Learning curve

Over the past few weeks me and Andy C have had 3 visits to Rufforth looking for white winged gulls. Amongst the 1000s of birds present we began to see herring gull type birds with pure white heads and obvious dark eyes, probably seven birds in total, we even had a bird with both a dark eye on one side and a pale one on the other side of the head. I took several shots of the birds thinking they could be possible Caspian Gulls, but after sending the pics to a much more experienced Gull guru he has informed us that he thinks all the birds are just Herring Gulls with dark eyes (thanks Mick C for your time and response so quickly)hope I learn from your advice, back to the drawing board.

25th and 26th March

Last 2 days spent on the moors, highlights were a Water Pipit, 35 Whoopers Swans over, at least 4 Short-eared Owls back on the moors, 2 Grey Partridge, 2 Ravens, 2 Crossbills a Sparrowhawk and 4 Buzzards.

24th March

Up on the tops again with DF. Started off slowly then we had a good selection of birds later on including our juvenile male Hen Harrier which is slowly beginning to show some signs of going grey, 2 Shorties were the first back this spring. 45 Waxwings came in to roost, 1 Raven, 2 Golden Plovers, 2 Buzzards, 16 Snipe all drumming, 1 Crossbill, 8 Redshank + all the usual Oycs, Lapwings Curlew etc. (Hen Harrier pics taken from video footage).

Video Snaps

Adult Caspo ??

3rd Time at Rufforth

Another trip to Rufforth with Andy produced 2 1st Winter Glaucous Gulls, 1 1st winter Iceland Gull and 4 possible Caspian Gulls, 3 third winters and the above adult. Also 1000s more gulls, a Peregrine and 4 Buzzardas.

20th March

Roils Head, 2 Brambling still present and a Reed Bunting new in the heather. Not much else about but two LBBGs at Pellon Reservoir.

19th March

Roils Head again in horrible conditions. Still a few Bramblings about today, also Goldcrest and 22 Meadow Pipits. GSWP and 2 Bullfinch at Dodgson Wood.

16th March

At least 6 Bramblings still at Roils Head. Finally got a couple of pics after weeks of trying.

15th March

Me and DJS went out early this morning in the hope of finding Goshawk, sadly no luck there. We did have 3 Buzzards all day, 4 sightings of Sparrowhawk, 2 Kestrels, 1 Raven, 1 Tawny Owl calling and the usual woodland species.

Cold Edge Dams

Took the bus to Cold Edge today armed with my new digi scope adapter and the results proved a lot better than the previous attempts. The wind was strongly blowing and I expected most of my shots to be blurred, but with better light the camera gave me a faster shutter speed and only 2 out of 374 shots were blurred. Not that much about but 2 Barnacle Geese, 4 Goldeneye, 2 Tufted Ducks and 2 Little Grebes.

Birthday birding

Out with Dave F today testing my new Kowa iphone 5 adapter. The weather was dull and over cast so don't know if the photos are not so good because of it or that I am doing something wrong. The adaptor works very well but perhaps it the phone itself that's the problem, the photos don't look any better than what I got using my Fuji f30, oh well practice makes perfect. Not many birds today, 3 Crossbills, 20 Siskin, 2 Stonechats, 4 Redshank and a brief Hen Harrier were the best we could do.

Return to Rufforth

Returned to Rufforth with Andy and my new toy the Kowa tsn iphone 5 adaptor for my Kowa scope. Andy soon picked out a first winter Iceland Gull in flight followed by an adult Iceland Gull. I had trouble getting on to both of them and only saw them in flight hence no pictures. There were 1000s of gulls on the nearby tip and several hundered landed in the fields for us to look at. I soon began to see what I thought were Caspian Gulls in amongst the throng and started taking pictures of what I believe to be third winter birds, the dark eye was notable on all three (any thoughts on the above photos most welcome). As for the new adaptor, the pics on the back of the phone looked great but when I put them on the Lap Top not so great, probably need more practice.

7th March

Back on the moors today, loads of waders 120+ Curlew, 34 Oystercatchers, 500 Lapwing, 40 Golden Plovers. No sign of reported Water Pipit but a few raptors around, 2 Common Buzzards, 2 Kestrels and the first winter male Hen Harrier. 8 Siskins and 8 Reed Buntings in the woods, 2 Stonechats on the walls, no Crossbills today.

Rufforth Gulls

After the success of the Eastern Black Redstart we decided to head to Rufforth in the hope of seeing some white winged gulls. Both me and Andy hadn't seen a Glauc in 20 years and we were not disappointed. In the first 10 minutes of being there we picked out three monsterous first winter Glaucous Gulls, 2 looked fairly typical but the third was somewhat darker. We were pretty sure we also had a third winter Caspian Gull but it flew off before I could digi scope it.