Weekender

Had the day off on Friday, so after a few commitments, I headed down to the LDV. It was murky, but with the ice mostly thawed, birds had poured back in and birding was great. Three Scaup - an adult male and two first-winter males, were present at North Duff, but there was no sign of the Eagle. Down at Bubwith Bridge, the Spotted Redshank was feeding on a puddle on the riverbank with three Redshanks. I headed up the valley, where the highlight was two Short-eared Owls, flying about across the river from Thorganby. These owls are surprisingly scarce in the LDV, so this was an unexpected treat. 

Later on, after dipping a local Waxwing, I headed up to Castle Howard to do the gull roost. The ringed first-winter Caspian Gull was standing on the ice among plenty of small gulls, and gave great views. Unfortunately I managed to delete all my videos of the beast, leaving me with a few fuzzy photos!

 The bird is colour-ringed and seems to be from a Polish scheme. We will see!

Later on, I met Trevor Jones, Tim's Dad, and together we checked out the gulls and saw a male Goshawk, which cruised past, flushing everything on the lake. Duck-wise, the female Red-crested Pochard was still present, along with plenty of Goosanders and Goldeneyes.

Saturday 

A fantastic day leading a tour for Yorkshire Coast Nature, the highlight of which was the White-tailed Eagle. We had been watching a Peregrine mobbing a Marsh Harrier on the riverbank at North Duffield, when, to our astonishment the huge form of the eagle suddenly appeared out of the murk and landed nearby. 

After we'd all had great views, the eagle flapped off north up the valley, leaving us to sort through the ducks, which revealed the three Scaup, plus a few Goldeneye, among the hordes of commoner birds. Two Great Egrets stalked the riverbank, standard fayre these days. We followed the eagle up the valley, and found it in one of it's favourite trees, a large ash across from the church. 

We finished our day at Wheldrake Ings, where a flock of 90 Black-tailed Godwits were the highlight. 

Sunday

Despite the rain, I gave Dunnington another go, and shortly after arrival, all the small stuff flushed, and at least one of the Twite flew past with other finches calling. It landed briefly in the top of a small hedgerow tree before disappearing further down the field. I didn't see it again, but I was delighted to get this little finch on my York list after a couple of attempts. At least ten Tree Sparrows, 30 Corn Buntings, and good numbers of Linnets, Yellowhammers and Reed Buntings were present along with several Redpolls. I will definitely have another look when the weather improves.

This afternoon at the Wheldrake roost, an adult Mediterranean Gull was the clear highlight, with three Lesser Black-backed Gulls, c5000 Black-headeds, c200 Commons and 400 Herrings for company, plus 10 Great Black-backs. Five Marsh Harriers gathered to roost and the big Blackwit flock was flying around.

Not a bad weekend despite the wet weather!