This morning was my first trip to the Spurn area for about six months, with our winter trips to the Algarve and other things cropping up. Sammy's Point near Easington is often my first point of call - not only is it an excellent landfall for Autumn migrants, such as thrushes from across the North Sea, in Spring it can hold early Wheatears and Ring Ouzels. Today, it was a Firecrest being the main attraction. With the wind blowing hard across the estuary, this Firecrest was keeping very low in the bushes and often on the ground .
We're patiently waiting for the arrival of Spring migrants, up here in East Yorkshire but already, our seabirds have returned. The cliffs at Bempton are filling up with lines of Guillemots, huddles of Razorbills, pairs of Puffins and noisy Kittiwakes. As you'll see from my home page, the magnificent Gannet is a favourite of mine and Bempton holds the most Southerly breeding site on the East Coast of England. Despite the usual grey sky and grey North Sea, seeing this vast collection of birds is so uplifting and I hope they have a successful breeding season. The Gannets Arrival. Find a suitable ledge. Find a mate! Obtain local building materials. Start a family? A good number of Puffins are evident already. The number of burrows is limited with the soil being eroded away, but the Puffins are finding crevices in the cliffs and settling on ledges too. Just one of thousands of Guillemot. Kittiwakes are having a tough time and are susceptable to North-Easterly gales at Bempton, with their precarious nests. There were many Fulmars in the air, but I only saw a couple of nest sites. Most birds were settling beneath the cliff tops out of sight.
I made an early start this morning to one of my favourite sites in Yorkshire. Hilla Green is a small settlement at the start of Troutsdale, and this particular site fringes the banks of the River Derwent in its upper reaches. Public footpaths allow access to one bank of the river, which is home to Dippers, Kingfishers and Grey Wagtails. Arriving around 7-30a.m, the area was quiet, still and misty. A first view of the river showed the Dippers were already out! More light was needed for photos and, having travelled for an hour I thought a coffee would be a good idea. The temperature was only 2C as well! Within half an hour, a pair of Grey Wagtails had passed through and a Kingfisher too. The Dippers were busy collecting nest material which was encouraging to see. One of the Dippers perched up and sang to its mate repeatedly, in a beautiful pose which I hadn't seen before. It wasn't long before a very unwelcome visitor made its way along the river bank - a Mink! Adjacent to the river is an ox-bow lake surrounded by trees. A number of Mandarin duck have been visiting this water for years, they invariably see you first and are easily flushed. I stayed a while at Hilla Green, watching Treecreeper, Mistle Thrush and a nice few Song Thrushes. I was waiting for the temperature to rise and a bit of wind, before going to the raptor viewpoint in Wykeham Forest. On top of the forest, the air had cleared and the view was stunning this morning. The first raptors seen were Common Buzzards and in all, eight gathered together and spiralled higher, before moving off West. Two Sparrowhawks appeared next and shortly after, the first Goshawk appeared. It was distant, but was watched performing its display - climbing and diving a couple of times. Another Goshawk appeared later but again, was a long, long way off.
On the way home, a short stop was made at the feeding station in Forge Valley. An excellent place for Nuthatch and Marsh Tit. Before I popped to 'Cave' today, a couple of interesting sightings in the garden this morning. Firstly, our male Sparrowhawk spent a while sitting on the garden fence. A little later, I was pleased to see Bullfinches returning to the feeders. For the first time in twelve years, I had two pairs together, though each pair flew off in opposite directions. At North Cave, I managed to find the drake Mandarin after missing out on two previous occasions. How you can miss a duck which is all colours of the rainbow is unthinkable, but this one disappeared on me, in the blink of an eye. I took my eye off it for a couple of seconds and it was gone, presumably flying off the lake. It also spends time on the tree-lined bank and can be hard to see there also. Also on the Reserve today, a Peregrine flew through, one of the Little Owls was in the NW corner and this Kittiwake has stayed for a few days, presumably on passage.
At this time of year, it's all about getting plumage into pristine condition, ready for the breeding season. A visit to North Cave Wetlands is an excellent place to see some of the residents, looking their very best at the moment. Little Grebe Even the old Rook has smartened up! Colourful Tree Sparrows. Male Teal - a little gem!
It was a wet and sometimes snowy morning but it didn't deter the birds from feeding in our garden. Some of our more unusual visitors were around, including a Stock Dove under the feeders and the male Blackcap which has over-wintered. More usual visitors were 6 Greenfinch, 3 Blackbird, 2 Robin, 3 Blue Tit, 2 Great Tit, 2 Long-tailed Tit and 2 Coal Tit, which both showed an interest in a small nest-box. Later in the morning, a pair of Siskins fed on nyger seed and were the first of the year, although they are often present in nearby roadside alders. After lunch, the weather dried up a little and I was lucky with this lovely Barn Owl at North Cave Wetlands.
On our recent visit to Portugal, my Sigma 150-500 unfortunately gave up while photographing an Alpine Accentor, on the Monchique summit. I'd had that lens for a number of years, it was beginning to look worse for wear, and when the focus drive and stabilisation gave out - a new lens became a necessity. This is not, by any means, a review of the new lens' performance. My images are an ideal record of sightings I've experienced, enhancing my enjoyment of birding - and I don't profess to having photographic knowledge at a technical level. Having said that, with new lens duly attached to the camera, it was off to the local park after lunch to get cracking. I acquired some useful comments from web reviews, in particular relating to weight and the option of using a monopod. The Sigma lens is heavier than a Canon, but having carried the 150-500 for numerous miles, this lens is only a couple of ounces heavier and all the images here are 'hand-held'. I have a monopod and it will certainly accompany me in the future, as it is quite comfortable when assembled and slung over the shoulder! I found I was shooting at far higher aperture values, typically f11 or f13 at speeds of around 1/500sec, and obtaining remarkably crisp results. Obviously, as I'm also testing the extra 100mm zoom, I'm nowhere near this Goosander - try getting close to one, they soon clear off! This Coot was close (10 metres) and the result is very pleasing. I should say at this point that, not being made of money, the lens is attached to an obsolete Canon camera. This Dunnock had a shutter speed of 1/120sec.
I took loads of images on a bright day, just clouding over - including a remarkably sharp airliner at 36,000ft over Hull. I'm really looking forward to birding with this new lens and it has extremely good reviews on the Internet. |
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