Something from the Weekend

After yesterday morning's Linacre walk, Jayne and I went for another walk in the afternoon, this time to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. We walked around the Lower Lake where we looked at the Heronry on the island. There were at least 12 Grey Herons on the nests, including these two. We couldn't decide whether they were a pair, or a couple of males arguing over nest sites. Whatever the case, I was very pleased with this shot, especially the left hand bird with its crest raised.

Grey Herons

Whilst walking around the lake, we also saw approximately 100 Black-headed Gulls, a dozen or so Teal, 3 Goosander (1 male and 2 "redheads"), Greylag and Canada Geese, 2 Mute Swans, a single Redwing, and a first for this site, an Egyptian Goose!

This morning I was out ringing with the Sorby Breck Ringing Group. Today we joined forces with other members of the group for a ringing demonstration at the National Trust's Longshaw Estate.  The fun started before we got there however, as a Short-eared Owl was spotted perched by the side of the road as we drove past at 6.45am. The session itself lasted for a good four and a half hours, and was very well attended, by at least 30 people. Thankfully, the birds turned up as well, and we managed to ring 60+, including crowd pleasers such as; Siskin, Lesser Redpoll, Goldfinch and a lovely male Great-spotted Woodpecker.

After the ringing session, the sun was still out, so Jayne and I drove across to Bakewell for a walk and a spot of lunch. We also had a walk by the river, so I had a look for the hybrid duck that we'd seen back in February (see post here).  It was still present on the river by the bridge, and this time it came much closer, allowing a much better photo.

Hybrid duck

There were still a t least 100 Black-headed Gulls still present on the river, along with Mallards and 6 juvenile Mute Swans. As usual I spent some time taking photos of the gulls. Here's just one.

Black-headed Gull

On the drive back from Bakewell we drove past Barbrook Plantation and spotted a couple of Red Deer, which we able to photograph.

Red Deer