Goodbye to the 100+ Autumn Term

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 and Redwings perched for several seconds before they flew off, but the light wasn't terribly good. 
Red Kite
 Immature Red Kite
 Red Kite in Flight
 Ditto
 In Flight (c) 2016 Jane Robinson
 Ditto
 Ditto
Red Kites (c) 2016 Mike Woods 

The Tawny Owl was still in its tree, and the Grey Wagtail was on various rooftops.  A pair of Marsh Tits were in the village, but there was no sign of the Nuthatch or the Treecreepers.  One surprise was a Heron high on a hillside with no standing water, and a leucitic Woodpigeon perched in a tree.  The Siskins remained as flyovers, and weren't seen particularly well.  
Tawny Owl
Tawny Owl (c) 2016 Mike Woods
 Marsh Tit (c) 2016 Mike Woods
 Ditto
Grey Wagtail
 Leucistic Woodpigeon
 Heron
 Redwing
The morning group travelled the short distance to Huggate for an end-of-term meal, but details of their gormandizing hasn't been forthcoming.  And that's marks the conclusion of the Autumn term in which every morning group saw more than 100 species, and some of the afternoons did too.  Next Autumn I'll try and ensure that there are more encounters with waders, and hope the conditions aren't as windswept as they were this year.  

The winter term commences on the 10th January during which we will be hoping to see Waxwings, Bramblings, Long-eared Owls,  Rough-legged Buzzard, Hen Harriers and hopefully see better views of Bramblings.  We will be differentiating all the species of wildfowl, and each week as a new songster joins the dawn chorus we will be expanding our knowledge of those too.

Postscript on No.7
Hi Michael, this is great news for us as this bird is a real old favourite. She has been the resident female in a wood on XX estate who was tagged Orange/Red7 in 2003 at Harewood and came to East Yorkshire the year after. To our knowledge she has successfully raised more than 20 young. I personally haven’t seen her for more than a year so this is fantastic news for me. 

Please feel free to share this info with your group. N

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