Inspirational talks, housing developments with exciting road names and Badgers

 

Finally last night after many expectant years I saw my first live Badger  - it came across the road in front of the car and it now is completely clear to me why I have only ever seen dead ones - they are too slow! But don't worry we didn't run it over, it scurried into the hedgerow - it nicely finished off a really good evening as we had been to the Lincolnshire Bird Club's AGM and had the good fortune to hear a great talk from Martin Garner author of Frontiers in Birding.  The talk was billed as inspirational and it was - it inspired me to go back to an old haunt (Ashbyville) this morning in search of Wheatears, Ring Ouzels and possibly the odd Shrike or two but I soon had all expectations knocked out of me.  I knew that a lot of development had taken place on the site but had not realised just how much - over the years Ashbyville has turned up some fantastic birds and although it was nothing but a flooded quarry surrounded by waste land it had a “nature reserve” feel to it but now the lake is surrounded by the most banal housing development you could wish for and to add insult to injury every road is named after a bird ie Pochard Drive, Garganey Walk, Wigeon Way, Lapwing Close etc etc so after watching Wheatears on the site every year for at least the past 20, today there were none - all I heard was one solitary Chiffchaff and 1 Reed Bunting with a pair of Great Crested Grebes on the lake. 

Great Grey Shrike at Worlaby

Taken this evening in fading light….

Daffodil time in Normanby Park

Second day of British summer time today and it actually feels like it - the sun is out and the skies are blue and no wind so a perfect day for the Daffodils.  I don’t know if the very cold winter as had an effect on the bulbs but the blooms seem far better than previous years.  On the bird front 4 Chiffchaffs and a Swallow in this morning (2 Chiffchaffs in 22/3) and 2 Nuthatches calling.

Whooper Swans

at Messingham Samd Quarries this evening - to be exact 19 Whooper Swans and 1 Swallow in amongst 28 Sand Martins.

European Adders

We are very lucky to have Britain’s only venomous snake in the Scunthorpe area - early spring is the best time to see them and this morning we had 3 males basking in hazy sunlight. On the birding front we had a great day seeing a superb male Black Redstart, a Firecrest and 31 Whooper Swans.














View video here http://youtu.be/dfh8DeJnQ_o

Tundra & Taiga Bean Geese

Hoping to find some spring migrants we set off for Barton this morning, on the way we saw this Tundra Bean Goose mixed in with some pinkies and not too far away were 8 Taiga Bean Geese as shown in the 5th poor image- after that it all went downhill despite spending the day trawling around Barton’s pits.  In total we heard 4 Chiffchaffs hardly a mad rush of migrants! however the 2 Long Tailed ducks were still present and we did catch up with a very nice Red-Crested Pochard otherwise very quiet.

Is spring around the corner?

Having watched the news channels over the weekend it feels almost wrong and a little selfish to go birding when so many people in Japan are suffering beyond belief following the tsunami - it is beyond my comprehension what has and is continuing to happen.  So no photos or frills but just an observation that spring is nearly here - up at Normanby Enterprise this afternoon 2 pairs of Oystercatchers(1 mating) and 4 pairs of displaying Lapwings are back on site and the pair of Nuthatches are still in the garden.

 Perhaps have a dip into this site? http://www.redcross.org

Hawfinches and Waxwings

A few more images taken over the weekend in the Scunthorpe area.

Snowdrops in Normanby

Having been away I have completely missed this years Aconites and really the Snowdrops are past their best however I couldn’t let a year go by without a few Snowdrop shots so here are a few taken this morning. Also in the Park this morning we have a pair of Nuthatches holding territory and one other male singing, I suspect that the pair are the same two we have feeding in the garden on a daily basis for the past ten days or so.

Otters and Rotter

Otters and Rotter on the Humber taken by Neil this week…

 

 

Mink

Woodlark

One of three singing males heard this morning

Woodlark