Pocklington Canal evening walk

by YorkOCPosted on 7th August 2019 Posted in Trip Reports

On a very pleasant evening, 6th August, we had a successful walk along the canal between Hagg Bridge and Storwood.

Wildlife recorded was:

3 juvenile kestrels
1 sparrowhawk
1 barn owl hunting
5 chiffchaffs
1 willow warbler
2 sedge warblers
1 possible reed warbler
1 reed bunting
3 dunnocks in one bush
2 meadow pipits
15 house martins
20 swallows
1 goldfinch
2 blue tits
1 pheasant
4 juvenile and 4 adult mute swans
2 moorhens
1 grey heron
1 distant little egret
Distant mallards
3 lesser black backed gulls
20+ jackdaws
20+ rooks
2 carrion crows
2 stock doves
Woodpigeon not counted

2 brown hares

arrowhead in flower
flowering rush
marsh woundwort

1 pint black sheep-Melbourne Arms 🙂

Terry

YOC trip to Potteric Carr 9th June

by YorkOCPosted on 11th June 2019 Posted in Trip Reports

We met at YWT Potteric Carr Nature Reserve just before 9am to find that the road in front of the reserve was closed from 9am to 2pm due to a marathon. This meant that we had a very pleasant day with the reserve almost to ourselves — no kids screaming, no hides full of people glued to their seats!

It was nice to see and hear the chicks and juveniles of several species, including lapwings, oystercatchers, pochards, little grebes, whitethroats, blackcaps (photo of 5 juveniles attached, can you see all the heads?), blue and great tits, goldfinches, black-headed gulls (photo attached), and others. We had good views of a juvenile great spotted woodpecker.

Other highlights were a yellow-legged gull, 3 hobbies flying around at one time, 3 little ringed plovers, lots of pochards (at least 50 males + females and a few young), avocets, a brief view of a bittern flying into the reeds.

The total list for the day is 64 species, with 8 species of warblers and 5 species of gulls.

Best wishes, Emanuela

Spurn 12th May

by YorkOCPosted on 13th May 2019 Posted in Trip Reports

Spurn was lovely and sunny yesterday for the Club Trip – ten of us went and enjoyed a full day out – pity some of the rarities had moved on with clear skies on Saturday night and we dipped on the Wryneck, but we still had lots of good sightings. Highlights were Wood Sandpiper, a Blue-headed Wagtail, female Hen Harrier, around 60  Little Terns and ten Sandwich Terns at Beacon Ponds , singing Lesser Whitethroat (which also gave good views), a couple of Redstarts (including one striking male at the Cemetery – both birds found by us!!), and a silent Cuckoo gave a couple of fly pasts up and down Canal Bank.  Waders included lots of summer plumage Grey Plover and a handful of Knot coming into summer plumage and we also saw at least five Whimbrel, six Black-tailed Godwits and four Bar-tailed Godwits. Loads of Swallows, fewer House Martins but no Swifts. A very late Fieldfare at Sammy’s Point was unexpected.  Other migrants included lots of Whitethroats and a few Wheatears as well as Willow Warbler and Blackcap.  

Six of us stopped off at North Cave on the way back, adding LRP, Yellow Wagtail, nesting Mediterranean Gull and…Swift!  Loads of hirundines there too.    Many thanks to Peter for leading it – a most enjoyable day out.

