Another chance for a full day out today,as i made the full use of my Christmas break from work,saw me heading out locally to Bonby and spending a full day to see what could be found.
For a change it was wall to wall sunshine as i arrived beside the Soak Drain,something of which has been a bit of a rarity of late and the car temperature gauge read a sweltering 14 degrees,bizarre for late December,but a continuing theme through this incredibly mild winter we are experiencing.
After getting all the gear together i began proceedings by scanning the surrounding area from where i had parked and to be fair it was very productive.Highlights included 6 Roe Deer and a lovely Fox going about there morning business,a single Short-eared Owl hunting in the usual area between Bonby and Worlaby and a Common Buzzard patently watching from his morning perch,what a great start.
I carried on my walk towards the River Ancholme,seeing some decent numbers of wildfowl wheeling about over the flooded pasture fields,with at least 100+ Wigeon and 50+ Teal being logged,but it is very difficult to gauge numbers accurately as most of the pools are hidden and you only see the birds when they are disturbed by a passing raptor.
There were still some decent numbers of Fieldfare about with at least 276 birds counted,but as on previous visits,little else in the way of passerines.
I eventually arrived at the river and decided to walk in the direction of Saxby bridge for a while to see if there were any 'Wild' swans feeding in the usual place on the river bank and sure enough,in amongst the grazing Mute Swans were 2 adult Whooper's.I stopped and watched them for a while,but they soon got bored of their admirer and went back to sleep.
Hunting the fields nearby was a juv/1st winter Marsh Harrier,which gave some nice views before heading towards Appleby village and in the distance a huge flock of Pink-footed Geese were seen landing in a field also in a similar direction towards Appleby.
I retraced my footseps back to Bonby and then decided to walk along the river bank towards the railway bridge that goes over the Ancholme,when some movement caught my eye,i waited patiently and then up popped a lovely male Stonechat.I quietly watched this gorgeous little bird as he gave some stunning views through the scope,but just didn't come as close as i would have liked for the camera,but beggars can't be choosers and i just enjoyed watching this cracker.It seems a long time since i saw 16 birds in one day down here,so this sighting was a most welcome one.
More prolonged watching from the river bank saw more welcome records entered into the notebook in the form of 4 Goldeneye,1 drake and 3 hen birds watched as the drake tried to impress his harem,4 Dabchicks,the regular Kingfisher and a Merlin dashing over the fields in typical 'Merlin' fashion scattering a flock of Goldfinches in the process,a great sight to see and my first down here for a while.All in all it was turning into a good visit.
As time began to wear on,i decided to walk back towards the car with at least 2 Short-eared Owl showing on and off distantly in the same area as the earlier single and one was seen perched closer alongside one of the pastures at Bonby.While speaking to friends,Steve and Mike,a cracking adult male Marsh Harrier passed by and as i neared the car the ghostly sight of the local Barn owl making it's way across the pasture fields brought to an end another superb visit to this excellent local area.
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| Mute Swans in the morning sun. |
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| Wigeon And Teal. |
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| Great black-backed Gulls passing over. |
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| Part of the local Greylag flock. |
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| Distant Pink-footed Geese. |
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| Male Stonechat. |
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