Bird Lover

  Waxwing I resolve that the new winter term will begin on 10th January 2017. I resolve we will visit 10 different venues chosen to encounter a wide range of species. I resolve that the first Tuesday class will have close encounters with Goosanders . I resolve that the first Wednesday class will see a Smew . Drake Smew (c) 2016 Vince Cowell  I resolve that the first Thursday class will see a Pintail . I resolve that the first Friday class will see a Purple Sandpiper I resolve in the following weeks every student will encounter at least one Kingfisher , and hopefully more than one. I resolve that if a reliable Hawfinch site turns up, we will drop everything to see them. I resolve that if we have an invasion of Waxwings , we may even visit a supermarket to get a good view! I resolve that if a Long-eared Owl can be viewed without disturbance, we will do our best to observe it I resolve that if a Rough-legged Buzzard takes up reside...

For the final Friday session of the term we travelled to the Red Kite roost which every other session had already visited.  There was a flock of around 50 Bramblings, but they were much further down the road this time.   In the afternoon they were impossible to see as some over-rich yobbos were blasting Pheasants out of the sky at just that point.   Red Kite with roadkill Brambling Of all our visits this term this was the windiest by far.  Luckily, it was fairly mild, so it didn't appear that anyone was too cold.  There were some Redwings and Fieldfare just where we parked, and a few Red Kites perched in trees.  One of these was obviously chewing something, but I didn't notice until I checked the photos that this still had a tag in place - Red 7.  We think it was eating the remains of a roadkill Pheasant. Fieldfare   Redwing (c) 2016 Jane Robinson   Ditto   Ditto This time we were able to see a few Fieldfare...

On Wednesday for the second consecutive day I had to leave at 7.30 in order to get through the Hull traffic to reach RSPB Fairburn Ings on time.  The weather was overcast at first, so wasn't really an awful lot better than the mist of the previous day.  However, the Kingfishers were still in evidence, so that helped brighten everyone's spirits.  Paradoxically, the Green Woodpeckers were harder to locate than they were in the fog, but we did see one a fair distance off.  The wildfowl was easier to see on the large lake, but wasn't particularly close.  In the afternoon Tony and other morning retainers  went off to Lin Dyke where they enjoyed good views in better light of some Goosanders.  A nice end to the Wednesday term, and the Goosander and Willow Tit helped the am team attain the 100 species for the Autumn term. All Goosander photos (c) 2016 Tony Robinson Drake Goosander   Female Goosander   Goosanders Female Kingfi...