Incredible Valley Scenes

Hooked up with Adam and Dunc to do a part-loop of the Lower Derwent Valley, as a reccy for the Yorkshire Bird Race which looms at the end of the week. It was chilly, as the wind had switched to the north, but also because I'd accidentally left my coat at home. Fortunately, Dunc leant me some gloves to help me stave off frostbite and the extra pounds put on due to Christmas excess helped insulate me. 

Birding started really well, when the juvenile White-tailed Eagle cruised past us at Ellerton Church, flushing several hundred Pink-feet from the field on the opposite side. It flapped down the valley and out of sight behind the trees. We followed it down to Aughton Church, where we found the beast chilling on the riverbank, casually scanning around. A couple of feisty Lapwings gave it a bit of grief, so it flapped down to the bottom of the bank to avoid their wrath.  

 

After a bit, the eagle went back north, so we headed round to Bubwith Ings, where I located the Spotted Redshank, feeding next to the river, with a dozen Redshanks and Ruffs. Forty Black-tailed Godwits dropped onto the ings, with a big flock of Lapwings, and a couple of Golden Plovers and Dunlin. A Great Egret was feeding along the river north of the road. 

Next up, we squeezed into a packed Geoff Smith Hide at Duff, where I congratulated Alan Whitehead for persevering and getting the eagle on to his Duff list. We pottered down towards the still inundated Garganey Hide and had a look at the ten White-Fronted Geese feeding with the local Greylags. It was good to see these birds, a small part of a large nationwide influx from the Low Countries. Whilst we watched, we heard the sound of Peregrines, and above us a pair were sparring with a single male, clearly a territorial dispute with lots of talon-grappling and noisy shrieking. They disappeared to the south still fighting; we later saw the female pursuing a Lapwing over North Duffield Ings to the south. 

The eagle reappeared on the floodbank to the north as we walked back, so we could also add it to our Duff list. 

We headed back up the west side, and apart from the two Scaup and a calling Little Owl at Thorganby, with 90+ Shelducks being a notable count. We headed back to Bank Island, where after a coffee- thanks Craig! - we finally found the Glossy Ibis, which seemed to be finding a lot of food alongside the hedge which runs down to Cheesecake Hide. Quite a scruffy looking first year bird, it was nevertheless a great bird to end a fantastic morning's birding. 

 

 Glossy Ibis, Bank Island. Seems strange to see this bird feeding almost under the hedge!

Bits and Bobs- November and December

Just tidying up my phone pics as the year-end approaches, and here is a few birds from the last couple of months. First up, a Great Egret at Castle Howard in mid-November. 

 

Goosander, male, Castle Howard. Good numbers of Goosanders have been present at Castle Howard since November, with up to 35 present. 

Goldeneye, male. Very scarce at the usual winter haunt of Castle Howard until late December, when cold easterlies brought an influx, with at least 35 present just after Christmas, with others in the LDV. 

 

There was a report of a Harvest Mouse climbing up into a Hawthorn bush by the Bank Island car park, so I went along for a look. With the help of a thermal imager, I eventually found the little rodent, but it proved to be a Bank Vole. Still cool to see, as it ascended a good two metres into the bush to grab a berry, which it then returned down to the ground, presumably to cache the food for later.

Whooper Swans, Ellerton Landing, LDV, 23/11/25. Big numbers of Whoopers gathered on the river waiting for the valley to flood, providing a fantastic sight and sound. Below, a few Whoopers gathered on the first floodwater at North Duffield Carrs in late November, watching a prowling Fox.

This young Peregrine came up the valley and landed in a tree near the Thorganby Platform, in late November, much to the annoyance of the local Carrion Crows.   

 

This may not look like much, but it is a Mountain Hare, photographed with my phone at Dove Stone RSPB, in north Derbyshire. This is the first English Mountain hare I have seen, and is one of the small and declining population that still clings on in the northern part of the Peak District following reintroductions in the late 19th Century. With climate change it is likely Brown Hares will push these native hares out. 

With deep flooding in mid-December, hunting was easy for the local raptors, as voles, mice and rats fled the rising waters. These three Marsh Harriers were clearly well-fed, as they spent a while playing together with a clump of grass.  

 

Garganey Hide at North Duffield rapidly submerged, and deep water on Bubwith Ings attracted a big flock of Pochard, in turn attracting two Scaup, including this immature drake, which moved up to Ellerton later, with its female companion. 

Two Great Egrets, Castle Howard, 30/11/25. A regular sight these days, but still elegance incarnate. 

