Steve's Birding,Wildlife & Walking Blog: Humber WEBS Count,Barrow Haven

Thursday 12 October 2017

Humber WEBS Count,Barrow Haven - Goxhill Haven,Sunday 8th October 2017.

A full day free today gave me the chance to do some more local birding and i headed over to my WEBS count sections between Barrow Haven and Goxhill Haven along the banks of the Humber Estuary to complete my monthly high tide counts,the following is what i saw.

Barrow Haven - New Holland

I arrived just as it began to get light,packed all the gear ready and got a few warm layers on and headed along the path towards the haven mouth.First birds to enter the notebook were a nice mixed flock of Curlew and Bar-tailed Godwit,with 34 of the former and 2 of the latter as they huddled together on the last remnant of mud as the tide was rushing in.
A sudden movement near my feet as i turned the corner towards New Holland saw a lovely Wheatear showing nicely in the gloom.
As i carried on walking the first of the day's 3 Cetti's Warblers blasted away it's distinctive song and a single Redwing flew along the hedgerows.
A flurry of nice sightings as i neared Windmill Pond,saw a lovely male Goosander fly west and a late Reed Warbler chacked along a nearby dyke.

New Holland - Goxhill Haven

After meeting up with regular birding buddy Chas who usually accompanies me on my WEBS counts,we walked through New Holland bulk terminal and headed back onto the riverbank.
This section always provides us with some good sightings to add to the notebook and today was no exception with some decent numbers of waders and a few passerines as well.
Highlights went to a good sized flock of 25 Ruff watched over the inland fields,at least 63 Turnstone along the riverbank and a male & female Blackcap and a single Fieldfare at the old boatyard near Goxhill Haven.
Overhead there was a light westerly passage of Mips & Skylarks with 2 Rock Pipits and a few Blackbirds and Song Thrushes and over the Humber a few parties of Teal and Shelduck were heading in the same direction which all added to an enjoyable walk.

Goxhill Haven - Dawson City LWTR.

This section is not down on my survey area,but we always walk up to the little reserve at Dawson City,just east of Goxhill Haven as it has been productive in the past.
As we walked alongside a bankside borrow pit,a 'Pinging' call alerted us to a lovely male Bearded Tit as he moved about in the reedbed,a lovely sight to see and hear and a little later i picked up a single Brambling as it flew in off the Humber and passed west.
As we neared the long wood were i had found the male Firecrest last winter,we came across two pairs of very active Stonechat which were watched as they sallied after insects on the strip of Sea aster on the saltmarsh,another great sighting to enjoy.I love these little chats and they always brighten a days birding in my opinion.Also along this section a couple of nice mammal sightings added some diversity to the day,with 2 Roe Deer on the fields and a lovely Grey Seal on the Humber.

The return walk back towards Barrow Haven added a few more notable sightings which included another Stonechat,this time a female near Goxhill Tilery,a juvvie Peregrine in the same area which was watched dive bombing the local waders before heading north over the river.A couple of east bound flocks of Pink-footed Geese totalled 42 birds and a colour ringed Mute Swan was seen near to New Holland adding more interest to the days already full notebook.As i neared Barrow Haven the Wheatear i had seen in the morning was still present and i managed to take some nice images in some half decent light,a pleasure to see.
I eventually made it back to Barrow Haven 8 hours later from setting off,with 12.5 miles walked and slightly weary,but what a great day out and a big thanks to Chas for the company.