Yorkshire Bird Race 2016

Three teams from the York area competed in the annual Yorkshire Bird Race last Sunday, 3rd.

York Upstarts started really early around 4 a.m. by torchlight and recorded 93 species and visited 18 sites. Highlights included Long and Short-eared Owls, Jack Snipe, Woodcock, Water Rail, Kingfisher, Corn Bunting, Pink-footed Geese, Brambling, Egyptian Geese, Goosander, Goldeneye, Nuthatch, Stonechat, Willow Tit, Jay, Grey Partridge, Curlew, Redshank, Dunlin, Ruff. Well done to Tim, Ollie and Chris.

York ‘B’ (or Chairman’s Pick) recorded 82 species. Their highlights were Lesser Spotted Woodpecker near Allerthorpe Common and a Scaup. Also Brambling, Marsh Tit, 4 Woodcock, 4 Tawny Owl, several flocks of Lesser Redpoll, Pink-footed Geese (including a skein of 200), 2 Kingfishers, Egyptian Geese, Little Grebe, 85 Whooper Swan, 9 Dunlin, 4 Ruff, 2 Redshank, 35 Shelduck. Peter, Duncan, Jane and Rob focused mainly on Allerthorpe Common and sites around the LDV, but also had a brief visit to Hes West.

York ‘A’ – Paul, Richard, Neal and Noel recorded 68 species in SE53. Highlights were PF Goose 130 flew NW, Jack Snipe 3, Siskin 110, Goosander 15,
Tufted Duck 10, Scaup 1 female (bird of the day given that diving ducks are distinctly scarce in SE53), Ruddy Shelduck 1, Whooper Swan 8.

Teams also submitted counts for 12 species of conservation concern which will provide a baseline for future years and will be noted in the annual report in due course.

All teams were down on last year’s totals but, given the heavy rain from lunchtime, all were impressive totals. Tim has totted up a combined total of 97, tantalisingly close to what must be an achievable 100. Maybe that will be cracked next year?

Paul collected donations at the YOC meeting last night and these will be sent to the organisers for protection of the Yorkshire Cranes.