Bird Lover

Some of my 'students' have already been out and about taking photos in their free time.  Today, John from Wednesday mornings captured a smart Garganey at RSPB Blacktoft Sands. Garganey (c) 2017 John Dowson Meanwhile, Jane immediately took leave of Kiplingcotes on Friday for a weekend in the Dales.  She photographed Mandarin and Goosanders on the River Ure, plus a Treecreeper on trees nearby. All remaining photos (c) 2017 Jane Robinson Mandarin Pair   Ditto   Goosander pair   Treecreeper   Ditto   Having a Scratch   Pheasant Hopefully there will be some more holiday snaps by various photographers over the next four weeks before classes resume again.

Red Kite Last week was the final week of the Winter term.  It finished a little earlier than normal, as no sessions were cancelled because of unpleasant winter weather.  On Tuesday we had our final visit of the year to Hornsea.  Unfortunately, this was the windiest visit we'd endured at this location, so the birds weren't quite as obliging as on previous occasions.  Despite this we encountered 5 Chiffchaffs on the walk to the hide, which was a huge increase on the 2 from 6 days earlier.  The Goldeneye again gave good views from the hide, as did Tufted Ducks.  We saw at least 2 Marsh Harriers, and a pair of Buzzards, and of course heard a Cetti's Warbler without seeing it. Marsh Harrier (top) & Buzzard   Ditto   Drake Goldeneye   Ditto The forecast for Wednesday was very discouraging, so we had to drop Kiplingcotes for Tophill Low.  This was a good move, as the morning group encountered 61 species, the single best total for the whole term.  This took the full total of bi