Walk at Thornton Reservoir 20/1/19

Thirteen of us met at Thornton Reservoir on Sunday 20th January 2019. It was a cold, dull day with little wind. Our walk around the reservoir was uneventful apart from the sighting of a male Carolina or Wood duck. A beautiful bird with well marked plumage, demonstrating its relationship to the Mandarin duck. It's not as common as the Mandarin duck with less than 20 breeding pairs in this country; most are escapees.

Like the Mandarin, the Wood duck favours nesting in trees and as it's name suggests prefers an environment with plenty of foliage. Despite the quietness of the day 40 species were seen or heard, however no raptors appeared and the only wader was the lapwing.

Bird sightings: Mute swans, Greylag geese, Canada geese, Mallards, Gadwalls, Wigeon, Teal, Tufted ducks, Little grebe, Great crested grebe, Cormorants, Grey heron, Moorhen, Lapwings x20, Black-headed gulls, Common gull, Lesser black-backed gull, Stock dove, Wood pigeon, Great spotted woodpecker, Pied wagtail, Dunnocks, Robin, Song thrush, Redwing, Mistle thrush (c), Blackbirds, Goldcrest, Great tit, Coal tit, Blue tit, Long-tailed tits x6, Nuthatch, Magpies, Jay, Jackdaws, Carrion crow, Chaffinch, Linnets x4,

Carolina or Wood duck

Total: 40 species

Madeleine.

Bempton Cliffs, Yorkshire

Due to a forecast of lovely weather, we went up to RSPB site Bempton Cliffs which is three miles north of Bridlington, near Flamborough Head. Upon approaching the edge of the cliffs, the noise of thousand of birds was breathtaking, there are 5 or 6 lookouts with excellent views along the cliff top. To the right there were the gannets, we were told they had 4 thousand last year, this year they had arrived later, so no eggs as yet had been laid, but numbers were already looking good, also countless Guillemots, Razorbills, Kittywakes and a Peregrine shown to us on the RSPB assistants scope.

Further to the left we started to see the puffins, flying back and forth. The sea which was calm was covered with birds everywhere, it's a truely wonderful sight and well worth the trip!

Upon returning to the center, a Hawfinch had turned up at the feeder station, first record in 5 years, this presented an opportunity for photographs to the fortunate people there, other sightings on site included pair of Ring Ouzels, Corn Buntings, Brambling, Skylarks, Tree Sparrows, and Swallows.

Great birding, memorable weekend.

From Dave & Pauline.

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Fosse Meadows

A grey and overcast day did not deter a large group and did not disappoint on the birding front. Joined on the day by Ken, Dave and his grandson Billy, Graham, Fred and Linda, Vicki, Julie, Ellen, John and Angie, Sue and Beverly we made our way to the first of the two hides on the pond. Up to this point and here we had views of a Lesser Whitethroat, Reed Bunting, a pair of Kingfishers, Sand Martins, Willow Warbler, Blackcap and many more (see the bird list). From here we moved along trying to find the best route to dodge the waterlogged sections and the muddy sections. A pleasurable day had by all. I left the group early to check out the Kingfishers again and was also greeted by a pair of Oystercatchers having a squabble. I decided to also test out the new burger van which was delicious!

Lee.

Kingfisher Pair

Oystercatcher

Blackcap

Willow Warbler