Little Grebes, hanging out at Castle Howard. There were at least nine in mid-November, dwindling to four by the end of December. Not sure if this is due to predation - Pike, Otter? - or that birds have departed.

 

With Wheldrake Ings flooding, the gull roost started, attracting good numbers of Herring, Great Black-backed, Black-headed and Common Gulls, plus a few Lesser Black-backs.

 

There have been huge numbers of Fieldfares and Redwings in the Vale of York over the last month, plundering the plentiful Hawthorn berries lining the hedges. This group were at North Duffield in mid-November. 

 

The Spotted Redshank at Bubwith Bridge/North Duffield Ings, was a pleasing find in December and was still present after Christmas, usually hanging out with the wintering Redshank and Ruff flock. 

 

 

 

 

 

York Sea-eagle Seconds

I still couldn't quite believe I'd seen a White-tailed Eagle in the LDV yesterday, so I got up early and went down to Wheldrake Ings, to see if it would show up there. For the first time in a few weeks, I was able to wade through to Tower Hide, though it was still too deep for wellies, so my waders were necessary.

 

Plenty of ducks and geese were present, and it was good to see the returning leucistic female Pintail among about 300 congeners. I gave it an hour, but when news came through that the eagle was feeding on the riverbank near Aughton, I decided it was unlikely to arrive at Wheldrake any time soon. When a pheasant shoot started up nearby, flushing all the ducks, along with two Great Egrets off the canal, I decided it was time to leave.  I waded back and went down to North Duffield, but the eagle was out of view there. After a while, Craig called to say it had flown north towards Ellerton, so together with Adam, I went back up to Thorganby. 

Within a minute of scanning from the platform, I picked up the hulking form of the eagle sitting on the bank top near Ellerton Landing. It was distant and unmoving, so easy to overlook. After 15 minutes, it took off and flapped steadily north up the valley, straight towards us. To our amazement, it landed in a large tree straight out from the platform, giving great views. We scarcely dared move or talk as every time we did, it fixed us with a rather intimidating stare! 

 

Adam headed off, leaving me to savour this magnificent bird, which had by now relaxed and started to do a little preening. With much closer views, it was possible to confirm the lack of rings on the whopping yellow legs. The local Buzzard pair were livid, and circled the trees calling, eyeing up the massive bird with suspicion and annoyance. The eagle watched them, but was pretty unphased. 

 

I let Alan Whitehead know, who was still down at Duff, and he headed up the valley, along with several others who had been alerted by the news. Fortunately, the bird hung out for a good few hours and gave great views to many people, before heading north at 2.50pm, presumably to roost somewhere nearby. 

Boxing Day Eagle!

The discovery of a White-tailed Eagle sitting in a tree near Aughton at lunchtime, Boxing Day, led to a rather anxious drive north towards York! Following Christmas in Hertfordshire with the in-laws, we were pootling up the A1 when news of this bird came through. I casually suggested we might go home via North Duffield, which received a rather mixed response from the family, but Vicky was up for it, so I kept my fingers crossed and eyes on my phone...

News that the bird had flown north up the LDV came through just before we planned to turn off on to the M18, so we hastily returned to Plan A and gunned north towards York. As the miles dragged by, I hatched a plan to drop off the family, grab my scope and shoot over to Thorganby, where I'd have a good view down the valley, giving me a good chance to see the eagle if it was still around. Just before I got there, Tim Jones rang to confirm he'd just seen the bird over near Ellerton Church! Minutes later, I joined Tim, and shortly, the enormous shape of the eagle got up and flapped across the floods and on to the riverbank south of Ellerton Landing. Flipping 'eck, what a beast! 

 

White-tailed Eagle is a bird I had dreamt of seeing in the LDV and often discussed with local birding mates, and to my astonishment, here it was, even bigger than I'd imagined, sitting in the familiar landscape, a few miles from home. Incredible! What a Christmas present! Every time the eagle flew, the entire avian contents of the LDV went skywards like confetti, filling the sky with panicking shapes. The bird, a juvenile, noticed some carcass or other on the opposite bank, so flapped across and grabbed it, before heading a little nearer to pick at the bones. 

More local birders arrived, including Chris Gomersall, Ollie Metcalfe and Duncan Bye, to enjoy this amazing scene. The eagle lacked a satellite tag and colour rings, so seemed not to be one of the released Isle of Wight birds, so together with the continuing easterly wind, which has brought stacks of geese across the North Sea from the low countries, this gave the bird great credentials for being wild. 

 

With time getting on, I had to get back to prepare for my folks imminent arrival, so leaving this behemoth sitting on the riverbank, I shot back home, to get Boxing Day tea ready. 

