Uni Semester 2 Week 2

Again a very quiet week still settling back into the routine of lectures. The only highlight I can recall was a Mistle thrush feeding on berries on the tree's in Broomhill. That aside there really has not been much. There was also a Jay that alighted briefly in the tree outside my window but the view was heavily obscured and I could not really see the bird unfortunately

Uni Semester 2 Week 1

Not going to lie, compared to refreshers week there really was nothing doing this week. I did not see anything that is worth reporting
  Luckily though 2 of my lectures this week were about birds, the first one the lecturer offered £25 to i.d. a bird on the screen, red-necked Nightjar, but somebody else got there first and got it wrong, which was disappointing.
  However in the next lecture he offered £5 for every one of the bird orders on the screen that people could get, and I managed 5 out of 7. He even referred to me as his colleague for the rest of the lecture.
  But that's pretty much it for this week...

Smawthorne Marsh - Twitching Firecrest

My intention today was to get the firecrest in the morning, a bird I had long wanted to see, at Smawthorne marsh in Castleford and then go to Swillington for the Siberian chiff-chaff in the afternoon, since I was already quite close.
  Things did not turn out like this however, as I spent a good four hours hunting for the firecrest with no joy at all. I was heartbroken. There were other birds at the site, but they were mainly garden birds, with some nice more unusual garden type birds.
-Willow Tit - My first of the year
-Long Tailed Tit
-Bullfinch
-Goldcrest
-Sparrowhawk
-Goldfinch
-Greenfinch
-Chaffinch
-Blue tit
-Great tit
-Coal tit
-Blackbird
-House Sparrow
-Magpie
-Carrion Crow
-Woodpigeon
Because I spent so long looking for the firecrest I did not make it for the sibe chaff, but I figured it was only a small brown bird and probably not worth the extra expense for potentially more disappointment

Old Moor

Back to the birding then after a day off and what better way to get back into routine than by a trip to old moor, my first time at this praised RSPB reserve. Public transport ran me close but I made it in good time and the weather was decent, so all seemed good. I went to the feeding station first. when I got there I flushed a sparrowhawk which had been sat at the entrance to the viewing screen. I spotted it later in the hedge preening, though the view was obscured and poor. On the feeders I got greenfinch, finally, plus tree sparrow and reed bunting, as well as other garden birds.

  Next onto the reedbed hide, here it was very quiet, only a few birds on the pond

-Shoveler

-Gadwall

-Tufted Duck

-Mallard

-Coot

-Canada Geese

-Common Snipe, my first this year

-Stock Dove pair, Displaying on a raptor box. Very enjoyable to see, as well as being my first this year

   I made my way to the 'family hide' which felt a little tacky with plastic chairs and the like but had great views of many wildfowl species, in great numbers too. 

-Wigeon, Gadwall, Lapwing, Coot, Mallard

On the main islands there were hundreds of ducks, as well as moorhens and coots. Below is the list of species on this main pond

-Wigeon, my first of the year

-Gadwall

-Teal

-Canada Geese

-Mute Swan

-Mallard

-Tufted Duck

-Coot

-Moorhen

-Lapwing

-Carrion Crow

-Common Gull

-Black Headed Gull

-Cormorant

-Gadwall

And a yellowhammer flew across the front of the hide, my first of the year, although it was a brief view to say the least

  The rest of the reserve provided more of the same, just in smaller numbers sadly. There were a few other species, goosander and pochard were the main species not already mentioned, though there were a few very tame robins, which I got great views of.

  After my wander round the reserve I headed back to the feeding station to see if anything else had turned up. While I was there a few lovely male yellowhammers turned up, as did long tailed tits, to add to the great variety of birdlife already there. I was joined by another gentleman who asked if I had spotted the brambling that was there. To be honest I had not really tried to hunt down the brambling, though it would have been nice, but while we were talking about yellowhammers and greenfinches he spotted the female brambling above the bird table. It came down to the floor to feed and got some great views but went after about 5 mins. Still, I got great views of a very unexpected bird on my behalf. I also got some shots of the bird, which are much better than those I got at Cley last time I saw them.

-Female Brambling, right hand bird

-Yellowhammers

That left me buzzing and feeling great. I decided to wander over to Wombwell flash to see if the whooper swans reported were still there. I thought I had them at one point but they turned out to be mute swans, so that was a disappointment. Then best bit about that site was 8 grey herons roosting all in a line. I was then screwed over by public transport as my bus failed to show up, so that put a downer on what had otherwise been a great day.

