Local Patching Roundup - October 2024.

October is always the month i always look forward to every year with the prospect of finding something 'Nice' on the local patch and this was certainly the case this year, as last year and the year before that.

The following is a summary of sightings through the month of what i recorded on the local patch between East Halton and Goxhill, with 2 new species added to my life list here and the yearlist now standing on a decent 159 species.

Friday 4th 

The month began with an afternoon visit for a change, with not a great deal to report apart from a flock of 12 Common Scoter heading north along the Estuary from my watchpoint at Winter's Pond. This small flock consisted of 5 drakes and 7 females, always a species i enjoy seeing.

Also seen around Winter's were 5 Chiffchaff, 4 Tree Sparrow back in residence for the winter and on the Humber a single Ruff in amongst a flock of feeding Icelandic Black-tailed Godwits.

Friday 11th 

Another Friday visit today saw a fairly quiet visit until i walked along Jericho Lane in East Halton village, when i heard a single 'Dudluee' call and picked up a Woodlark flying overhead and across the fields towards Thornton Abbey!!!!!.

This species is a proper rarity here and only the 2nd recorded on the patch after GPC had a spring bird several years ago.

The remainder of the visit saw a few other nice birds being seen, which included a single flyover Brambling at Winter's and 12 lovely Whooper Swans dropping into there also, with the bushes around the site providing my latest local Willow Warbler to date, a Goldcrest, 2 Chiffchaff and overhead 2 Swallow.

Sunday 13th 

Some serious effort today walking all the way up to Dawson City and back saw a great days birding enjoyed.

I started off proceedings by listening for Owls between Redhouse Wood and East Halton Grange, with a single Little Owl and 3 calling male Tawny Owls heard, a great start.

When it got light, it soon became apparent that Pink-footed Geese were all over the place and an estimate of at least 15000 birds were in the East Halton/Immingham/Cherry Cobb area an amazing sight to see.

The 2 Barnacle Geese were still with the Greylag flock and 8 lovely Whooper Swans flew south overhead also.

Some great sightings around the East Halton Skitter area included the adult Greenshank still(I'm hoping this bird overwinters, as I've never had a winter record here), 2 Ruff, 2 Bearded Tit, 2 male Stonechat, 3 Redhead Goosander, 275 Teal and a Grey Wagtail overhead.

Best sightings on the marshes went to a single Peregrine, 5 Stonechat, the afore-mentioned Barnacle Geese and a hunting juvenile Marsh Harrier. 

Goxhill Marsh held the biggest surprise of the day, with a Reed Warbler seen and heard calling at Ruins Pond, my latest personal record of the species.

Also along this area were 7 Bearded Tit, a Great-spotted Woodpecker, 3 Goldcrest and a female Marsh Harrier.

Winter's highlights today included 26 Shoveler, 9 Moorhen, 24 Coot and 21 Little Grebe.

Friday 18th/Saturday 19th 

Friday 18th

Some great numbers of birds around Winter's on Friday saw 50 Shoveler, 34 Wigeon, 72 Mallard, a Drake Pintail, 20 Coot, Kingfisher and 14 Little Grebe on the ponds.

The bushes were fairly productive too, with a single Brambling overhead south, 14 Chaffinch, 3 Greenfinch, 2 Tree Sparrow, 3 Chiffchaff and 12 Song Thrush the best of it. A lovely Grey Wagtail was watched feeding along the Humber floodbank towards Killingholme, lovely birds.

East Halton Marshes was fairly productive today, with a Water Pipit the main highlight, but also 6 Stonechat, 31 Skylark, the 2 Barnacle Geese still, 2465 Pink-footed Geese and 49 Curlew.

At the Skitter the Greenshank was still present along with 2 Ruff, 71 Avocet and 3 Little Egret, with a record count of 11 Rock Pipits here exceptional.

Saturday 19th

Saturday saw a later arrival than usual due to heavy rain, as i walked around the small plantation at the car park, i heard a call I've been waiting to hear for so long down here, 'Tsoeest', 'Tsoeest' i couldn't stop grinning as i watched my first local patch Yellow-browed Warbler. The bird showed really nicely thankfully feeding in the plantation and adjacent Hawthorn hedgerow, what a lovely species these birds are, regardless of how much more common they are on the east coast these days in the autumn.

This is the commonest visiting Siberian passerine to the UK and usually winter's in South East Asia, and arrives here in varying numbers and this year it is shaping up to be a very good year for them.

It is a first for me here obviously and is the 228th species for my personal local patch list and the 171st species i have recorded at Winter's Pond.

The rest of the visit was immaterial now, but i still managed to see some other nice birds with Grey Wagtail, 20 Whooper Swans which flew south west, 16 Little Grebe, Kingfisher and Male Stonechat all being seen at Winter's.

On arrival back at Winter's after walking up to the Skitter, the Yellow-browed showed amazingly well feeding in a Oak Tree/Hawthorns/Privet hedge near the car park before dusk, what a great visit!.

Friday 25th

Pretty poor weather conditions in mizzle today saw me only staying until lunch time.

I walked up Marsh Lane and back around the fields from the village and back to Winter's. with the best bird being a cracking Woodcock watched flying from it's roost, what a beautiful species they are!.

