Month: May 2023

The mill stream at Woods Mill seems to be the place to be for Turtle Dove this year, at least for everyone else.  We spent about 4 hours there on 9th, and all we heard was someone telling us that there had been one purring on the reserve earlier.  Another two hours on Sunday yielded nothing, but we went on to the reserve, where it had been the previous time, and had nice views of a purring bird.  49 miles for a bird is a bit of an effort, though.

On the way back we had a very showy Banded Demoiselle by the river, and on the down behind us a very cooperative Beautiful Demoiselle, much more friendly than the ones at Woods Mill.

Another pond resident

Finally, a purring Turtle Dove

Banded Demoiselle

Beautiful Demoiselle

Yorkshire in May is one of my favourite places.  There’s nothing quite like a walk in Strid Woods on a fine morning, with the fresh green of new oak leaves, and the wood filled with the song of Pied Flycatchers, Willow Warblers and Redstarts.  Sadly the Wood Warblers, probably my favourite warbler, are no longer singing there.  Up in Nidderdale, things are a bit bleaker up at Scar House reservoir, but the birding is still excellent, the highlights being my first Crossbill in the Dales, a drumming Snipe, and, on the way home, my first Yorkshire Osprey over Gouthwaite reservoir.

Lapwing

Lapwing chick

Wheatear

Osprey being mobbed by Lapwing

Pied Flycatcher

Blackcap

Goosander

Willow Warbler, scarce in Sussex this year, but there's loads in Yorkshire

Redstart

Here’s a few more shots from our trip to Bempton.  A mile or so away there were a couple of hundred Grey Seals on the beach at Flamborough.

The compulsory Puffin shot

Kittiwake

Mine!

Razorbill

Guillemot with Sand Eel

Big feet!

A quick visit to Yorkshire last weekend saw us visiting Bempton.  To my eyes it looked like the number of Gannets was significantly down from last year, but there will be a census to confirm or deny that.  There are still loads there, though.  The effects of bird flu were in evidence though: black staining of the iris of Gannets’ eyes has been shown to be associated with recovery from bird flu.  A small proportion  of birds showed black or blackened eyes.  Whether that’s because the colony had low incidence of bird flu, or the mortality is such that relatively few birds recover, I haven’t a clue.  Here’s a sample of eyes.

This eye looks OK

Both eyes affected

Completely black

Just a small amount of discolouration

One eye looks fine

Two black eyes

After a few days of seawatching that has grudgingly yielded most of what we were after (a post-work charge down to the sea for a Pom paid off at the second attempt), we went for a proper walk, to Pulborough Brooks.  It proved productive, with the hoped-for Wood Sandpiper and Ruff still there.  Hobbies were everywhere, a plastic White Stork was on the north brooks and there were plenty of Nightingales.  They seemed to be showy this year, one even sitting in a treetop yelling its head off.  A detour looking for owls on the way home (limited success) gave us a dusk encounter with a hare as we walked through a wood.  The daft thing lolloped along the track up to about 10 m from us, and even then it didn’t run, just stepped off the track and started browsing.

A very noisy Goldcrest in our front garden this morning gave some nice views.

Nightingale

Hobby

A Nightingale's tonsils, probably the loudest Nightingale I've ever heard.

Nightingales hide in dense cover to sing. One didn't get that memo...

It must have seen us...

... but still it lollops on

Goldcrest

A couple of days’ seawatching over the weekend was slow going, but it’s always a treat to see Little Terns, and a Bonxie was a bit of a relief after the hammering they have taken from avian influenza.  A lack of energy for long-distance walking meant that we hopped in the car for a change and did some twitching: to Seaford for the White-crowned Sparrow and to Pulborough for a Wood Warbler.  This is getting harder to find in its alleged breeding grounds in Yorkshire, so it was good to get a passage bird, although it had stopped singing by the time we arrived.    It would have been a good day to walk, as there was a Pied Flycatcher and five Wood Sandpipers there too.

At home, there’s a couple of Grass Snakes around the pond, including this whopper.

White-crowned Sparrow

Wood Warbler

Grass Snake