Short break in Yorkshire !

The 'Buyagift' short break, that our daughter and son in law had gifted us with, was finally put to good use with a trip to the East Riding of Yorkshire and a stay in the lovely market town of Beverley.
 We made our way up the A1 towards the North,  a mobile phone call from our Yorkshire daughter en-route, informed us that it was  raining hard up there, I glanced out the car window to look at the brilliant blue sky and sunshine we were leaving behind.
But we needn't have worried, as we arrived in Beverley the sun was shining, we were ready for a nice evening walk. I tentatively suggested a walk along Bempton cliffs, which was only a short drive away to which my wife agreed.

Fortunately for me, this is also one of England's top seabird sites, there was some fantastic views of seabirds all along the  clifftop, together with some stunning views along the coast line towards Flamborough Head.

Gannet 

Gannets

Possibly not the best of neighbours, but we all need our space.

Gannet and Guillemots 

One of the birds everyone wants to see is the Puffin, to be honest these were in short supply we only saw one Puffin before it left the cliffs  for the sea.

Puffin & Razorbill

Razorbills and guillemots were very abundant occupying  every suitable ledge on the cliff face.

Guillemots

Razorbill

Kittiwakes seemed to be the other common seabird here, a few Fulmars and a few large gulls patrolling the cliff edges.

Kittiwakes

Fulmar

As we walked along the cliff tops enjoying the views and the air, we were pleasantly surprised to see not one, but two Barn Owls, one even joining the seabirds on the cliff top, very surreal.

Barn Owl on Bempton Cliffs

The Tree Sparrow colony at Bempton cliff RSPB visitor centre is still thriving, I do not get to see many of these apart from a colony at Dungeness RSPB.

Tree Sparrow

 We planned to visit Whitby today with a short diversion to Blacktoft RSPB near the town of Goole, there had been reports of  a pair of Montagu's Harrier breeding there, which would have been nice to see, no such luck, plenty of Marsh Harriers on view, the RSPB voluntary wardens suggested at least a three hour wait to see them, I could not inflict that on my very patient wife.

Marsh Harrier at Blacktoft Sands RSPB.

On to Whitby near the Yorkshire Moors for some sight seeing, a very nice old fashioned seaside resort, with a 'Dracula' fixation.

Whitby

Abbey ruins on east cliff of Whitby

This old tourist tour bus caught my eye, you'll notice on the front radiator the company name of 'Dennis', this was also the make of the first Fire engine I rode in when I joined the Fire Brigade back in the 1980s, complete with wheeled escape ladder on the back. 'good old days'

No trip to Yorkshire is complete without a walk on the Yorkshire Moors, we plumped for a walk across the moors via Horcum Hole, very nice walk, Meadow Pipits, skylarks very common, Common Redstart seen as we came back through Horcum Hole.

Very nice county to visit, beautiful scenery, lovely towns and resorts.

Feed me, feed me !!!

Its that time of year again, when the garden around the pear tree is alive with juvenile birds.
 So here's a look at what's happening around the garden for this month.

The Blackbird family has managed to raise three healthy youngsters despite the continual attentions of the local Magpies, which also attempted to nest close by, too close for the Blackbirds liking, the male Blackbirds alarm call has been manic at times, but I must admit to a soft spot for this pair, the male has been courageous in his efforts to protect his territory, most occasions, a ferocious dive at high speed has been sufficient from the male to drive them away, on one occasion I witnessed the Magpie investigating a conifer tree in my neighbor's garden, being preoccupied he didn't notice the Male Blackbird launch his attack, amazingly it appeared to crash into the Magpies back, pulling it out of the tree  and down to the ground, there followed some indignant squawking, the Magpie left the scene at speed, the male Blackbird returned to his lookout high in the pear tree.

Most days the Blackbirds can be found skulking around the borders, running around the lawn under the feeders and grabbing tit-bits that fall, just lately the male Blackbird has taken to hovering, albeit for a short moment in front of the feeder,grabbing a bite from the fat balls in the feeder.

Male Blackbird

The female has developed a slightly different technique.

Female Blackbird

The Juvenile Starlings are so intent on begging for food that they sometimes get confused, I witnessed a Starling making the mistake of trying to steal a meal from the Blackbird, once again aggressively chased away.

The garden is looking more like a creche for juvenile birds at the moment, as well as the Blackbirds the raucous cries from the Starlings begging for food seem constant throughout the day.

Love them or hate them Starlings are always there in the garden, and very watchable, the sexes appear to look very similar, I did read somewhere that in the breeding season their is a slight variation in the colours at the base of the beak, blue  for males, pink for females, sounds familiar,

The photograph below demonstrates this quite well, the two Starlings at the top of the feeder have a blue base to their beak, and should be males. The Starling at the bottom has a pink base to her beak and should be the female.

Male & female Starlings

Starlings have nested in my neighbours eaves again this year, heres a few photographs of the Starling Family, before they left the safety of their nest site.

