YOC December Trip

This month’s trip, on 8th December, was a clockwise loop around the LDV. Starting at Bank Island, five of us spend a while looking through the geese for rarer species but only Greylags (about 200) and Canada Geese. Every hedgerow and bush appeared to contain Fieldfares and Redwings though, which was a theme of the day. To keep the sun behind us, we headed for East Cottingwith, on the way we found 14 Pink-footed Geese in a flock of 470 Greylags on fields just north of Hagg Bridge.

On the Refuge, there were 175 Tufted Duck, six Grey Herons in the air at the same time as well as others hunkered down in the fresh wind, one Little Egret and a Jay were seen too. Then on to Ellerton where we had 11 Goldeneye and a family party of Whooper Swans with a large flock of Lapwings, over 1200 we reckoned. At Aughton there were more Goldeneye and an even larger flock of Lapwings, perhaps 2000.

Overlooking North Duffield Ings from Bubwith, we counted 500 Golden Plover and at least 50 Pintail. The Whooper count at NDC was 33 but there were probably more as there were some partially obscured behind bushes on Bubwith Ings. Thorganby was quiet but the gull roost at Wheldrake Ings was very impressive, mainly Black-headed and Common Gulls but also c.140 Great-black Backed and a few Herring Gulls; there must have been tens of thousand birds.

Rob and Jane