Heavy snow arrived overnight as predicted, and I awoke to a beautiful winter scene. Two Redwings were in the Silver Birches, clearly hungry, but too nervous to drop in to feed on the apples I put out. Later, two Fieldfares joined the hungry Blackbirds to feed. A covey of five Grey Partridges stood out against the snow on the fields south of Bishopthorpe cycle track; good to see them still hanging on here.
Fieldfare
For once I awoke without the traditional New Year's Day hangover, so joined up with Vicky and mates to do the York park run, or rather paddle - the York Knavesmire being flooded! After getting my breath back, I headed down to Wheldrake Ings and was surprised to be the first there.
On the walk down to the hide, a movement in riverside brambles turned out to be an unexpected Nuthatch, feeding low down. A smart bird and not one I see that often here, though I hear them calling from the bigger trees across the river quite often. A couple of Treecreepers and a Cetti's Warbler were noted too, along with a flock of Redwings.
Down at Tower Hide, I scanned hard for Green-winged Teal and American Wigeon among the thousands of loafing Eurasians, without success. Several thousand ducks were present, including three or four hundred Pintail; a fine sight! The 29 Black-tailed Godwits were busy feeding in the water among the ducks, whilst a large flock of Lapwings and Golden Plovers were spread across the main meadow feeding. I switched my attention to Riverside Ings to add Goldeneye to my steadily-increasing year-list and immediately latched on to the drake American Wigeon, paddling across the water. So much for scanning distant duck flocks! The dapper male joined a small group of male and one female Euro Wigeon and began cavorting around, displaying and calling. The light was poor so phonescoping was tricky, but you can just about make him out. The group moved into the emergent vegetation in front of the Pool willows and became harder to see, before being flushed by Marsh Harrier 'D3' and flying on to Swantail Ings, where the American was still visible, albeit much more distantly.
I headed on to North Duffield and Bubwith Ings to look for the lingering Little Gull, but it turned out the report was spurious, and the bird hadn't been seen since the 30th. Thousands more ducks were present, but I didn't have time to check them properly, so after a quick scan, I headed home.