Pugney's CP to finally get a Smew! (Maybe)

My Smew record leaves a lot to be desired, so what made me decided to try for the Smew at Pugney's, a solid £12 in public transport fares is beyond me. Obviously though having never been there before I was keen to check out the site and see what was going down. It took me a solid 2.5 hours to get there, and no sooner did I arrive than did the heavens open.

  My internet research had found no information on where the Smew was located on the reserve, so I decided to check out the nature reserve section first, it seemed like the logical place to start. There was plenty of stuff on the pool, and the hide offered some degree of protection from the elements, though the hide had a tin roof, so the rain made quite a din.

  So here is my list of birds seen from the hide, the top 6 are year ticks this year:

-Common Teal

-Shoveler

-Pochard

-Redshank

-Goldeneye

-Kingfisher, brief view but still awesome to see

-Great Crested Grebe

-Mute Swan

-Mallard

-Coot

-Moorhen

-Black Headed Gull

-Common Gull

-Lesser-Black Backed Gull

-Long-Tailed Tit

-Bullfinch

-Lapwing

-Cormorant

-Birds on the Nature Reserve

  Sadly though no sign of Smew. After a good hour in the hide I decided to move on and see what else was about on the site. I decided to make my way round the main lake to get to the top lake to see if it was up there. The main lake was sparse on birdlife, but still had some good stuff

-Canada Geese

-Mallard

-Goosander

-Coot

-Tufted Duck

-Goldeneye

-Black Headed Gull

-Grey Heron

  Some good birds but by now I had all but given up on the Smew, making it my 5th Smew related dip in a row. I made it to the top pool in terrible conditions. There were plenty of birds here, including another year tick: Gadwall

-Gadwall

-Tufted Duck

-Grey Heron - Fishing

-Pochard

-Usual Suspects

  And that seemed to be that. However, all Smew hope was not lost, for though my research had been futile I had read somewhere that it was on the river, twitter or somewhere like that, so that was where I made my last stop, useful since it goes alongside the top pool. There were a few Goldeneye quite close on the river, so I took a few shots to fill out this rather wordy post

-Goldeneye

But then, under the bridge I spotted a small white bird in the water. Could it be or was it another Gull, I raised my bins, water on the lens made identification inconclusive. I got closer, raised the bins again, still only a white speck, but now seemed very hopeful, I got closer again and yes, there it was. A stunning drake Smew, finally setting the record straight.

I was able to get as stunning view through the scope and get a few record shots. I watched it for about 5 mins before decided to get a bit closer, nearer the road bridge. I got to the bridge but the bird had gone, and despite my best efforts I failed to re-locate it.

That left the sighting a tad bittersweet, A stunning bird, but I would rather have been able to watch it for longer and really appreciate its beauty, but it was not to be. I managed some record shots and got a stunning view through the scope, but my Smew tick will now forever be known as 'the five minuet Smew'!

-Stunning Drake Smew

Overall it was a really good day, and great to see the Smew, even if it was brief 

Return to Broomhead

The exams are finally finished, over, done!!

So what better way to celebrate finishing my last exam than a trip to Broomhead Reservoir to hopefully catch-up with some 2 Barred Crossbills. My final exam finished at 10.00 and then it was all systems go birding. I made my way quickly up to Broomhead, since I was later than I had been before. And this time I had a new piece of kit. With my Christmas money I had invested in a new 500ml lens, and now was eager to put it through its paces with some birding.
  I arrived at the lower reser with not much going on, a winter Great Crested Grebe, 4 Cormorants and a usual assortment of mallards. The top reser, Broomhead, was much quieter. I reached the spot where the TBC had been but there was no sign, so made my way round to the feeding station since I had not visited the site last time.
  On the way I bumped into a Bradford birder, who had already seen them that morning. Shout out to Fred Drake, it was nice to see a familiar face. At the feeding station there were good numbers of common crossbills in cracking light, so I was able to get some record shots of them, finally!

-Common Crossbill

 Sadly no TBC's but I really had wanted some photos of common crossbills. After a bit I made my way back to the larches, nothing doing there over lunch. I then returned to the feeding station where I learned that the TBC's had turned up after I left, but they had also since departed. 

  I made my way there anyway and got cracking views of Coal Tits and Long-Tailed Tits especially, but also Nuthatch, Great Tit, Blue Tit and GSW. after that I made my way back to the larches, nothing doing so I decided to head home, not a bad afternoon to celebrate though...

  On the reser on the way back there were a few gulls starting to roost, all 3 species present were year ticks: 

Herring Gull

Greater Black Backed Gull

Lesser Black Backed Gull

So that was good too. Overall a really good day, despite missing the TBC's