Sun and Wind......

Canada Geese and Canada x Greylag hybrid.

Canada Geese and Canada x Greylag hybrid.

Female Scaup.

Greylag Goose.

Mute Swan.

Shelduck.

After yesterdays blustery day in York's,today was more of the same with some lovely long periods of sunshine,so after dropping Trace at work i headed for MSQ to see what i could find.As i arrived at the car park,the first bird to greet me along with Mike,was a single Willow Tit coming to the seed and peanuts Mike had just put out for the birds,a nice start.To start with i had a quick look on Grebe lake and saw nothing much of note,the pair of Mute Swans still had junior tagging along and i thought to myself how much longer is this pair going to tolerate their youngster from last year.As i walked along past the dipping platform a streak of chestnut and a black tail tip shot past at lightning speed and then i got another glimpse of the Stoat as he looked for any small mammals or Rabbits for his breakfast.I havn't seen any this year in 'Ermine' here,but have seen them in the past,stunning animals.Further on through the reserve and as i approached the avenue of Alders at least 35 Siskin and 30 Lesser Redpoll were feeding fairly low down giving superb views and i waited patiently for the sun to appear again,alas it was all in vain as a unsuspecting couple appeared and who probably didn't even know the birds exsisted flushed everything,great!.I continued around the reserve eventually arriving at the main lake were there was lots of wildfowl on the water,close to and it soon became apparent why when a flock of Canada Geese flew over and someone started shooting at them.Unfortunately it looks like the adjacent land owner has a liking for Goose.On the lake,the main highlights were the continued prescence of the wintering female Scaup,with two birds seen together today and a Greylag x Canada hybrid in with the feral goose flock.The remainder of the reserve provided little else in the way of birds apart from a handfull of Lesser Redpoll and Siskin on the way down to the wader hide.In the pine plantation the Scarlet Elf Cup were still giving a great showing and a single male Smooth Newt was in the small woodland pond.A nice morning out at my favourite reserve.