 Big thanks for Adam Firth who got the news out on this bird at lunchtime, and to Ollie Metcalfe and Tim Jones for the updates. The first wild individual seen in the York area in modern times was in 2020, with another bird seen earlier this year, which is subject to acceptance by the YNU. If that bird is accepted this would be the third modern record, but the first to be twitchable in the York area. There have been several seen and unseen records of satellite tagged birds that have passed through the area, having originated from the reintroduction program on the south coast. With the huge numbers of birds present in the valley right now and reduced disturbance due to deep flooding, I hope the eagle lingers allowing more birders to catch up with it. 

Christmas Eve Redpolls

I sometimes get a few Redpolls in the garden at the end of winter, so a flock of 13 feeding on Silver Birch seeds on Christmas Eve was a nice surprise. Although all redpoll species have been relumped taxonomically as 'Redpoll', I still looked through for a Mealy, or Arctic. All seemed to be British 'Lesser' Redpolls. Still great to see, hanging acrobatically from the tiny cones, to access the seeds. Also, 40+ Goldfinches.

 

It IS that deep!

 

Birding the Lower Derwent Valley has been challenging in the last few weeks due to deep flooding, following lots of rain and some snow last month. Wheldrake Ings and Bank Island are inaccessible as is Garganey Hide at North Duffield, which is now almost completely underwater. 

Today, the scene from Geoff Smith Hide at Duff was impressive, with virtually the entire western floodbank inundated. Despite the deep flooding, there were plenty of ducks about and a Great Crested Grebe was notable; they are scarce in the valley in winter. Several hundred Fieldfares and Redwings were gorging on Hawthorn berries around the car park where I saw a Willow Tit on Wednesday. 

 

North Duffield Lake

I headed down to Bubwith Bridge and looked south onto North Duffield Ings, where some remaining grassland had pulled in lots of waders. Most obvious were over 2,000 Lapwings, which blackened the grass with their hordes. Among these, a golden-brown streak was a group of 500 Golden Plovers. 

 

Feeding along the water's edge were 16 Ruff and over 70 Dunlin. As I counted the Ruff, I noticed another medium-sized wader - a Spotted Redshank! Not something I had expected and being rare in winter in the York area, this was a treat. It fed actively in the shallow water, exhibiting its striking head pattern and needle-fine bill. I put the news out and continued to scan, noting several Redshanks feeding on the far side of the grass. The Spotshank stuck with the Ruff, even when some of the Redshank moved on to the same shoreline. A Curlew dropped in, to add to the wader-fest, and a quick count revealed 11 Redshank in total. Out on the water, at least 50 Pintails were loafing among the hordes of Teal and Wigeon. Four Shoveler and a Great Egret were also present. The Spotshank made its way closer and allowed me to get a bit of reasonable video, despite the murky conditions. A lovely bird.

Nearby, a Grey Heron had caught a small mammal, which it was trying to swallow. Looking through my scope, I realised it was a Mole, presumably flooded out of it's tunnel.  

Spotted Redshank, most likely an adult.

 A Common Redshank by way of comparison.

 Snack Mole

 

 

Back in the Game!

I went to see Ibibio Sound Machine at The Crescent last night, a fantastic gig, and it was good to see fellow York birders Duncan Bye and Mark Fewster there. With Ibibio still ringing in my ears and a slightly fuzzy head, I headed over to Castle Howard to meet Dunc who was going to try for the Bittern. Dunc was in position on the path by the lake when I arrived not long after 8am. He'd been there since 7.30am, but hadn't seen it. A Cetti's Warbler was showing well, for once, feeding along the edge of the reeds, and the female Red-crested Pochard was hanging out with a gaggle of Gadwall, upending in the shallows. A bit of disturbance in the reedy edge proved to be an Otter, but it melted into the reeds so we only got brief views.

As we chatted, I suddenly noticed a Red-throated Diver surface ten metres away, over Dunc's shoulder! Flippin' 'eck!   I pointed this out, much to Dunc's surprise - and delight. The bird, a cracking juvenile casually swam passed us, nonchalantly glancing in our direction; I then did a little dance and high-fived Dunc. 

 

This is the first Red-throated Diver in the York area since November 2012, which I missed, having been away in Munich for the weekend, so I was delighted to find it; a York tick for us both. I had been speculating a little about the possibility of a diver turning up this weekend, due to the lousy weather of the past couple of days and it being a good time for inland divers to be found. I didn't expect this to happen though! We put the news out and then followed the diver along the lake, as it swam east. 

