January Daze

It was cold last week, with hard frosts and night-time temperatures plummeting to minus six. Birds flocked to the garden; there have been one or two Lesser Redpolls on the feeders again, but best of all, two handsome male Bramblings appeared on Friday, one of which fed from a feeder for a while. They got flushed by something and sadly didn't return. 

I led a tour round the LDV on Saturday, for Yorkshire Coast Nature. It was tricky as most of the floodwater was frozen and consequently most of the ings were devoid of birds. The upside was that all the ducks and waders were concentrated along the ice-free river, with hordes of Wigeon and Teal attracting the attention of Marsh Harriers and a Peregrine, which caused much anxiety among the ducks. 

Despite the cold, a few hundred Dunlin were flying around, settling on the field near Bubwith Bridge along with a white-headed Ruff, to wait out the cold. Round at Wheldrake, we were able to get down to the windpump for the first time in weeks. By mid-afternoon, temperatures had finally begun to rise and the ice was beginning to melt. On the refuge, we located a pair of Smew, presumably the same birds that had been at Thorganby recently until the ice froze them out. A female Scaup was with the Tufted Duck flock and another Peregrine was hunting along the canal, flushing seven Black-tailed Godwits (there were two others standing on the ice with the ducks) and a few Curlews. I bade farewell to my group and then squelched back to Tower Hide to do the roost with Adam and Duncan. Duncan paid more interest than the rest of us in a small egret that flew past. I was too busy looking at the arriving gulls but when Duncan said for the second time that it looked interesting, I decided to have a look. The bird dropped into a distant field right next to a cow, and when it started pacing forward picking things up out of the grass, we realised Duncan was right; it was a Cattle Egret! 

A little later, my scope settled on a smart first-winter Caspian Gull among the hordes of Herring Gulls. The light was failing so my pics weren't great, but it was a good-looking bird nevertheless and a nice way to end a good, but challenging day in the valley.

Sunday dawned mild and sunny. I had things to do but managed to get out birding early afternoon, so I headed down to Wheldrake again. The thaw had really worked its magic and the sodden ings were now covered in birds. I spent ages looking through the hordes of ducks for something rare, but failed. However, the female Scaup was still present, and had been joined by a handsome drake. 

The gulls began to arrive mid-afternoon, along with a strengthening wind, the first breath of Storm Isha. A monstrous first-winter Great Black-backed Gull came in early; we recognised 'The Beast' from yesterday's roost. The gulls were spread out in a vast arc, with hundreds feeding on the exposed ings, presumably finding lots of worms and other invertebrates to eat. Yesterday's Caspian Gull arrived at 4pm and showed well in front of the hide and we picked out single first-winter and adult Mediterranean Gulls and an adult Lesser Black-backed. We estimated about 5000 Common Gulls, 12000 Black-headed Gulls, 400+ Herring Gulls and ten Great Black-backs. Four Goosanders arrived to roost too.