Teesdale 7th April

by YorkOCPosted on 9th April 2019 Posted in Trip Reports

Twelve of us went on the trip – some getting up at 4 am to head over to Teesdale. We met up at Langdon Beck cattle grid in atrocious weather at 7 am on Sunday – very high winds, bitterly cold, fog and even some sleet! Seeing, let alone hearing lekking Black Grouse seemed an unlikely prospect. Heading off down the hill to look back up the valley we got reasonable views through the mist and gloom of Curlew, Lapwing and Oystercatcher, but the lek site wasn’t visible from there at all. Deciding it was even less likely we would spot Ring Ouzel up at the quarry site, some went back to the warmth of the hotel for breakfast (having come up the day before in much nicer conditions) and we got on with plan B – go and look at the fields by the farm (where the grouse are often to be seen later in the day) and have a walk down by the waterfall etc. to try and get Dipper and Grey Wagtail. Stopping just before the lower cattle grid, we scanned for grouse and got two female Black Grouse as well as Snipe (calling and drumming). As the mist was lifting, I decided to head back up to the top of the hill, just in case the lek was visible and… it was! 16 lekking males were present, so I hot footed it back to the pub in the car to let the others know and went back up the hill. Very shortly after I got back, 12 flew off and thinking that was it, we decided to carry on with the Dipper walk as planned. Going to turn the car lower down the hill, Rob, Natasha and I were amazed to see a whole load more lekking males which weren’t visible from the top of the hill – at least 16 (and as the twelve had not come back our total had just jumped to 28); we could even pick up their calls as the wind died down. We tried to text but my text didn’t get through – phone signals were dodgy all day. On arriving back to meet up with everyone else, those that had finished breakfast by then went to have a look and the rest of us went to find the Blue Gentian (none so far this year), and enjoyed close views of Chiffchaff, Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Long-tailed Tit, Blue Tit and Great Tit. No hirundines though. Song Thrush and Mistle Thrush were also about and we had a couple of Redshank too. All together, we then walked down the lane and picked up two Dippers busily feeding and taking beakfuls of food up to their nest site along Harwood Beck.

We visited High Force next – an impressive amount of water coming over the falls – and were also rewarded with a pair of Grey Wagtails and a further pair of Dippers. Much to everyone’s surprise we also had a Cormorant flying over, down river! After than we went to Bowlees for lunch , where the noisy Nuthatch was still in the car park, and then (guided by Ken, Helen, Keith and Liz – thank you very much) went on a walk out across the fields to Low Force (where a large number of canoeists about – some were jumping off the bridge!) and then on up towards ? Holwick Fell where they had seen Ring Ouzel the previous day. By this time we had beautiful sunny weather, it was much warmer and the wind had died down so it was a real treat to stroll that way. Lots and lots of Lapwings about, some more Oystercatchers and at least 10 Wheatears to enjoy, along with singing Skylark and the bubbling song of Curlew. Though we spent much of the rest of the afternoon up there, we never did catch up with a Ring Ouzel – fabulous scenery to admire though and for a number of us, the first time we had ever been up there. We were also rewarded with views of a further five male Black Grouse feeding in fields – two even flew up and perched on a wall in full view. Oh and the sheep producing lambs as we went past was interesting as well! We must have pretty much come at peak lambing time as there were just loads of lambs about 1 – 2 days old about.

On returning to Bowlees car park, we picked up yet another Dipper and then, a quick walk to the little quarry and feeders yielded a Great Spotted Woodpecker, Marsh Tit (for Ken and Helen). It then started to tip it down with rain, so we gave up and headed back to York.

Considering the unpromising start, it turned out to be a much more successful day than seemed possible and our only big miss of the day was Ring Ouzel. The total number of species seen was about 48 – and the scenery, once the weather improved, was spectacular!

Jane

LDV trip 10th March

by YorkOCPosted on 11th March 2019 Posted in Trip Reports

With the weather forecast looking awful, there was not much point in heading to Wykeham for raptor watching so an intrepid bunch, lead by Jono, braved the weather and headed for the LDV. See Jono’s blog for a write up of yesterday’s rather damp visit: http://birdingdad.blogspot.co.uk/

Hornsea and the east coast

by YorkOCPosted on 10th February 2019 Posted in Trip Reports

Eleven members met up at Hornsea Mere this morning (Sunday 10th February) on what proved to be a chilly but dry day. Many of the wildfowl were distant from Kirkholme Point but a good selection was noted, including a bird that looked to be the first-winter Scaup that has been reported recently. However, as its head-shape looked a bit unusual and its bill perhaps was not quite right, some raised the possibility that it might be a hybrid; unfortunately before this could be explored fully the bird flew off never to be re-located. Distant views of at least two Marsh Harriers were welcome. Next stop was at the western end of the mere to explore some of the parkland and see common woodland species, the highlights here were half a dozen or more Bullfinches. It was an enjoyable walk in an area that many had not been before or, at least, for some years.

