Kronk

Yesterday, a visit to Castle Howard was rather quiet, apart from a typically-noisy Cetti's Warbler, erupting occasionally from the reedbed. A female Pintail among the Wigeon was notable, and my first Goldeneye of the winter - eight - were nice to see. No Hawfinches were in the Arboretum car park, so I headed back to the LDV. I only had an hour before I was due to pick up Sol, so I opted to sit in Cheesecake Hide at Bank Island. This proved to be successful, with the highlights being a Raven kronking it's way east, closely followed by a second bird which was loudly calling it's mate to wait! I dashed out of the hide and managed a bit of phone video as it went over. Also, a fine juvenile Marsh Harrier was harrying the ducks and waders, which included a Black-tailed Godwit, 25+ Snipe and c50 Lapwings. Two Whooper Swans flew south.

 

Bishopthorpe has turned up a couple of good birds in the last few days. On Thursday, a lunchtime walk with Luna revealed a Cetti's Warbler calling from the ditch near the allotments, whilst the rumoured Great Egret near the football pitches turned out to be true, with a fine adult stalking round in the adjacent ploughed field on Friday afternoon. The same bird was present again as I left for Castle Howard on Saturday morning.

 

Earlier on Friday, I was working up in the Yorkshire Dales, meeting a local farmer who was interested in supplying a few hardy cattle to graze a new nature reserve I've just bought for the Trust. Whilst there, we flushed a Woodcock, saw a Dipper pootling along the gill and best of all, a female Hen Harrier quartering the rough grassland on the south side of the reserve! Excellent. 

 

I then drove a bit further along the road and spied a fine male Black Grouse perched on a field gate. This is the first I've seen in this part of the Dales, so hopefully my plans to plant more berry-bearing bushes etc will help these lovely birds.