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.
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.
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!
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