Early Spring

A hint of early spring in the air, with Grey Herons nest-building at Castle Howard with a backdrop of head-tossing Goldeneyes and melanocholy Mistle Thrushes braving the treetops to sing. With rain, a strong wind and overcast skies it still felt pretty wintry to me though! A few more ducks today on the lake, with 100+ Tufted Ducks, 10 Gadwall, 12 Wigeon, 4 Mandarin and a single Pochard. 

I headed over to Newburgh Priory Lake on the off chance of seeing a Tundra Bean Goose that had been reported last Saturday, and to my surprise it was swimming around nonchalantly with a Pink-footed Goose and a few Greylags.  It has been a great winter for Tundra Beans locally, but this is the best view I've had by far. The larger head, dark around the bill and hefty black nozzle with smart orange band were all absorbed, along with the dark brown upperparts with neat white fringing. The Pinkfoot's head was distinctly smaller and seemingly out of proportion to the body, with a pink bill patch and a buffy breast. Also noted, several Shelduck, 50+ Herring Gulls and a spectacular 22 Moorhens!

 Tundra Bean Goose. Smart bird.

 

Unlucky for Some

Friday 13th, traditionally unlucky for some, but not me as I had the day off. Checked my regular winter spots, starting at Castle Howard where the adult Shag was still present and showing well in the pouring rain. Not much else of note really, though still plenty of Tufted Ducks, Goldeneye and seven Pochards. Down the LDV, two good York year-ticks in the form of a Knot feeding along the edge of the river south of Bubwith Bridge and an adult winter Little Gull at North Duffield Carrs. I don't see either of these birds every year in the York area, so it was good to catch up with them. The Tundra Bean Goose flock at Duff had increased to 32 and they flew over me as I walked down to the hide. After a bit of a fly around, they landed right at the back as per usual. The Spotted Redshank was still present on the river and at least one Scaup was at Duff. Later, I tried wading through to the bridge at Wheldrake to do the roost. It was very distant and I only managed an adult Lesser Black-back for my trouble. 

 

 

What No White-fronts?

For once it wasn't raining, so I headed up to Castle Howard, hoping for a Smew or Lesser Scaup. Good numbers of ducks, including 140 Tufties were present, but sadly nothing rarer. Two Shags, including the blue-ringed adult were still present. Several Grey Heron pairs were busy displaying and nest-building; they'll be egg laying soon. No sign of any Hawfinches in the Arboretum car park.

Cormorant. The shape of the lower bird's gular patch shows this to be a British Carbo individual, looking very handsome in its breeding attire.

Adult Shag.

I headed down to the valley and spent a bit of time checking cover crops for finches and Merlins. The fields around East Cottingwith was surprisingly devoid of geese, though 300 Pink-feet flew over. A Kingfisher was hunting down the canal and a Cetti's Warbler scolded me from the usual reedbed, but otherwise things were fairly quiet. 

Chris reported a Little Gull down at Duff, but it had gone south, so I went down to North Duffield Ings to see if it had dropped in. It hadn't. The Spotted Redshank was feeding along the river, with ten Curlews and 18 Redshank. Also present, c150 Black-tailed Godwits, three Oystercatchers and loads of Golden Plovers and Lapwings. Down to Duff, and the Little Gull hadn't reappeared, but the Slavonian Grebe had turned up again (not sure where it had got to yesterday!) and was showing beautifully in front of Garganey Hide. 22 (!) Tundra Bean Geese were loafing out the back and the lingering Scaup trio were still among the Aythya flock. Shortly, I headed home having seen no White-fronted Geese, but having had a phenomenal morning in the local area. 

 

Hot Roost

Last week I waded to Wheldrake Ings bridge to do the gull roost, but it was a disaster, with all the gull arse-on way out in front of the unreachable Tower Hide. Yesterday, the floods had dropped a bit exposing a couple of spits of land which attracted many of the arriving large gulls. At least five Caspian Gulls were present, including an adult, but sadly there was no sign of yesterday's Iceland Gull. A smart adult Mediterranean Gull was the pick of the rest, and it was good to see a few 'Northern' Argentatus Herring Gulls too, among the 500 Argenteus types. Three Lesser Black- backs, 20 Great Black-backs and 8 Goosander were also noted.

