With East Yorkshire having a mad migrant day on Saturday I hatched a plan to attack it on Sunday. I knew it was forecast to have a clear night and the wind was against us but the draw of Brown Shrike, Collared Flycatcher, two Woodchat Shrikes, two Wryneck and several other more common spring migrants […]
Tag: Wryneck
Guiding in the Dale
Yesterday I was guiding Andy from Florida. We spent the whole day in Maridalen and despite a very fresh northerly wind the Dale did not disappoint and we had a very fun and production session. I was back in the Dale this morning (where else would I be) to follow up on the Ortolan Buntings. […]
Wryneck
The winds changed to the south today and whilst that did not bring any immediate changes to the birdlife in Maridalen it might mean that the rain that is forecast to start at 3am tonight might well bring down a lot of migrating birds (ever the optimist). Three flocks of Pink-footed Geese heading north today […]
A little holiday update
I eventually found up to 9 breeding pairs of Red-backed Shrikes (5 pairs plus single birds at 4 sites) plus Wrynecks at 2 sites so these two species may well have an OK year after all. One of the pairs of Wrynecks had 3 young already out of the nest and I heard their begging […]
Thrush Nightingale
May, guiding and demanding kids makes blogging difficult! Yesterday I guided Gene and Susan from Minnesota and we had a great day under a hot sun. Marsh Harrier, Water Rail, Shoveler, Ruff, Wryneck, Osprey, Icterine, Reed and Sedge Warbler plus all three flycatchers was a pretty good showing. Today, as forecast, we had rain in […]
Pennington Marsh – 5th October
It was a beautiful October day and after dropping Tobias at school I was going to spent the day at Pennington Marsh until it was time to pick him up at 15:30. After a coffee at the corner of Lower Pennington Lane I walked along the fun length of the Ancient Highway. It took me […]
Mongolia – 14th May (Day 7) – Dalanzadgad to Khongor Sand Dunes
We were up 05:45 and birded the habitat around the guest house. There had evidently been a small fall of migrants and we recorded six Eye-browed Thrush, three Pallas’s Bunting, 12 Red-throated Thrush, Dusky Warbler, Reed Warbler and, best of all, two Siberian Rubythroat which showed well in a newly planted line of scrub opposite […]
Eurasian wryneck
This migratory bird, first recorded in 1585, spends the winter in tropical Africa and nests in hollow trees or in walls, feeds on ants and their larvae but also on different insects and berries. One of the smallest Picidae species it is about 17cm (6.7in) in length. When excited it uses its neck in snake-wise […]