Bird Lover

Today we saw our best ever Hepatic Cuckoo in 14 years of the classes.  Apparently, about 1 in 10 females are this strange reddish-brown colour, although I think it is actually rarer than these figures would suggest.  In the morning she flew in front of the hide we were sat in and landed in some distant trees on the other side of the lake.  In the afternoon we heard her bubbling almost by our side, and then she flew past us a couple of times, as she kept her eye on Reed Warbler habitat. Hepatic Cuckoo  Ditto  Ditto  Ditto  Ditto  Ditto  Ditto  Ditto  Ditto  Ditto Compare this with the standard male Cuckoo as seen on Saturday morning at Burstwick Male Cuckoo   Ditto

The weather was so fine today, I thought it would be good to try out one of the most beautiful places in Yorkshire, where there are several bird species which we don't often see locally.  We arrived at Barden Bridge shortly after 10am, but the free parking spaces had already gone.  We met some West Yorkshire birders who were just leaving after being there since 6.30am.  They had seen 2 Tawny Owls, Pied Flycatchers high in the tree, Redstarts, Dippers, Common Sandpipers, but no Wood Warblers, perhaps it is just a little early for the latter.  Pied Flycatcher Over 3 hours later we saw most of the daytime species, but didn't travel as far to see the Dippers.   We thought we would be able to change car parks and see them near the Abbey, but by 1.30 the road in the opposite direction was almost gridlocked, so we called it a day.  Two species we saw not mentioned by the early arrivals were a Goosander flying up ri...

Apart from Wednesday the weather seems to be improving, and now most of the summer migrants, which have been either absent or arriving late, are at last here in some numbers.    Cuckoo On Tuesday we made our first visit of the year to the perennially-popular Lincolnshire reserve.  Unfortunately, for the first ever visit in May there wasn't a Garden Warbler in the car park, but it was only the 1st of May, and they are obviously still arriving.  One surprise was a Red-Crested Pochard.  Everyone could see it, but unfortunately, the light was pretty shocking, so apart from the bright head, very few of its characteristics could be discerned.  The light on more standard birds was of course much better.   Red-Crested Pochard Ditto Reed Warbler Ditto Willow Tit Ditto Shelduck Black-headed Gull Chaffinch - showing off green rump Cormorant & Lesser Black Backed Gull Female Brimstone Green-Veined White Bluebell Apple Blossom A lot of Cowslips Meanwhile t...