We then went to the coast to scan the sea and have our lunch. Some of us had been here earlier in the day before the meet-up and had recorded 20-25 Red-throated Divers. There weren’t so many when we returned but some were on the sea and there was at least one bird that looked good for Black-throated. Following this we headed north to Barmston and then ended at Fraisthorpe with a pleasant stroll on the beach but there were few birds here as it was busy with dog-walkers and the like though we had close views of Sanderling.

Rob Chapman

2019 Michael Clegg Memorial Birdrace

by YorkOCPosted on 11th January 2019 Posted in Trip Reports

The 2019 Michael Clegg Memorial Birdrace took place across Yorkshire last Sunday, 6th January. Four teams from the York area took part. Here are summaries that were posted on Yorkbirding email and Twitter. Well done to the York Upstarts (Tim, Jack and Adam) who again broke the 100 barrier and topped the league.

York Upstarts
From Tim: “Our second best total 101, highlights Arctic Redpoll, Red-necked Grebe, Great White Egret, stunning Male Merlin, Otter on York Uni campus! And a Siberian Chiffchaff at Hes East!”

Never Mind the Woodcocks
From Emanuela: “Sadly without their captain Jono this year — included Richard, Paul B, Paul W and myself. We scored 90.
We started before dawn with three owl species near Thornton — little, tawny and barn owl. We then headed to Allerthorpe Common where the highlights were crossbill, willow tit and marsh tit. We then toured the LDV, where the highlights were black-tailed godwit, white-fronted geese and pink-footed geese. Next step was Castle Howard Lake, where we saw the red-necked grebe.

We finished off at Wheldrake Ings with a nice woodcock. We missed a few species we had seen on previous years such as stonechat, brambling, green woodpecker, jay and nuthatch.

See Paul’s blog for an account: https://dippyman.wordpress.com/2019/01/09/the-wacky-bird-race-3-revenge-of-the-nuthatch/

York Chairman’s Pick
From Duncan: “The Ex-Chairman’s Pick team for the bird race comprised Peter, Neil as well as myself & later in the morning we were joined by Rob & Jane.

We started at Allerthorpe Common about 6.30, then on to Field Lane, Thornton and Church Bridge and then East Cottingwith, Ellerton, North Duffield Carrs, Escrick, Heslington West & East & finally Bank Island.

Our total was 89 which was the same as last year though we still missed some that we might have hoped for like Meadow Pipit, Stock Dove & Sparrowhawk!

Highlights were the Willow Tit at Allerthorpe and East Cottingwith, Black-tailed Godwit at East Cottingwith, Peregrine & Stonechat at North Duffield Carrs & watching 2 Barn Owls hunting last thing at Bank Island where the White-fronted & Pink-footed Geese were present.

York Bird Club SE53

From Paul D: “Our team (myself, Alan and Jonathan) concentrated on the SE53 10 km square in the southwest of the club area. We scored a modest 71, well down from last year’s bumper 83 and largely explained by the lack of flooding which meant that nine species of wildfowl we saw last year weren’t around today.

Our best birds were Jack Snipe, some stunning Red Kites and several Brambling (usually hard work around here).

Unexpected misses were Common Gull and Greenfinch. The former may seem surprising but last year we didn’t see one until well into the afternoon, so we tried from the outset today, but still didn’t see any.

St Aidan’s trip

by YorkOCPosted on 12th December 2018 Posted in Trip Reports

11 members and a guest went for the day to St Aidan’s RSPB reserve. It was a sunny day for a change with 74 species seen or heard. Highlights were Red Kite, Peregrine, Great White Egret, Cetti’s Warbler (heard by two early starters at Lin Dike on the way), Stonechat, Dunlin, Redshank ,Shelduck and Barnacle Goose. There were good numbers of Gadwall and Great Crested Grebe. We finished at Lin Dike, Fairburn Ings with a murmuration display by several thousand Starlings. Thanks to Peter for leading the trip.