With the day off, I left the kids to entertain themselves and headed off to Wheldrake Ings. A Cetti's Warbler was singing from the marshy area next to the car park, and another was by the first bend in the riverside path. It seems they are returning to the ings after the winter floods. The Willow Warbler was still proclaiming its territory near Tower Hide and a second bird was in riverside trees just south of the refuge gate. The American Wigeon was showing well, staying close to a female Euro Wigeon on Swantail. The light was still dreary, so my pic are not much better than the other day.
The Blackwits were spread across the site, with the bulk of the flock at the back of the refuge, but about 100 on Swantail and a few flocks around the edges of the refuge, feeding.
I moved on to North Duffield and within a few minutes, picked up a couple of elegant Avocets, feeding way out at the back of the flood. These are my first Avocets in the York area for about five years, so I was more than a little pleased to find them. Avocets are remarkably scarce in the York area despite the increasing population in Yorkshire. They also seem to move on quickly, and true to form, these two departed at some point in the afternoon, disappointing some post-work twitchers. The drake Scaup and its hybrid buddy were still present with the large flock of Tufties, 45 Pinkfeet were flying about and the immature drake Goosander dropped in to bathe and preen, before heading off north up the valley. With southerly winds and warm weather approaching, perhaps more migrants will arrive by the weekend. Fingers crossed!
The Avocets were about a kilometre north of the hide on the back edge of the flood, underneath the old Osprey platform.
No comments:
Post a Comment