These have now left the nest and joined the throng of other juveniles screaming for food from every available vantage point.

And a final look at a mature Starling with the sun bringing out the iridescent colours within the feathers.

The Robin pair have already raised one brood this year, I noticed the male Robin has been feeding the female again, part of the bond strengthening process, maybe getting ready for a second brood.

Robin pair

House sparrows have suddenly reappeared in the garden after a short absence, bringing with them their young families, the adults flying from the trees with a train of juveniles following behind. They then sit around the feeders fluttering there wings and demanding food. Most of the feeding appeared to be by the female sparrows , although I have seen a male sparrow feeding on one occasion.

Heres a selection of House Sparrow photographs taken over the last few days.

House sparrow family

Other birds visiting the garden have included this fine Great Spotted Woodpecker that appeared on the garden feeder after a long absence.

Great Spotted woodpecker

Ring necked Parakeets are still visiting the pear tree, usually early morning and early evening.

Ring-Necked parakeet

Greenfinches are becoming more regular now that they have discovered the sunflower heart source.

Goldfinches are here every day and becoming more tolerant of  human presence around the garden.

Goldfinch

Chaffinches have become scarcer as we move away from the winter months, an occasional male has been seen on the feeders.

Chaffinch

Blue Tits are regular visitors, I have only noticed one juvenile , and only because of the wing fluttering and demand for food.

Blue tit

Great Tits are also regular visitors  but they do not seem to linger ,

 a quick snatch from the feeder and they fly off.

Magpie

One of the Magpies before it was seen off by the Blackbird.

and finally, no further visits from the Heron

Reed Warblers !

I decided on a break from my domestic activities and go for a quick walk around Rainham RSPB, there was some warm sunshine and the winds had dropped, so it was with high hopes that I set off around the trails.
The reed beds were alive with Reed Warblers, chasing each other along the reed fringed dykes, gathering nesting material, constantly diving back into the cover of the reeds, strangely, I did not see one Sedge Warbler. Cetti's Warblers were very vocal, and as usual very camera shy. I did manage to get some nice images of the Reed Warblers though.

Reed warbler

Reed warbler

Others birds noted around the reserve were Little Egrets, Blackcap, Reed Bunting, Mute Swan, Greylag geese, Pochard, Mallard, Gadwall,and Tufted Duck, Little Grebe, Redshank, Lapwing, Coot, Moorhen.

Reed Bunting

At the Marshland discovery area, the Kingfisher put on a nice but brief view, landing on the wire fence opposite its breeding tunnel, where it posed briefly with a fish in its mouth. It then darted across the pool and flew directly into the mouth of the tunnel, a few seconds later it reversed out of the tunnel,a quick dip into the water and it was off, probably on another fishing mission. the birds are  now feeding there offspring.

Butterflies seen were mainly Green Veined Whites, Small Whites, Peacock, Orange Tip.

Small White

A few teneral Damselflies were seen, but were hard to identify,and at least three or four Hairy Dragonflies also seen ,but none would settle for a photograph, a brief flyby of a female Broad bodied chaser was seen near the viewing screen before the woodland trail. I was hoping to see some Large Red Damselflies, but I could not find any.

Marsh frog

Marsh frogs very vocal all around the reserve.

Brief Encounters - Chiffchaff !!!

My daily dog walking duties in Ashenbank woods have brought me in close contact with some nice woodland birds this year, most of which I have recorded on my 'local patch' blog Ashenbank woods.

I have always been interested in wildlife, and in particular 'Bird watching', since my retirement from the fire service I have been trying to get to grips with wildlife photography which seems to go hand in hand with 'bird watching' very nicely, 

So on those special occassions when I have had a close and all too often brief encounter, its nice to  get some photographs to record the moment.

So with this in mind I thought the occasional blog page entitled 'Brief encounters' would give me the chance to record the moments in more detail.

What made this moment memorable for me, was the fact that for the last few weeks, following their recent arrival, I have been hearing Chiffchaffs calling all around the wood, I was desperate to get a photograph of this delicate little leaf warbler, but frustratingly, every time I saw one it would be moving around, quite fast, and usually obscured by tree branches.

So on a particularly pleasant morning, with the sun shining, I neared the end of my morning walk with my dog, the trail entered an area cleared by land management last year, in fact the area in front of the fallen tree in the photograph. I came face to face with a Chiffchaff no more than a few yards away from me, the Chiffchaff had a beak full of nesting material, which it immediately dropped, the strange thing was that instead of flying away it would not leave the area, flitting about on all the available twigs around me, I managed to get some photographs, unobscured for a change, and then moved away the Chiffchaff was obviously unhappy with my presence, calling all the time and wiping its beak on the twigs and branches.
I did some research on the Chiffchaff and it stated that the male Chiffchaff can be very protective to its chosen nest site, scolding intruders.

Extremely nice delicate bird to see at close quarters.