Local patches today

Had lots of good stuff today, started off with my first Swift in Normanby for the year then a Treecreeper in the garden only the second record for the garden list.  I then took drive down Bagmoor Lane and recorded the following in about one mile; 4 Blackcap,  12 Willow Warbler, 6 Chiffchaff, 5 Whitethroat, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 5 Wren, 1 Cuckoo.  Across the road at Normanby Enterprise I had 3 Wheatears - its amazing how they manage to find this scrappy piece of land each year.

Yesterday I did a tour of the Barton area and had my first Turtle Dove, Cettis Warblers and Grasshopper Warbler of the spring - Bittern was also booming well!

Rufous-backed Kingfisher - Thailand Video Clip

Now I have cracked uploading video courtesy of Blogger in draft I cannot resist going back to my favourite bird in Thailand!

Wheatears at Alkborough Flats

Lovely evening on the flats with great lighting for these 2 Wheatears

Annual Fix Time

Its that time of year when we just have to have a fix of Gods own country - the Yorkshire Dales, still one of the best places on earth to me.  We had a quick two day stint covering Bolton Abbey and Malham and was immediately aware that the flowers were way behind on last year due to the very cold winter the UK has just had - there was even snow still lying on the very tops, something I have never seen at this time of year so hardly any flower shots.  I'm pleased to report though that there are plenty of Pied Flycatchers and Redstarts in but sadly not a single Wood Warbler.  To see what the flowers should look like look at last years post of the same date!

 Pied Flycatcher

 Butterbur

 Wood Anenome

Bolton Abbey

Not one but three Ring Ouzels in Normanby Park

Went back in the park this evening to check if yesterdays Ring Ouzel was still there only to find that there was now three - all males.  Whilst watching them we also had 3 Whimbrels almost touch down in the deer park only to be spooked by the Jackdaws - they are probably at Bagmoor now!  Earlier this afternoon I took a drive down Bagmoor Lane and had; 5 Whitethroat, 6 WillowWarblers, 7 Chiffchaffs, 2 Blackcap, 2 Bullfinch, 8 Linnets.

Double click on above image to see the most incredibly long toe nails!

Jackdaws collecting nest material!

Ring Ouzel at Normanby Park

Lots of Ring Ouzels coming in to the country at the moment so delighted this one stopped off in the park - it was one of 6 species of thrush this morning plus 1 Crossbill in the model railway area.

 

Otter at MSQ

Finally got to see the Otter this morning at Messingham - it showed well for around 5 minutes, even kept getting out of the water and on to the Tern raft.  Also had 2 new migrants Reed Warbler and Whitethroat.

Messingham Sand Quarries

Here is one of four Crossbills seen today at Messingham where we also had our first Cuckoo.

Evening at Alkborough

Finally a warmish sunny evening and hardly any wind down on the flats plus lots of birds including;   8 White Wagtails, 8 Yellow Wagtails, 2 Spotted Redshanks, 2 Little Gulls and 18 Snipe.

Normanby Park Spring Bird Up-date

I have been quite concerned this spring with bird activity in the park - last spring we had 3 pairs of breeding Nuthatches but I only managed to see one juvenile and I remember thinking last spring in general that species across the board semed very low on juveniles( see post June 09).  Today happily I have managed to find one pair of Nuthatch which I assume will breed and also just one pair of Great Spotted Woodpeckers - it seems we have lost our Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers.  Other than 3 singing Blackcaps and 2 Chiffchaffs there was very little else in the way of bird song but at the bird feeding station which had been freshly supplied with seed there were 20 Grey Squirrels and not one bird in sight.  I have no proof but a gut reaction tells me that perhaps last springs breeding was possibly decimated by the squirrels hence the lack of bird song this spring - however it is still early and still cold.  I have thought about our very cold winter and its affect on our small birds but I did have some singing Wrens this morning and against everything I have just said our Treecreepers seem in a healthy state with at least 3 pairs seen - I shall continue to monitor!

Skunk Cabbage Time in Normanby Park

After my trials with the snowdrops I nearly avoided the Skunk Cabbage but they are so dramatic it just had to be done so.....

White-Tailed Eagle - Lincs or E Yorks

http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/oswebsite/opendata/viewer/

There seems to be a little confusion as to whether our Eagle was in Lincs or not so just to clear things up,  if you click the above link type in Whitton, zoom out one click and select the Boundary Layers tab you will see that the Lincs boundary goes straight through the middle of Whitton Sands and as the Eagle was on the South Eastern edge of the Island it is clearly a Lincs tick!

White-Tailed Eagle Video Whitton Sands

White-Tailed Eagle on Whitton Sands

It has been 21 years since Wayne last saw a White-tailed Eagle in the Scunthorpe Reporting Area so this evenings viewing from Alkborough over to Whitton Sands was quite special to say the least.  The Eagle flew over Blacktoft Sands at around 4.00 and was picked up by Graham Catley on Whitton Sands feeding on what seemed to be a Greylag.  We watched it for around an hour before it headed off across the Humber into Yorkshire - it does look better if you double click on it!

Spring Migrant

First Blackcap singing in Normanby Park this morning (heard from the bottom of our garden) - the weather today is grey and windy, no Easter sunshine for us.

Kestrel with prey

Great White Egret - Alkborough

Finally caught up with the Great White Egret last night - it has been commuting between Blacktoft and Alkborough since Monday, disappearing for long spells and returning late afternoon. The weather last night was horrendous so no photos but may get some this weekend if it hangs about.