Red Kites

Red Kites, Stilton, Peterborough

Grey Heron fishing for Pike

Whilst waiting for the Short-eared Owls to appear an intense flapping noise drew our attention to the small dyke running North of and parallel to Moreton's Leam.

The commotion turned out to be a Grey Heron struggling to land a large Pike!

Eldernell, Peterborough

Moorhen

Moorhen, King's Dyke NR, Peterborough

Dunnock

Dunnock, King's Dyke NR, Peterborough

Long-tailed Tits

Long-tailed Tits, King's Dyke NR, Peterborough

Reed Buntings

Reed Buntings, King's Dyke NR, Peterborough

Barn Owl

Barn Owl, Eldernell, Peterborough

Short-eared Owl

Short-eared Owl, Eldernell, Peterborough

Red Kite

Red Kite, Elton, Peterborough

Nuthatch

Nuthatch, Ferry Meadows, Peterborough

Great Tit

Great Tit, Ferry Meadows, Peterborough

Coal Tit

Coal Tit, Ferry Meadows, Peterborough

Robin

Robin, Ferry Meadows, Peterborough

Greater Flamingo

Greater Flamingo having a Paddle

Short-eared Owls

Short-eared Owls, Eldernell, Peterborough

Little Bustard

Little Bustard, Fraisthorpe, E Yorks.

Very occasionally showing like this.

Photo courtesy of Tony Dixon

Approx. 1400 people  at Twitch on Thursday First Jan.

Promises to be a good year!

A more normal view in the Kale field

Disappeared overnight


Rumours that the farmer shot the Bustard overnight are unfounded. He now wears a super headdress of white brown and black feathers though!

Below is an extract from the Blog of a birding friend from Essex

Yorkshire and in particular East Yorkshire has been very hit and miss for me in terms of connecting with rare birds. A round trip from Essex/east London is a good 9 hours in the car and well over 400 miles so a twitch that far north has to carefully considered. In facr my first three twitches to East Yorks, all, yes ALL/100%, ended in dips. Pechora Pipt, Brown Shrike and Brown Flycatcher all ended in disappointment,  but at least I have seen a Brown Shrike (London) and Pechora Pipit (Unst, Shetland) since. My last two adventures to East Yorks have actually been very successful with a memorable twitch for Ivory Gull and just a few months ago, Masked Shrike, so when a Little Bustard showed up on New Year's Eve I was up for another long trip north.

My partner in crime on this occasion was Lee Brown. I could go on 1st Jan but had plans to see the New Year in with my family and close friends Jack Daniels and Stella, and anyway, I doubted it would still be there the next day, so it was decided, if it was still there at dusk on 1st Jan we'd be there for first light on the 2nd. I was toying with going on news but that is equally risky with limited day light hours at this time of year and it being a pig of a journey when jo public have gotten out of bed and are on their way to some shopping mall or other.

The added bonus of the trip was in the form of a mega eare Blyth's Pipit 90 minutes from the Bustard site in West Yorkshire. Easy, tick the Bustard by 9am, see the Pipit by midday and be on the way home by early afternoon.

Lee picked me up at 4am. I think I had about 30 minutes sleep so felt terrible, not helped by a cold that had been passed to me by my Mrs. Four and a half hours later via a trip the wrong way over the Humber Bridge we arrived on site. Already in position around 100 very cold birders. It didn't look good. Scopes scanned the field the bird was last seen in from all angles.  If it was there surely it would be obvious.  A very cold hour later it was obvious.  The bird was gone, dead, who knows. Bollocks.
And finally,  as the day wore on I heard rumours from a few people that the farmer who owned the field that the Bustard had been in had deliberately flushed the bird after dark after poor behaviour from a small minority of birders on site the previous day, including blocking the  entrance to his farm with inconsiderate parking and then his wife being verbally abused when she asked for the car/s to be moved. Who knows if this is true. If it is I just wish he'd told people he was going to do it to save me a long journey and another East Yorkshire dip.

Short-eared Owls

Short-eared Owls, Eldernell, Peterborough.

Stonechat

Stonechat, Ferry Meadows, Peterborough

Great Crested Grebe

Great Crested Grebe, Ferry Meadows, Peterborough

Blyth's Pipit, Wakefield Area

The only way to 'see' the Blyth's Pipit was to organise a gentle flush which was initiated by Lee Evans. Even then, one  had to be extremely quick to pick out a slightly larger and paler pipit from the 8 or 9 mostly Meadow Pipits which were flushed.

To pick out any other ID features was impossible.

Mr RT and Mr PMB are there somewhere!!

About 50-60 people gathered to 'view' this rarity from Mongolia

A parabolic sound receiver was used to identify the approximate area in which the Blyth's Pipit was feeding in the long coarse grass then to confirm its presence when flushed by its characteristic flight call.

All photographs by courtesy of Lee Evans