Shrike-y mate!

Its exam season.  The final exam season.

The last Becher's Brook size hurdle of my 3 years at university before I find myself spat out into the big wide world and wait for life to smack me round the face. The exams should go OK. That is, all except one.

 Like an academic Leviathan rising out of the exam timetable froth, formed from the most difficult to remember biological processes comes "Animal Developmental Biology", which I sat today. Well when I say "sat" it felt more like I was spending the entire time drowning in a sea of over complicated gene names and desperately fighting against being dragged down by an undercurrent of biological jargon. "Don't let go Jack"? By the end I was ready to take a lung full and let the exam markers have a feeding frenzy over my soul.

I don't get bothered by exams, as you can tell, but this one really was a nightmare and a one way ticket to Failsville. I needed to cheer myself up.

The day before I had seen through Twitter that there were reports of 5 Bee Eaters being seen in Flamborough, and I half had the mind to abandon my revision right then to go off to see them. I thought better of it in the end though and decided that it might just be the perfect cure for a bout of post exam trauma. They ticked all my twitchable bird boxes; 1. Not too far - only about an hour and a half drive from Leeds, and 2. They are absolute little stunners. Plus they are very rarely recorded this far north and particularly not in these numbers.

So today, at 12 midday, I set off to Flamborough. Flamborough and the surrounding area has been a favourite holiday spot of my family for years so it didn't take much time at all to locate where the Bee Eaters had been seen. It was made all the easier by 3 birders standing aimlessly by the side of the road looking wistfully along telegraph wires. The news was as I feared, no sightings since half 11 that morning (it was now about 2ish) and some people had even reported seeing them high up flying out to sea.

This was turning into my first unsuccessful long range (for me) twitch but the sun was shining and there was plenty else to see. Especially when one of the birders told me of a site five minutes down the road where a Red Backed Shrike had been since the day before and showing brilliantly. Sure enough, after being there for only a couple of minutes, it popped up onto a willow where it stayed for five minutes before disappearing off into a thicket from which no one could locate it.

The sun shining on North Landing. Enough to brighten anybodies mood

I had been hoping to get some photos digiscoped from my phone so hung around for about an hour and managed to see a nice Roe Deer as well as talk to a couple of birders. That's the thing about birdwatching, you can easily pass an hour talking to someone you've never met before. There's something very special in that.

My patience was rewarded after I decided to have a walk up to the direction that it was last seen (no one was checking that area so some reason) and it popped up into view where it stayed for a good 15 minutes where I managed to get some decent record shots.

For those that read this blog looking for directions to the site; the small reserve is located on North Marine Road on the road down to North Landing in Flamborough. Its the left turn dead before the Viking Pub signposted Thornwick Bay Caves and Bird Sanctuary. Good luck!

From there I headed to Bempton Cliffs, one of my favourite places in the world, to see the sea bird colony. I got good views of all the regulars; Puffin, Gannet, Razorbill, Fulmar, Guillemot and Kittiwake.

Razorbills - one of my favourites. They look so smart!

Colony of Guillemots enjoying the evening sun

The view down the cliffs

 It was about 5 when I decided to start making my way back and on the way up to the visitor centre was where I got my best wildlife encounter of the day. From the ground to my left a large white bird rose and started flying across the sky with laborious wing beats. My first instinct was a Little Egret, but as soon as I got my binoculars on it there was no mistaking it; a gorgeous Barn Owl. It its talons it clutched some prey it must have hunted in the fields as it slowly floated into the distant haze.

There was only one way to end such an amazing day; fish and chips. Which I duly demolished with haste.

What started out as a pretty terrible day had turned into one of the most enjoyable days I think I've ever had. Just goes to show that you should always get out there, you never know what's waiting for you!

Adding to the list

This post will be fairly picture heavy as I go about recapping various birds that have been added to my year list so far.

Before I get started with bird watching though, I'll start with a lifer bird for me in regards of bird ringing.

Any guesses?

If any of you have managed to guess what they are based on the above pictures then I am remarkably impressed and you may need to consider spending less time knee deep in rivers wading around under bridges. That clue should have really given it away - they are Dipper chicks. 

We'd previously visited them a few days earlier and they were too small to ring but we judged the days and size they would get too accurately and came back when they were more the correct size. Only one had been lost over the 5 days that passed and if a healthy brood of four fledges then it will be judged a pretty good success. Fingers crossed they all make it!

Now, back to the bird watching.