 Adult Caspian Gull, at the back.

 

Three first-winter Caspian Gulls

 Med Gull. 

Get Lucky!

When will this miserable wet weather end? It has been raining for ages and today was no different, but, despite the  Iheaded out with a Yorkshire Coast Nature group into the LDV. First up, North Duff, with vast floods, peppered with ducks. I found the three drake Scaup, all of which are looking fairly smart now, among a loafing flock of Tudfties. Shortly, news came through from Tim Jones that a collossal flock of 300ish White-fronted Geese were in the field just down the path, behind Garganey Hide! We headed down there and sure enough, a carpet of dapper Whitefronts, along with two cute Barnacle Geese, were busy feeding in the field. This is the biggest flock I have ever seen in the UK, and with close views, we all enjoyed the treat. It seems a second wave has come in from the continent, which is a surprise as it isn't particularly cold over there, but the east wind has continued, which may have something to do with it.

 

 

We headed up the east side of the valley, but called off the tour by lunchtime due to the awful weather. I headed back down to Duff for another look at the geese and to get out of the rain. They eyed me warily as I crept along the path, but soon settled down to feed once I'd stopped to look. There were good numbers of first-winters in the flock, lacking the white forehead blaze and black belly stripes, contrasting with some old adults, with extensive black bellies- see last pic. Having made sure there were no Greenland Whitefronts or Lesser Whitefronts lurking among them, I went down to the hide to escape the rain and scoff my lunch. 

 

Scanning the flood which was being whipped up by the blustery wind into something resembling the North Sea, I was amazed to find a Slavonian Grebe. Not what I'd expected at all. It was distant and hanging out with the Scaup - maybe it recognised them from its usual maritime winter home. I watched it for the next hour as it swam first to one side of the flood and then back to the other. Fortunately, despite the chop and the distance, it was easy to follow as it rarely dived. Meanwhile, the Whitefronts flew over the hide and landed in the northeast corner of the ings. At one point, the Slav swam into the bay in front of them, giving a slightly unique combo in the York area; this was sublime for such a dreary wet day!

On a roll, I felt I should check out Castle Howard. The rain was even heavier as I walked along the lake and I did question my sanity for being out birding. I soon found two Shags, the white-ringed adult (JTN) and a first-winter, roosting with about 20 Cormorants on the island. The female Red-crested Pochard and 33 Goldeneyes were the only other birds of note. Not a bad day considering the dreadful weather.

 

Two Shags, with a Cormorant in the front, Castle Howard, 6th Feb 2026

 

 

Five Shags and Lots of Geese

Sunday 1st February

Headed up to Castle Howard early doors. Five Shags, a colour-ringed adult, a second-winter and three first-winters (one of which is colour-ringed) were still present and looking pretty fit and healthy. They seem to spend their time roosting on the large low branches of the island trees, when not fishing. c100 Tufted Ducks, 30+ Goldeneyes, two Pochards, six Wigeon and ten Goosanders were present. Mistle Thrushes and a Cetti's Warbler were singing. 

Adult Shag, with Cormorant. This bird was colour-ringed, blue on left leg with code SBN

Whilst scanning the east end of the lake, I heard a bit of splashing in the reeds that fringe the path. Was this an Otter? To my surprise, two of the young Shags appeared a few feet away, clearly viewing Phragmites as a good substitute for a Kelp forest and were busy seeking out sheltering fish. Once they noticed me, they swam past eyeing me nervously, but soon returned back to the reeds. This was something I'd never expected to see! As I made my way back down the path, one of the Shags flew strongly past me and pitched in at the road-end of the lake and began fishing, again right up against the reeds. After a bit it seemed to spook and swam out into the lake and had a bath. 

The two young Shags; the top one is a first-winter, the bottom two, I think is a second-winter, much blacker and with clear moult contrast in the wings.  

Next up, back into the LDV, where I found a nice flock of Pinkfeet at East Cottingwith, but apart from two Egyptian Geese I failed to pick anything else out. 

