Monday 28th April 2014

A good selection of species seen today including the following;

Mute Swan - 8 on Castle Lake, 18 on Stoneybeck Lake, a single on Alan's Pool and nesting pairs at Fishburn Lake & Low Hardwick.

Great Crested Grebe - a displaying pair on Fishburn Lake (pictured below).

Common Buzzard - two over Low Hardwick.
Dunlin - 4 summer plumaged birds at Castle Lake.
Curlew - 9 at Stoneybeck Lake.
Green Sandpiper - 1 on the A1 Flashes.
Common Sandpiper - 2 at Castle Lake.
House Martin - at least 2 over Castle Lake this morning.
Yellow Wagtail - at least 5 at Castle Lake (two pictured below).

Common Redstart - a stunning male bird provided good views from 1255-1315 along the raised embankment between the old sluice gate and Alan's Pool (two pictures below).

Wheatear - 1 near the Castle Lake shoreline.
Sedge Warbler - 1 back singing at Fishburn Lake.
Whitethroat and Blackcap - good numbers around all areas.
Corn Bunting - 1 singing near the Castle Lake hide (pictured below).

Sunday 13th April 2014

Sightings today included the following;

Stoneybeck Lake - 16 Mute Swan, 10 Shelduck and 3 Redshank.

Castle Lake - 3 Pochard, 3 Little Ringed Plover, 2 Dunlin, 12 Redshank, 1 Common Sandpiper, 5 Swallow, 100+ Sand Martin, 1 Yellow Wagtail and the Channel Wagtail.

A1 Flashes - 1 Green Sandpiper.

Fishburn Lake - numerous singing Willow Warbler.

One of todays Little Ringed Plover at Castle Lake.

Monday 7th April 2014

First blog post for a while.
Highlights from this morning.
Stoneybeck Lake - 14 Mute Swan, 1pr Shelduck, 5 Little Grebe, 1pr Great Crested Grebe, 1 Oystercatcher, 1 Redshank and 1pr Lesser Black-backed Gull.

Castle Lake - 1pr Shelduck, 4 Goldeneye, 5+ GC Grebe, 2 Cormorant, 7 Oystercatcher, 1 Little Ringed Plover, 7 Redshank, 1pr LBb Gull, 30+ Sand Martin and 1 'Channel' Wagtail.

Unusual coloured Greylag Goose on Castle Lake this morning.

A1 Flashes - 1 Shelduck, 3 Grey Heron and 1 Green Sandpiper.
Low Hardwick - 1 Little Egret, 2+ Chiffchaff, 1 Willow Warbler singing, 2 Willow Tit, 6 Linnet and a Treecreeper carrying nesting material.

Tuesday 25th February 2014

Another good selection of birds seen this afternoon.

Castle Lake - 9 Mute Swans flew in low from the south, 220 Wigeon, 1 pair of Pintail, now 2 Great Crested Grebe present, 2 Cormorant (one pictured below), 2 Oystercatcher, 1 Dunlin, 100+ Curlew with 10 Tree Sparrow along Foumarts Lane.

The A1 Flashes held 3 Shelduck, 100 Wigeon, 17 Shoveler, 1 Little Egret, 2 Grey Heron, 19 Oystercatcher, 3 Dunlin and 3 adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls (one pictured below).

Lesser Black is back! One of three distant birds seen today.

Stoneybeck Lake - 2 Shelduck, 2 Wigeon, 30 Gadwall, 2 Shoveler, 1 Great Crested Grebe, 1 Peregrine, 2 Oystercatcher and 60 Curlew.

Saturday 22nd February 2014

Some sightings from this morning;

Castle Lake; 5 Mute Swan, 1 Shelduck, 2 Grey Partridge, 1 Great Crested Grebe, 2 Cormorant, 1 Common Buzzard close to the south-west corner, 17 Oystercatcher, 10 Skylark many singing and at least 7 Corn Bunting some singing.

don't forget to look both ways before you cross the lake. Mute Swans seen initially on Alan's Pool.

A1 Flashes; 2 Shelduck, 1 Little Egret, 3 Grey Heron and numerous gull's.
Low Hardwick; 4 Common Buzzard up together.

Stoneybeck Lake; 1 Shelduck, 1 Kestrel, 3 Oystercatcher, 6 Dunlin dropped-in for twenty minutes then departed west, 75 Curlew, 20 Stock Dove, 5 Skylark and a very mobile flock of c150 Linnet in the field west of the lake.

Sunday 16th February 2014

A few sightings from this afternoon.

Stoneybeck Lake; 20 Canada Geese, 20 Stock Dove, 160 Coot, 2 Oystercatcher and 2 Long-tailed Tit.

Castle Lake; 1 Shelduck, 3 Pintail, 17 Shoveler, 1 GC Grebe, 1 Little Egret, 4 Oystercatcher, 15 Golden Plover and 2 Dunlin.

not the smartest drake Shoveler in the world.

bathtime! Sixteen Oystercatcher today, a new February record.

A1 Flashes; 2 Grey Heron and 10 Oystercatcher.
Low Hardwick; 1 Common Buzzard.

Tuesday 11th February 2014

A very dull overcast morning, slowly brightening up with blue skies by mid-afternoon. The strong southerly wind quickly subsided, becoming a light south-westerly.
Certainly not as bad as the previous days forecast suggested, so armed with the thought that there's no such thing as bad weather just bad clothing I set off for another look around the patch and reiterating the words of my last post the day provided some good winter birding.
Two unexpected species vied for top billing with a good supporting cast.

Mediterranean Gull  A 2nd-winter individual on Castle Lake in with a group of 30-40 Black-headed Gulls.

3rd from the left for those not familiar with very average photography.

middle middle. Only my 4th or 5th sighting of this species at Bishop Middleham.

Black-tailed Godwit   A single bird flew out from behind the main Castle Lake island, probably enticed out by some nearby curlew, had a bath, preen and a bit scratch before flying back from whence it came. Too distant for a photo. Prior to today there has never been a sighting of Black-tailed Godwit here between January to March.

A good supporting cast included;
Goldeneye   Another increase with 13 present today including the two drakes still.
Goosander  A pair copulating.

Great Crested Grebe  The first returning bird of the year.

New bird in town, got the whole place to yourself for now.

Little Egret   Still at least one in the area, favouring the A1 flashes.
Oystercatcher  Four on Castle Lake with another six on the flashes.
Golden Plover   Two hundred at Low Hardwick.
Lapwing   circa six hundred at Low Hardwick.

Just a small proportion of the Lapwing flock seen today.
Redshank   17 together on the flooded field south of Alan's Pool.

Best of the extras included Shelduck, Buzzard, Snipe, Willow Tit, Treecreeper, Tree Sparrow and Bullfinch.

Clear as mud, some serious clarts on the 'footpath' to Low Hardwick.

Finally a big thanks to the hide repair team :-)