Snow go Hoveringham

Didnt get out on saturday at all, due to fresh snowfall and the council closing the road AGAIN !!!! Sunday did manage to have a quick bird at Hoveringham,had a look on the railway pit and the sailing lake,the latter being completely frozen over,and covered in snow...looked like the arctic,but with trees !! Didnt have the camera,but didnt need it as i didnt see much at all....the 'juv' GND looks like its gone,at least i couldnt find it anyway....7 Ruddies,3 Little Egrets about the best,3 Goosander bringing up the rear.Got very close to feeding thrushes and mipits,seemingly more concerned with feeding than being scared by me....also Snipe feeding in hedge bottoms,i did feel sorry for them.

Hell hath no fury like a Corvid scorned

This poor Buzzard really got some stick,when it flew through a flock of Corvids !!

Last day of my christmas hols

After getting back from West Yorkshire yesterday,to find the police had closed my road due to snow turning to ice,i didnt think id be out today..........BUT it is my last day off today,so i made the effort,and managed to slide the car down the hill,i live on a very very steep hill.I went to hoveringham,sailing lake and railway pit.Lovely crisp clear day,much of the sailing lake frozen over,a few wildfowl on the unfrozen patches......mostly Tufties and Wigeon,with the odd pochard and Goldeneye.'red head' Goosander flew through,a few Redshank around.The GND was still present on the railway pit and spooked at about 1/2 a mile today........hey its getting braver!!!

Ring Necked Duck

First twitch of the year

Ring Necked Duck and Ferruginous Duck at the same location.........thats got to be worth a run.Pugneys CP only 60 miles,yeah why not.Set off in sub-zero blue skies,arrived in +3 and heavy rain !! Hmmmm not really what i wanted.The 'fudge duck' was on the boating lake,distantly asleep.....until a boat flushed it and it headed for Calder wetlands just across the road,behind the swan and cygnet pub.I walked across rather than driving,to discover a new wetland i never knew existed! Started off looking for the RND,the rain had just about stopped and was now just dull and grey........really not photography weather.Anyway,both birds were on there,the 'fudge' showing much better than the RND though into the light.The RND spent nearly all its time asleep,looking up occassionally and flying round once....so apologies for the poor images.

And so it comes to a close

Well here we are,the last day of 2009....i cant say its been the best year ive ever had,added about 4 new birds to my life list,and only a couple to my Notts list....split up with my partner and completed 25 years for my company,lets be fair none of that is good really,but onward and upward,ive got much more time to bird now,so lets hope 2010 is a real belter!!!!! Hoveringham was my destination for seeing out 09,the GND was still present,typically unhelpful,being spooked at about 1000 yards range!! pretty quiet all in all,out with a whimper more than a bang,although a Tree sparrow around the sailing lake was a suprise-just the one though.Grey Wagtail showed well,also Green woody,and Little Egrets are still knocking around ,doing their best to brighten up the day.A Peregrine seemed determined to take a Moorhen,but the Gulls had other ideas,one brave bird even got knocked into the water,the Peregrine left empty clawed !! All images taken with the 7D and 400m f5.6 lens. Happy new year everyone ,best wishes for 2010.