Wednesday 3 May 2017

First Week of Spring Term

I was hoping for terrible weather over the Easter holiday in the hope that we would enjoy decent weather for the Spring/Summer term.  of course the exact opposite happened.  The weather was so bad for the first session that we had to relocate to Tophill low.  This was a good move, as we clocked up 56 species!
Male Marsh Harrier
 Record shot through double-glazing of a Yellow Wagtail - drat!
 Sand Martin

 Sand Martins

Record number of hirundines finding somewhere to feed. Yellow, Grey, White & Pied Wagtails, plenty of Blackcaps, Willow Warblers and Chiffchaffs, 2 Red-crested Pochard, Pochard, Great Crested & Little Grebes, Shoveler, Shelduck, Teal, Treecreeper, Goldcrest, Great Spotted Woodpecker etc
 Red-Crested Pochard (right)

Little Grebes
 Ditto

On Wednesday morning we went to the brand-new planned location, but there was a very cold wind and we didn't see many birds, well 30 species in total!  The afternoon group decamped to Blacktoft Sands, and saw many more birds species - 
Great Diving Beetle (c) 2017 Aileen Urquhart
ID: Barry Warrington
 ditto
 Great Crested Grebe (c) 2017 Aileen Urquhart
 Goldfinch (c) 2017 Aileen Urquhart
 Ditto
 Orange-Tip Butterflies (c) 2017 Tony Robinson
Avocets
 Ditto
 Cetti's Warbler
 Ditto


On Thursday morning we went on a beautiful walk in a Bluebell Wood at North Cliffe Wood. Overcast and drizzle which kept birdsong down, but did hear/see: Willow Warbler, Blackcap (m&f), Marsh Tit, Chiffchaff, Linnet, Red-legged Partridge, GS & Green Woodpeckers, Lapwing. plants: Bluebell, Wood Sorrell, Primrose, Greater Stitchwort, Bugle, etc.   In the afternoon we stayed at North Cave Wetlands and encountered 56 species.  The camera stayed in the car.
Swallow
 Bar-tailed Godwits
 On Friday we made our only trip of the year to Swine Moor.  It was cool and a little breezy, and there was some drizzle at times. Those who hadn't been before were impressed with what we saw: 5 Whimbrel, 2 Ruff, 2 Yellow Wagtail, Willow Warbler, Sedge Warbler, Reed Warbler, Sand & House Martins, Swallows, Meadow Pipits, Reed Buntings, Cormorant, Linnet, Goldfinch, Greenfinch etc
Mistle Thrush (c) 2017 Jane Robinson
 Ruff (c) 2017 Jane Robinson
 Whimbrel
 Ditto
 Ditto
 Ditto
 Cormorant
 Ditto
 Ditto
 Linnet
 Ditto
 Linnet (c) 2017 Jane Robinson
 Willow Warbler
 Willow Warbler (c) 2017 Jane Robinson
 Wren (c) 2017 Jane Robinson
 Errm...
 Errm... (c) 2017 Jane Robinson
 Ditto
Jane went to Blacktoft before the classes resumes, so here a few more holiday photos:
Spotted Redshank (c) 2017 Jane Robinson
 Shelduck (c) 2017 Jane Robinson
 Reed Bunting (c) 2017 Jane Robinson
 Bearded Tit (c) 2017 Jane Robinson
Meanwhile during the Easter break I found a flower on a nature reserve.  it was in a very damp habitat, so was it a genuine rarity, or had someone planted it illegally?
Fritillary - wild or planted?
Hoping for an improvement in the weather soon, and that we will lose these cold easterly winds.  The figures for the first week of the new term were: Tuesday am - 56: Weds am - 30; Weds pm - 50; Thurs am - 28; Thurs pm - 56; Fri am - 46 & Fri pm N/A


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