The end of winter and the beginning of spring

Hi folks and welcome to another update on my wildlife encounters and sightings, each viewing of my blog is appreciated and as always I am open to answering questions on topics I have raised.

Following my last blog I was contacted by an osprey hide owner with regard to the accuracy of what I stated, he was polite but dismissive until I quoted the openly available facts that were the basis of my comments. Further proof from a respected wildlife trust resulted in him "blocking" me, so much for constructive conversation!

One place has a pond approx 36 x 17 metres stocked with over 2,000 rainbow trout...draw your own conclusions....

Anyway lets crack on with some wildlife, a little nature reserve near home has a stable population of linnets, wonderful little birds...

Teal are seen there regularly too...

Carrion crows with unusual white wing patches...

The juvenile male hen harrier continued to show well at another location...

I love dunnocks and this one showed in beautiful light...

Lapwings are back on my moors...

A nuthatch in the woods nearby...

As you can see I have been covering plenty of habitats and if asked to name my favourite I would have to say.....all of them! This area offers moorland, riverbanks, canal towpaths and some superb woodlands. All of them have brought me some very treasured sightings over the years so each are treated with due respect.

This time of year is close to the start of my peregrine watchpoint volunteering, we called up for a look at Malham Cove and found a peregrine on sentry duty what a great start to the season!

The viewpoint, co-funded by the RSPB and Yorkshire Dales National Park opens on the 1st April and is manned from Saturday to Wednesday with powerful telescopes to help visitors see the birds. Lots of other wonderful wildlife to be seen around the area including green woodpeckers, house martin, redstart, spotted flycatchers and stoats and weasels...

RSPB Leighton Moss is a favourite of ours, good habitat and always something to see...including an otter with a catch, a bit distant but super to see

And a wonderful view of the secretive bittern

Nuthatches abound there too!

Back in my local woods I found a siskin...

We love the east coast, particularly RSPB Bempton Cliffs, a stop off along the way brought a stunning binocular and scope view of a goshawk, too far away for my camera but a treasured sighting nonetheless.

A crossbill was more confiding :-)

Scarborough Harbour provided a great northern diver!

First sighting at Bempton was short eared owl, what a day!

We saw kittiwake, fulmar, razorbill and guillemot and loads of gannets too, more on them plus puffins later in the year.

A bonus on the day...a lovely if lethal weasel!

Regular readers will know of my love of dippers, they are just fascinating as they dive into fast currents searching for food. Now they are paired up, tidying nest sites and preparing to breed again...

Taking a rest occasionally though, but always alert...

The great spotted woodpeckers have been showing well in my local woodland areas, female and male respectively....

In amongst some chaffinches I found a brambling, they will soon be departing along with the waxwings, redwings and fieldfares that have graced our shores in winter. The great season of spring migration is upon us with many favourite birds back or on their way.

 My first wheatear of the year...

And finally...a lesson in patience, the most vital skill in a wildlife photographers kit. My raptor watchpoint has yielded some super sightings of the UK's smallest bird of prey, the merlin. Last year a female perched on a wall not too far away, great but catching one in flight? A couple of days ago all the patience paid off....

I can only try to direct people and photographers to the rewards of patience, after all people have the options there before them. I can only say that this way has no detrimental effects on the wildlife we all love...busy days ahead the first osprey flying through my area has been spotted :-)

Many thanks to all who read the blog, comments are much appreciated but will only appear after coming to me for moderation.

Warmth returns as Spring approaches

One of the delights as we begin to see the back end of winter is the opportunity to cast off a layer or two of the waterproofs and fleeces necessary in the colder months. Also the wildlife becomes more visible as birds begin the rituals of display and pairing up ready for breeding.

Maybe the biggest bonus for outdoor activities is the drying out and firming up of paths that have become quagmires during a wet winter such as the one just drawing to a close!

I have returned to the otter site a couple of times with no sightings but plenty of patience and many visits will be necessary to ascertain whether the family have a holt in the area. The youngsters may well be encouraged to leave by the female as she will be on the look out for a breeding partner, by their size they look well equipped to make a life of their own.

There are plenty of other things to see at the location, mistle thrushes feed in the fields.

Dunnocks appear on and by the walls...

Plenty of kestrels in the area too.

The fieldfares have not begun their return migration yet...

In the nearby woods the nuthatches are calling loudly and are easily visible...

A big problem with people scattering food for the birds is the attraction of rodents, mice and voles have been seen regularly but recent sightings of rats are not too welcome...

That hole is in the middle of the path!

Many birds are now in fine plumage, great tit..

...and blue tit

Wandering quietly through the woods I spotted a wren...

...and slightly larger, a roe deer just feet away from me

A pair of oystercatchers were by a small flooded area...

On the moor edges a lapwing

A lovely couple of visits in warm (ish) sunshine...

After the splendid kingfisher sightings of my previous report we just had to return to Rodley before too long.

At first most of the birds seemed to be in the distance and whilst there was some good variety it was at a range where photography was not too worthwhile.

I spotted a kingfisher fly into the edge of a reedbed, amongst many efforts to get a clear shot as the reeds swayed to and fro in a gusty breeze I managed this one...

It seemed none to happy with the fishing prospects on this pond and soon flew out of sight!

We made our way in the general direction of its flight and settled in another hide, this was worthwhile if for nothing else for this lovely clear sight of a little grebe.

Patience was rewarded soon after as the kingfisher flew in quite close and treated us to a lovely display of its fishing skills, and its ability to properly stun its catch by giving it a few brisk whacks on the perch it was using...

During the day we had been joined by a couple we knew via the internet and wildlife photography and we offered to lead them to our red kite site in the afternoon. Heading back to our respective cars for lunch we saw linnets in a tree, bad direction for light unfortunately!

Deborah and Eric spotted a bee on the path, fearful of it being trodden on in its lazy state we moved it safely away. A friend of Deborah's later kindly identified it as a tree bumblebee..

Making our way the short distance to the afternoon site it did cross my mind that the red kites had better be visible!

No need to worry as we approached the parking spots the kites were already gliding just above the car roof and we were treated to some spectacular displays, buzzards joined in the fun too, great stuff!

Red kite

Buzzard

Red kites

and another buzzard, happy days!

A photographer friend is currently visiting Haweswater regularly in an effort to get some photographs of the elusive golden eagle that is resident there and I made plans to join him one day.

We did get a brief sighting near the top of Rough Crag which leads up to High Street, by a process of elimination of what it could not be due to size compared with a walker who trod that path soon after, wing shape and posture, and adding in our collective experience we are pretty certain it was the eagle.

Chatting to a gentleman who joined us, he was last year's warden at the watchpoint, we were given some fairly specific details of the perches the bird likes to use so future visits may pay dividends.

The sun shone for most of the day and happy memories of hours spent climbing the various fells around the valley flooded back.

Riggindale, the home of the eagle...

Red deer on the horizon

and Haweswater

Many thanks to all who view the blog, please do not forget that if you do comment it will not appear immediately, they come to me for moderation first.  Happy Spring everyone.