York's 17th Red-throated Diver, and fourth for Castle Howard. The last here was found dead in January 2008, a similar sad situation to the second here, in April 1986; the first was way back in November 1977.

...........

There was no sign of the Bittern at the east end, although we did see a Great Egret, so we headed back, having another long look at the diver, which was showing beautifully. Arriving back at the west end, I immediately found the Bittern sitting in the edge of the reeds, and showing a little better than on Thursday. I got Dunc on it and we then watched it for 15 minutes before it slunk away. 

Three male Pochards dropped in to the Tuftie flock, and immediately began flirting with the lone female Pochard. Eight Goosanders were fishing and the Tuftie flock was back above 100, but contained nothing of note. As more folk turned up to see the diver, I realised that time was getting on, so I headed back to York to pick up my daughter.  Two York ticks in four days; can't be bad!

 

Turning the corner

The successful Bittern twitch lifted my spirits that recently had been in a bit of a dip-ression, having missed a number of good birds this autumn. Last weekend was a case in point, when I dipped Pallas's Warbler, Firecrest and Pallid Swift on Flamborough Headland, despite putting in a lot of effort. A Siberian Chiffchaff and two Yellow-browed Warblers were great, but didn't really do much to cheer me up. 

The Pallid Swift dip had been particularly frustrating. I was down the Motorway Hedge on the Outer Head when news came through of a Common Swift at nearby Bempton. I chatted with Brett Richards about the bird, commenting that surely a Pallid was more likely this late on, but given the Birdguides news was of a Common, I thought that perhaps it had been photographed and identified as such. As it turned out, photos appeared on the Whatsapp group and it was clearly an alien-eyed Pallid after all. Having not managed to see much on the Outer Head, I shot over to Bempton, and missed the swift by minutes. I gave it a good while, but with my departure back to York already overdue, I had to leave empty handed. Within five minutes, the news came through that Johnny Mac had picked the bird up again, feeding over the RAF buildings. I u-turned on the Brid road and gunned the car (which by now was probably very confused) back to Bempton. Again, I missed the bird by a few moments, and after a prolonged scan, decided it was not to be and headed home, feeling a bit sorry for myself. It felt like I had been making too many wrong decisions and this was costing me birds! Time for some soul searching...

 

Anyway, back to today. After enjoying my brief but obscured Bittern, I went east to Flamborough. South Landing seemed a good bet, so I wandered along the top of the ravine in the hope of seeing one of the recent Dusky Warblers that has been hanging out. Nothing was happening in the picnic area, where one had been reported first thing, though several birders were hanging out on the off chance it would reappear. As this area was being well covered, I thought I'd wander away to Highcliffe Manor, where Johnny had seen another bird the previous afternoon. To my delight, as I neared the corner at the end of the path, I heard the distinctive tongue-clicking call of a Dusky. It was in the bushes next to a small ornanamental pond, but frustratingly out of sight. Fortunately, it called frequently, and after a few minutes I got a brief glimpse, before it flew from the pond, across the lawn and into some sea buckthorn bushes, where it disappeared once again. It was still calling, and shortly it flew again, but this time into the hedge by the path. I slowly walked back towards the Whale Bridge and sure enough, the Dusky was right in front of me, feeding in the sycamores.

 

Feeding above head height, it jumped around the yellowing sycamore leaves, grabbing an insect or two, calling continually. I managed a bit of video and a few pics, easily the best ones I have ever got of this usually-skulking species. To my surprise, it moved quite high into the trees, seeking insects among the leaves. 

All the previous Dusky Warblers I have seen have been more or less at knee height, so this was strange, but fab, as it gave great views. After a bit it suddenly flew over the Whale Bridge and towards the picnic site, the last I would see of this little Sibe. 

 

I headed on round the landing, down the steps and back up to the car park, adding three Chiffchaffs, 14 Siskins and a Brambling to the tally. An impressive dark front of clouds lay across the sky to the north, and a big pile of Fieldfares came in from the east, presumably having just arrived ahead of the worsening weather. I decided to go to the Outer Head to see if anything else was arriving. Sure enough, two Woodcocks came in at Bay Brambles, along with more Fieldfares and a few Blackbirds and Redwings. With a tip off from Johnny, I trundled down to the fog station and found a gorgeous flurry of Snow Buntings, feeding on grass seeds along the path to the seawatch obs. I sat down and the flock gradually made its way towards me munching as they went. The lead bird approached to within a couple of metres, completely unconcerned by me, though it did look at me inquisitively when it heard the Camera shutter. Some tourists came along and flushed the birds, so I decided to leave the to their seeds and head home, birding mojo definitely on the mend.