Looking for a Hawfinch

We got up extra early this morning to get to Sizergh Castle at the recommended time for spotting Hawfinches only to spend hours cold and hungry waiting patiently for them to show themselves. 

We got there just before 8am.  The first ones there.  Keen and dedicated!  A couple hours went by and the crowd expanded.  Finally someone had a quick sighting in the distance but the bird disappeared before anyone got a really good look.  By 10:30 most people had given up.  I went for a walk just to warm up my toes!

When the cafe opened we opted to sit indoors for a nice warm cup of tea and a scone.  Then Andy saw someone pointing at a tree and rushed out while I continued to enjoy my tea.  And missed the only decent sighting of the morning as one lone Hawfinch perched on a tree top for 30 seconds.

So my day was a little disappointing while Andy was pleased as punch.  Apparently I'm just not dedicated enough!

There were lots of other birds though.  At least 50 Chaffinches, 3 woodpeckers, loads of various tits, Bullfinch, Siskin and over the fields we saw 5 Buzzards.  And best of all for about 15 min after arriving we had 2 Jays bouncing around the trees.  While we had seen them before in our last garden (visiting for the peanuts) we hadn't seen them just 'out and about'.

Shawnna

Nosterfield Local Nature Reserve

Another bitterly cold morning as we made our first trip to Nosterfield and walked to each hide to check out the views over the ponds.

Definitely need a scope here!  All the birds were well on the other side of the ponds.  The hides are fantastic though and we'll be back soon.

One new bird spotted despite not having a scope to hand and that was the Ruff.


Shawnna

Fowl Weather

The plan today was meant to be an outing to the Saltholme RSPB site.

We had to be in Darlington first thing anyway.  But the weather in the area made it a rather risky trip on the roads with snow already causing problems on the roads first thing, so we opted instead for our more local stop at Staveley and we were rewarded with two more ducks to add to our now growing list!

Goldeneye and Scaup were our new birds with lots of Teal, Wigeon and Tufted Ducks also present.  We also got a much better sighting of the Short-eared Owl thanks to our brand new binoculars.


Shawnna

Sunny Scarborough

Enjoyed a beautiful day out to the coast today with glorious sunshine all day.  Bird watching was a little less successful than anticipated but wasn't hard for us to add 6 new birds to our list. 

We made two stops at Burton Riggs but it was pretty quiet.  Canada and Greylag geese, Wigeon, Mallards, Tufted Ducks along with a few Black Headed gulls were about all that was there.  Possibly some sort of Plover but we didn't get a good look.  And on the 2nd stop we noticed a White-Fronted Goose in with the Greylags.

At Scarborough Meir we were treated to a Red-Crested Pochard, a Mandarin and a few Pintails.  There was a great collection of birds here today, all hanging about to get a free meal.

On the coast we saw mainly Herring and Black Headed gulls, but a few Redshanks, Dunlin, Curlew, Oystercatchers, Grey Heron, and a large number of Wigeon on the water.

 Shawnna

Grey morning at Staveley

Woke to a rather dismal day today with plans to try our new little scope over at Staveley Nature Reserve.  With low expectations we were delighted to add 3 new birds to our ever growing list, now at a very modest 74!

Spotted were a Short-eared Owl thanks to a kind stranger who helped us see this well hidden sleepy fellow, 2 Siskin visiting the feeders and a small flock of Yellowhammer.

Shawnna