Egyptian Geese
 

Pink-footed Geese

I did see one Pink with decidedly orange legs, but it was 'just' a Pink. A trap for the unwary perhaps. Down at Ellerton, a noisy White-front flew past and dropped in with Greylags just to the south. The Pinks weren't in the field where they were yesterday, so perhaps some of them were those in the field I was viewing. Another flock was noisily circling over the ings towards Aughton -  maybe that was the rest. Looking to the north, I was surprised to find a group of White-fronts, close in behind the bushes. They shortly took off and behaving very considerately, dropped right in front of me on the nearest grass. Cracking little geese, with some of the older birds with a whole rack of black belly stripes. A few Whooper Swans drifted past behind adding to the spectacle.

White-fronted Geese, with Whooper Swans

I headed south, pausing to look at three Great Egrets standing like sentinels in a rough field by Fog Lane. Mousing, I suspect. 

North Duffield was the next stop, and despite the horde of birders present, I was surprised to find a gang of Tundra Bean Geese at the back of the ings that nobody seemed to have noticed. Once a few Greylags had got out of the way, I counted 17 Bean Geese, which is the biggest flock I have ever seen in the UK. Even at this distance, their appearance was quite distinctive, with the dark brown upperparts matching the flanks, and the big wedge-shaped head with bulky bill looking so different from the Pinks I'd studied earlier. Despite the long view, the orange band on the heavy black bill was visible, as were the big bright orange feet and legs. Nice birds. 

 The wintering Spotted Redshank I'd found way back in November was right in front of the hide, feeding on the grassy bank with three or four Common Redshank cousins, whilst two Black-tailed Godwits napped nearby.

York birding really has had a fantastic start to 2026! 

Seven Goose Special

With half the family away in the Lakes for the weekend, and Sol in the middle of GCSE mock revision, I was largely free to spend the weekend birding. 

Saturday 31st January

Having waved off the lasses, I headed down to North Duffield Carrs to check out the goings on. Water was on the rise again after recent rainfall, with torrents streaming over the floodbank on to the ings. Garganey Hide was still above the water level but for how long I don't know. 

 Three drake Scaup were still present, two of which are almost in adult-like plumage now, with silvery backs, and glossy heads, whilst the third is a way behind, still looking dark and mottled with only a few adult-type feathers coming through on the mantle. The floods were full of Wigeon and Teal, with Shoveler, Pintail, Mallard and Gadwall sprinkled among them, plus a few Pochards and Tufted Ducks, and a single drake Goldeneye. Good numbers of Lapwings line the floodbanks, flushing easily as they evade the hunting Marsh Harriers. No sign of the White-tailed Eagle though; it seems to have gone for good.

Up the east side, there were no geese around East Cottingwith, apart from the noisy local Egyptians, so I went down to Ellerton churchyard, where I spied a large flock of Pink-footed Geese in the usual field on the far side. I grilled the flock looking for White-fronts or Tundra Beans, but instead found a quintet of Barnacle Geese busily feeding. I've not idea if these birds are wild, but they could have conceivably come in from the Netherlands, along with the White-fronts and Beans.  I eyed the eagle's favourite large Ash tree, with a little melancholy; I am not sure how long it will be before I see another one of those in the LDV. Out of nowhere, two Russian White-fronted Geese appeared on the flood in front of me, swimming about with the Whooper Swans, looking a little bewildered.

I had to get back to take Sol into town, so I headed back. 

Later, with errands run, I headed back down to Duff. Two Tundra Bean Geese flew across the flood and landed on the right hand side. Really cool geese, with quite a different jizz to Pink-feet, with hefty black beaks, with a neat orange band across the tip. The generally mid-brown plumage lacked the contrasting pale grey wing coverts of Pink-feet too and showed off the neat white edging to the coverts, and the big orange feet and legs stood out even at a distance. Not much else was going on, so I tried Thorganby where I saw an early glimpse of spring - two Oystercatchers - and then the roost at Wheldrake, which required a long wade in waders and yielded zilch, so I went home well before dark.

So, all in all, I had seen seven species of goose, within 20 miles of home: Barnacle, Canada, Egyptian, Greylag, Pink-footed, Russian White-fronted and Tundra Bean. Not bad! Just need a Brent to wander over from the Humber now.