkshire/Lincolnshire border onto Thorne Moors.They were watched as they nervously swam about on the lake,giving great views,the male being particularly smart and i always think what a long duck they are,perfectly evolved for underwater swimming.I then carried on across this huge reserve and eventually made it to the viewing platform from which the Great-grey had been seen,but after a good hour or so and no sign and with only 3 Marsh Harrier for my troubles i decided to explore this area more.The highlight of the day was seen next,just as it had stopped raining,but only briefly,a stonking male Hen Harrier.Thankfully,i saw it again about an hour later,on the Crowle section on my return journey back to the car,this time it was much closer,they are a stunning species of raptor,what a beauty!!.The only other highlight seen,was a Woodcock flushed from the side of one of the many drainage dykes,giving a peculiar grunting noise as it took off,no doubt in disgust as to me flushing it from his or her roost.A really enjoyable day despite not seeing the Shrike and great to see the reserves from a differant perspective,ie with no vegetation as in my usual visiting time.

Patch Owl's etc...

A visit to the patch this aftie while her indoors was at work,got me some good birds to keep me entertained,the best of which was my first personal record of Little Owl.This little cracker was watched as it perched in the big hedgerow which runs north/south along the side of the Soak drain.They really are an uncommon bird in these parts,so it was a welcome addition to the patch list.Also seen today representing this smashing family of birds,was a single Short-eared Owl watched hunting the same area as its Little cousin and gave superb views in the afternoon sun and just 1 Barn Owl hunting along the edge of the wet pasture near the railway.It looks like the constant cold weather has sadly taken its toll on the latter species,with one being found dead recently.On a more brighter note,further goodies seen where at least 18 Common Buzzard,with several birds starting to do some half-hearted displaying,the female Hen Harrier,which showed brilliantly again and looked like it went to roost,a single juv/1st winter type Marsh Harrier and a single Merlin.The Merlin was watched mobbing a Common Buzzard,which was in turn chasing the Short-eared Owl,a great spectacle!.Numbers of commoner birds included 27 Curlew,22 Corn Bunting,19 Redshank and 3 Dunlin.Mammal sightings included 4 Roe Deer(2 Buck and 2 Doe) and a single Fox.An excellent few hours on the patch.

The Patch..

A visit to the local patch this afternoon in the far but brilliant weather conditions,got me a few notable sightings over the 4 hours i was on site.The best bird was a lovely adult female Hen Harrier,watched hunting over the fields to the east of the car park,giving great views.I later found out from Mick that he had seen a male twice in the previous week,so 2 birds have been present again,great stuff,proving this site to be a regular winter haunt of this cracking species.Another Harrier species,this time a 2nd cal.yr. female Marsh,was watched hunting and perched in the wet pasture field,giving decent views in the murk,as another bank of light drizzle passed over.Other sightings of note where a large flock of 52 Corn Bunting down at the railway crossing,6 Common Buzzard and 36 Curlew.There was also a nice mixed flock of wildfowl feeding in the wet pasture,with 70 Teal,50 Mallard,5 Wigeon and 23 Gadwall.Mammal sightings comprised of 4 gorgeous Roe Deer(1 Buck and 3 Doe's),which showed brilliantly and 2 Brown Hare.A great response by the local police today was also witnessed after a confrontation with some Hare coursers,with the boys in blue pulling out all the stops,drafting in the police chopper to help look for them,great stuff and hopefully the idiots will stop coming down here.A good couple of hours.

Norfolk...

A trip to Norfolk with Alan,Chris and Dave today to try and get some of the good birds which have been present over the last few weeks and winter period,resulted in us seeing some excellent birds before the weather closed in and put an abrupt end to proceedings thanks to a large fog bank drifting in off the north sea,bugger.The best of the species observed,began at Whitlingham Country Park on the outskirts of Norwich,were we enjoyed fantastic views of both Red-necked Grebe and Great-northern Diver,which showed at close range,with both species in the same scope view at one point,cracking stuff!!.Also present here,but not showing as closely were a lovely female Ring-necked Duck watched feeding amongst a mixed flock of other duck species,which also included 2 Redhead Smew,2 Redhead Goosander and a 1st winter male Scaup.My last female was at a private site at North Kelsey Moor in 2006.After enjoying all these great birds we decided to move onto our next target species at nearby Cantley.We eventually reached Cantley and began to scan the grazing marshes and after a short search there they where,6 'Taiga' Bean Geese,watched feeding at a fair distance,but you could still make out the longer bill profile and large orange patch.After a short while the geese where disturbed by a passing light aircraft and it was great to see the species in flight,the most notable feature i noticed was the distinct tail pattern of the species when compared to the other grey geese.This is the first sighting of this race of Bean Goose for myself.Other birds here were a nice flock of at least 85 Eurasian White-fronted Geese and a single female Stonechat.Other birds observed during the day and after the fog rolled in at Chedgrave marshes where at least 9 Marsh Harrier here and 500+ Pink-footed Geese near to Cantley.Non bird sightings included a smart buck Chinese-water Deer at Cantley and a Brown Hare.A great day despite the long journey and the weather spoiling the last part to the trip.

Whooper's.

On the way to work yesterday afternoon i saw a flock of 7 Whooper Swan flying north to south over the M180,making a nice diversion from thoughts of going to that crap hole,sorry nice place i work at,my first local ones this year.

The North Riding.

Another trip up to this part of the world in the freezing conditions today with Nige didn't disappoint with several good birds being seen again at the two sites we visited.
 Our first port of call,was a very cold and stormy Filey Brigg where the temperature when we arrived was a finger numbing -5,but the birds didn't seem too bothered.The main highlight was a flock of 16 White-fronted Geese which flew north,a very rare bird by Filey standards,as we where later informed after a chance meeting with one of the local birders who told us he hadn't seen the species for 15 years!.Other goodies here were a couple of Great-northern Divers,the resident group of 3 Long-tailed Duck,female Goosander,1 female Velvet Scoter,40 Common Scoter and 19 Eider.Also seen where a decent flock of Redwing,with 120 birds being observed and a flock of 74 Pinkies which flew north,following the White front's seen earlier.After enjoying our 2nd visit here in as many weeks,we made our way to the forest.

 On arrival at Hilla Green,we parked in our usual spot by the River Derwent,seeing a few Siskin in the riverside Alder's before walking up to our usual spot to scan the valley.There had been quite a bit of snow here and the scenery was impressive to say the least!.After about 45 minutes Nige spotted our first Goshawk,a male which had flown out from a larch plantation nearby,he then flew across the valley and began to soar around giving brilliant views,eventually being lost over the raptor viewpoint at Wykeham.We then enjoyed good views of 4 Common Buzzard over the forest,with one perching up after some unwanted Corvid attention and i spotted another Gos,this time a huge female crossing the valley from left to right,with that distinct slow flapping direct flight,what a powerfull bird.The last sighting before we left was of a male,probably the earlier bird,displaying at pretty close range,close enough to see the distinct head pattern,with a broad 'super',the underparts gleaming with reflection from the snow,what a stonker,he then disappeared into the forest where there was much vocal activity.We then decided to make our way home after an aborted attempt to get up to Langdale end as the road was a little slippery to say the least!.Another fantastic day in this beautiful part of the world.