Great Crested Grebes

A pair of Grebes on an otherwise miserable gray rainy day in May.

Blackcap

Blackcaps never sit out in the open for me and this male was no exception, but at least I was able to pick him out amongst the branches whilst he concentrated on singing.

Nightingale

Managed a quick visit to see and more importantly hear the Lincolnshire Nightingales today.  Possibly a week or so too late for really good photo opportunities so just some distant shots thrown together above. The song today certainly didn't disappoint. When the males first arrive back and have recovered from the journey they will sing out in the open to attract females. A local couple were telling me how they watched a male singing out in the open on a branch around ten feet away for twenty minutes last week. What a sight and sound that must have been!  Below a shot from pretty much the same location back in 2010.  The whole throat vibrates and puffs up with the sheer volume being projected.

Organic lawn mowers arrive at North Cave Wetlands

Some Highland Cattle are now periodically grazing Dryham Ings to keep the grasses nice and uneven to provide suitable habitat for different ground nesting birds. Otherwise Willow Warblers, Whitethroats, Lesser Whitethroats and Blackcaps are all in good voice down Dryham Lane. Only Willow Warbler happy to pose for photos today.



Willow Warbler below








Lichen





Pied Wag and Avocet



One of the very many widely disliked Black-headed Gulls. They do make a racket!

More Yellow Wags at North Cave

The Yellow Wagtails are proving to be a great attraction at North Cave Wetlands and they are fascinating to watch working the shorelines of Dryham Ings with little jabs in the air with their beaks, presumably to catch insects. Also lots of Pied and White Wagtails which I have hopefully correctly separated below!




White Wagtail



Pied Wagtail

North Cave and New Workings

Black-tailed Godwit in glorious brick red summer plumage

It has been some time since my last confession. My spare time is now largely taken up by manning a Yorkshire Wildlife Trust stall recruiting new members and providing information to visitors at North Cave Wetlands. The new Dryham Ings side of the reserve is already showing promise with 30 Yellow Wagtails on there today with the Pied Wagtails - we had a blue headed "Channel" Wagtail last week. Ringed and Little Ringed Plovers are currently on Dryham Ings and the Avocets too are showing interest in the new side of the reserve. This means that the new super large straw built Crosslands hide is currently an interesting place to be and when the reserve stretches even further westwards it is going to be fantastic.  Pictures here are all distant and not great, but I had time for a walk around the reserve today. Spring is late but the Hirundines are coming in and Willow Warblers now starting to sing. More birds, butterflies and dragonflies still to look forward to.


black tail on show



great colours when the sun shines


Little Ringed Plover on Dryham Ings



some "ugly ducklings" soon to come


Yellow Wags currently best viewed from Crosslands



Avocets from the Turret hide

Waxwing Supermarket Invasion

 
I thought I may be able to resist the temptation to chase after the Waxies this year, but the lure proved to be too great.  With hundreds of birds in Hull at the moment I caught up with a couple of tree fulls in Asda car park. An impressive sight but I didn't have a camera with me at the time.  Returning a couple of days later with photographic apparatus in tow, there were slightly fewer birds still returning to their favourite tree. I was hoping to park directly under the tree to get closeups from the car window but a local resident seems to use that particular parking space every day. You would have thought the multitudinous Waxwing droppings on the bonnet would have put them off? Another setback photographing birds in a supermarket car park is that people continuously walk up to you to ask you what you are doing and why you are photographing Starlings and then..... "Oh, what are they then, I thought they were just Starlings!" Nothing wrong with Starlings of course! These constant interruptions mean you miss shots while you politely fill people in with the Waxwing back story and the birds also get spooked as you are trying to keep still and steady whilst other spectators wander up but there you go.



above and below pictures showing the red "sealing wax" feathers which give them their name
 








gorging on berries, I think they fill themselves to the brim