A visit to Lound Gravel Pits a couple of weeks ago turned up the first House Martins of the year as well as Willow Warbler, Whitethroat, Oystercatcher and Ruff making it a very worthwhile trip. It was probably a bit early for Turtle Doves (although I didn't really have a good look) but I was able to spot the other specialty of the site that remains present all year round; Red Crested Pochard. I didn't realise until recently that the majority of the UK population are escapes, I just thought they were native but only very localised. As this population is fairly large and present all year round then I assume it must have been founded by captive birds some years ago.

Finally I visited the RSPB's Old Moor a couple of days ago with my grandparents where we decided to take the track that skirts round the edge of the reserve rather than visit the hides as we usually do. It proved a very nice walk and with sightings of two Black Necked Grebe on Bolton Ings, I can't complain at all. After finishing the walk me and my Grandad decided to head into the reserve to do an hours quick blitz to target some new species for the year. We chose to go for the main path on the reserve to aim for Mediterranean Gull and Gargeny over the path that possibly offered Green Sandpiper and Bittern and, although we missed the Gargeny, we were successful in our hunt for the Mediterranean Gull as well as hearing our first Cuckoo of the year.

Can you see it?

There were hundreds of Black Headed Gulls screaming and wheeling round as well as the countless birds nesting on all the islands, making the search for the Med. Gull a needle in a haystack job where the needle is also straw coloured. A site like Old Moor is really a site where telescopes come into their own and after a scan across the colony the Med Gull was located. You can tell the difference as they have a darker head that is black rather than chocolate brown of the Black Headed Gull and the black covers much more of the head on the Med Gull. It's bill is also thicker and a much more vibrant red. Still, a pretty pleasing spot if I do say so myself!

Not a brilliant picture, but you can see the jet black head.

Yellowhammer overload and a migrant bonanza

Spring is in full swing with migrants on the wing that are doing much to lift the spirits in tune with the rising temperature. Bird ringing has been a joy in the past two weeks, with a wide variety of species coming from the scrub land site at Bondhay. In particular its been Yellowhammer that have continued to flood into the feeding station despite the warm weather. The total for the site in March and April are only 16 shy of the overall group average annual totals as we currently stand on 62 for the year.

Interestingly, after finding a Reed Bunting with only one leg the week before, one of the Yellowhammers also appeared to be worse for wear in the limb department with a missing lower leg. The damage seemed to have occurred some time ago as the leg had completely healed (or it may have been born that way) and the bird didn't seem to be too adversely affected. Both birds were missing the lower leg below the joint which is an unusual place for both to sustain traumatic injuries as a coincidence... There may be some kind of limb losing epidemic sweeping across the site!

I managed to bag my first Swallow of the year today as well as hearing my first Whitethroat singing along with a couple of Willow Warblers. There's a Phylloscopus Warbler at the Crags that I've got my eyes on that sings outside the visitor centre with a mixture of Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff song and I wonder whether it could be a hybrid. Its been there for at least two weeks which would make it an early Willow Warbler, but with the way this season is panning out that should come as no surprise!

Finally, here is the earliest Grasshopper Warbler ever caught on Bondhay which was caught today. There population was at an all time low last year, so here's hoping they are on the up this year!

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker and the first Chiffchaff of the year

Its been some time since I've written a blog post due to the mountain of work that I had to assail in order to to reach the pinnacle of that greatest peak in the University mountain range; Dissertation. I thought about writing a post while making camp about two thirds of the way up but when I sat down to write my post I realised I had nothing to write about. All I had seen for the most of February was the inside of a University computer room. 

But alas! The summit was reached last week and I've since had a safe descent. This meant I was able to get out last weekend where I went birding with my Grandad to see Lesser Spotted Woodpecker at the same place we went last year. It took a while to locate but we eventually found it, doing what I think was nest excavation.

We also saw a pair of Pink Footed Geese in the fields, as well as a nice pair of Mandarin and seeing and hearing my first Chiffchaff of the year. As there was last year, there was also a Canada/Greylag Goose with a white neck and head and orange beak. It was joined by another similar looking bird and I can only assume that they are hybrids between a wild bird and domesticated ones.

The hybrid geese. Either Canada or Greylag crossed with domestic geese.

The following day I helped run a bird ringing demonstration in the glorious sunshine of Creswell Crags. We didn't catch much, I think our tally finished on around 10, but everybody who came to watch seemed to really enjoy themselves and were most friendly. We caught our first Chiffchaff of the year though which was nice. 

First Chiffchaff ringed of the year

 However the main enjoyment for me came from the chocolate orange cake served in the gift shop which was absolutely superb!