Farndale

I'm a little late with this post, as I visited Farndale 2 or 3 weeks ago!  It's always worth a visit to Farndale to see the daffodils and for a walk along the river to see what wildlife is around. 

 

This photo of the Goldfinch was on the ariel at home, just before we set off - notice there was even a blue sky!

 

Daffodils showing nicely

 

Waterfall

 







 

Lambs enjoying the spring weather

 

 

Male Redstart

 

 

Spring flowers everywhere

 

 

Nuthatch busy nest building

 

 

Goldfinch looking good, still one of my favourites

 

 

Unusually scruffy Blue Tit

 

 

Daffodils in the woods

 

 

Male Redstart

 

 

Female Redstart

 

 

Pied Wagtail

 

 

Meadow Pipit

 

 

Male Bullfinch

 

 

The sun came out again making the daffodils look even better

 

 

Mistle Thrush

 

 

Marsh Tit

 

 

North Cave Wetlands

A brief stop at Warter en-route to North Cave, proved worthwhile with my first sighting of goslings this year;

 

Greylag geese

 

 

And the morning got better still with a fly past from a Red Kite!

 

I'd heard reports of lots of Yellow Wagtails being seen at North Cave, and sure enough there was a quite a few around, the biggest group I saw was nine together all busy feeding. In the same area there were plenty of other birds also feeding including...

 

Reed Bunting

 
Redshank

 

Meadow Pipit 

 

 
On one of the small pools a Coot was sat tight on her nest

Likewise for the Mute Swan, but a bit bigger nest!

 

Nearby these Lapwing flew by making lots of noise!

 

The warm weather, certainly encourages the butterflies; my first Peacock Butterfly of the year

 

Reed Bunting

 

 

Blackcap

 

 

Some nice spring blossom!

 

 

One of my favourites - Avocet - Look at those amazing blue legs!

 

These were seen on the pools near Turret hide, there were these two close by and a small group a bit further away

Black Headed Gull showing off in the sunshine!

Black Tailed Godwit flying in

and time for a quick scratch! Unfortunately, they were a bit far off for a good shot.

 

Sandmartin checking out a suitable nest

 

 

Rutland Water Nature Reserve

Osprey are high on our wish list of birds to see this year.  After a little research on the web, we decided Rutland Water in Leicestershire would be a good place to try.  Rutland Water is a huge reserve with over 30 bird hides - we didn't manage all of them as we ran out of time.  There are 2 visitor centres; Lyndon and Egleton, they are approx 5-10 minutes away from each other by car.  We all had a great day even though it was quite windy and cold brrr.... 

 

Kestrel at Lyndon visitor centre

 

 

View over Manton Bay

 

 

Manton Bay is one of the spots where Ospreys nest, the viewing hide is manned by volunteers from the time the Ospreys arrive from their wintering grounds in West Africa, and throughout the breeding season until the chicks have fledged.  Manton Bay is reached from the Lyndon visitor centre.  Great to see these birds, that's another tick for our bird list!

 

Female Osprey on the nest

 

 

Male Osprey

 

 

 

 

Great Crested Grebe 

 

 

 

 

Wigeon feeding on the grass at the edge of the water

 

 

Pied Wagtail

 

 

Signs of Spring ... 

 

 

 

Cattle just outside the visitor centre at Egleton 

 

 

View towards Upper Hambleton

 

 

Muntjac Deer

 

 

The meadow near the visitor centre had some great birds including;

 

Fieldfare

 

Redwing

 

Bullfinch

 

Thrush

 

Water Rail

 

 

Sparrowhawk - but unfortunately he turned the other way, then flew off!  

 

Egyptian Goose - a very long way away