Saturday 4 December 2010

Big freeze birding

Currently I'm semi-confined to the house, well I can't use the car... getting to the road from the drive will require some hope that I can create enough momentum to take me through the foot of snow that I dare not move on the path/road edge for fear someone will slip on the nice clean 'snow free bit' once it freezes... and actually driving on the road will require me to have the combined driving skills of Messers Hamilton, Button, Vettel and Alonso... though they don't like the wet so they sure wouldn't like the several inches of ice that will take me half a mile, with a slight downhill dip into oncoming traffic, to something looking like tarmac!

So I'm stuck with 'on the foot birding'.

A tour of the old patch, the area I did as kid, which is the old Beverley to York railway, now known as the Hudson Way, yielded 34 species during the afternoon. The Bullfinch numbers had declined to just 6, no sign of any colour-ringed birds, but they included a Northern Bullfinch opposite the Hayride Pub and a flock of 23 Waxwings, made up of mostly drab 1st winter birds but one cracking probable adult male stood out well despite the grey skies and rain as the light dwindled. Other unexpected sightings included 2-3 Snipe and a Redshank, species obviously looking for some suitable habitat.

Hope for a little sun tomorrow and some Waxwing pics!

No comments:

Post a Comment