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.
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.
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