Short Saturday

On Saturday morning I was back home for 9am after being rained off. The weather forecast was spot on but left me a two hour slot for a spot of birding. 

Is this getting familiar to readers? Barn Owls aren’t ten a penny around here, honest. It’s just that my route north through Hambleton and Out Rawcliffe takes me past a Barn Owl location where once again a pair of owls were out hunting. I took a distance shot and then left the two looking for breakfast. 

Barn Owl

I was hoping to see the recent Marsh Harriers out on the flooded moss but there was no sign of them. As autumn migrants the harriers may have moved on already and found a more productive feeding location. 

I made do with 3 Buzzards and several Carrion Crows which didn’t venture far. They mainly sat along the fence lines apparently waiting for a meal to show nearby rather than taking to the air to find one. 

Carrion Crow and Buzzard

The water level of flooded area had dropped a little with fewer species than a few days ago. A number of Swallows mobbed a passing Sparrowhawk as the raptor scattered the flock of feeding Starlings. A good mix of birds followed with 180 Starling, 40 Lapwing, 1 Black-tailed Godwit, 3 Pied Wagtail, 3 Grey Heron, 40+ Swallows and 2 Snipe.

Common Snipe never stray far from their customary areas of living. They are most often found in areas such as brackish and fresh marshlands, grassy cover, rich moist soils, and edges of lakes, rivers, and swamps where they can easily hide if need be. These are areas that are commonly open and are low enough for them to become almost invisible in vegetation where they can be incredibly hard to spot.

Snipe

 
That left me an hour at Conder Green where from the west the sky quickly turned a grey shade of grey with rain in the offing.

Little Grebes continue to hide from prying eyes but I managed to locate seventeen again before they floated off to the island margins. I also found 24 Teal and 3 Wigeon. A Kingfisher sat briefly on the nearest island before it too did a disappearing trick. Wader counts were pretty good with 230+ Lapwings, 30 Redshank, 2 Greenshank, 1 Common Sandpiper and 1 Snipe. 

There a good flock of Goldfinch on the marsh whereby my count of 80+ is the best so far this autumn. As we might expect at this time of year, approximately 90% of the Goldfinch appeared to be  juveniles. Otherwise - 2 Pied Wagtail, 2 Little Egret and a handful of Linnets. 

Goldfinch

An hour or two that’s all but Barn Owls, Kingfishers and Buzzards can never be discounted can they?