Sunday 27th

A visit to Goxhill Haven first thing to see another species for the year list after birding buddy Chas Adland had found 2 Twite, saw me seeing these cracking little moorland Finches as they fed unconcernedly on grass seeds along the floodbank giving some superb views.

After enjoying the lovely Twite i headed over to East Halton.

A really good effort covering the areas between Winter's, Jericho Lane, Skitter Road and East Halton Skitter saw a really good 78 species being seen with no real surprises being recorded.

The best sightings went to the 2 Barnacle Geese still on the Marshes, a Green Sandpiper and Siskin at Winter's, and Ruff and Greenshank at the Skitter with 9 Stonechat also entering the notes.

A non bird sighting worth noting today, was a huge Conger Eel which was washed up dead on the shore opposite Winter's, even the Great black-backed Gulls were wary of eating it.

Well what a cracking month, i love this patch!

East Halton Sunset, 4th.

Sunrise At Winter's, 13th.

Solar Halo Over The Humber, 13th.

Full Moon, 18th.

Dawn At Winter's 18th.

Modelling The Big Swaro's, 18th.

East Halton Skitter, 18th.

Grey Heron, Winter's Pond, 19th.

In The Murk, East Halton, 25th.

One Of The Twite, Goxhill Haven, 27th.

A Huge Dead Conger Eel, East Halton, 27th.

Skitter Road, 27th.

East Halton Marshes, 27th.

Flamborough/Bempton Megas & Scarce Migrants, Sunday 22nd & Sunday 29th September & Saturday October 5th 2024

 Over the last few weeks, some really productive easterly winds have blown in some fantastic rare birds into the Flamborough Bird Observatory recording area, including some first class rarities.

The following are the birds seen during my three visits, which included a second record for Britain and also a third for Yorkshire.

Sunday 22nd September

The previous day, an interesting Iduna Warbler was found along Old Fall Hedge and was confirmed as Flamborough's 2nd record of Eastern Olivaceous Warbler and Yorkshire's 3rd record.

Fast forward to Sunday morning and i was up bright and early and arrived at Flamborough for first light in slightly misty conditions.

I got my gear together and slowly made my way down to Old Fall checking all the gardens on the way.

The first good birds i encountered, were 2 Yellow-browed Warblers as i walked down to the area the Olivaceous Warbler had been seen the previous day, a lovely start and the first i have seen this year of this regularly recorded 'Sibe'.

We checked the area where the bird had been seen and saw nothing, so i wandered around Old Fall plantation seeing, incredibly, a further 5 Yellow-browed's, this was a superb start to the day, 7 Yellow-browed's!. As i walked back towards Old Fall hedge, i saw 3 species of Flycatcher, all singles, of Pied, Spotted and a very elusive Red-breasted Flycatcher. The latter was calling and being harried by a Wren, behaviour i have witnessed in the past.

A small group of birders had arrived and we all looked for the Eastern Oli to the sound of calling YBW's just brilliant!.

Then we got a call and someone had found the Eastern Oli. We made our way back around to Old Fall Hedge and enjoyed some great views as the bird fed in the hedgerow, showing all the diagnostic features including the species tail pumping action, like an oversized Chiffchaff.

This is my second personal record of the species, after i saw one in this very location in September 2010.

Unfortunately the weather began to deteriorate slowly as banks of fog came and went, with the visibility not being great at times.

I wandered back towards the car, checking all the roadside gardens again and the final nice bird of the visit was seen in a garden near the lighthouse car park, another Red-breasted Flycatcher. This bird showed far better than the elusive individual at Old Fall and i even managed to get a brief video clip, a nice end to the visit.

Sunday 29th September

Over previous days an interesting, wing barred Phylloscopus Warbler had been found at Bempton Cliffs in the car park/bird feeding area. Some great detective work by the Bempton team of birders finally nailed the bird as Britain's second and only live record of Pale-legged Leaf Warbler!!!!!.

As you can imagine, the drive up to Bempton on Sunday morning was a fairly nervy one, but I was adamant the bird would still be present.

I got to the car park, to a handful of cars and took my place in the car park and waited for it to get light.

As it got light i got some warm clothes on and made my way around to where the bird had roosted the previous evening. Thankfully i was in a great position to look for the bird as more people arrived and it wasn't long before i got onto the bird as it moved from it's roost site(Thank god for my Swaro 10 x 52's with the extra light gathering). The long white supercilium being striking and then it was gone again.

Ten minutes went by and it again appeared and began calling, with its distinctive call and even showed overhead in a willow giving some superb views.

In all i heard it call about 8 times and saw it at least 6 times well.

The views revealed the birds ID features with it's dark grey crown, long white supercilium, dark eye stripe and bronzy wing panel, with faint wing bars, but it was the call which was the most important feature to identify it from it's very similar sister species, Sakhalin-leaf Warbler.

The bird then moved over into the area were the bird feeders are situated and it showed briefly for me in this area. While watching here, a couple of Yellow-browed Warblers gave some nice views.

This species had only been seen in Britain as a definite record once before, when a dead bird was found under St. Agnes lighthouse on the Scilly Isles on the 21st October 2016.

And a bird on Portland in Dorset in 2014 wasn't nailed to species and was accepted as either Pale-legged Leaf Warbler or Sakhalin-leaf Warbler.

Onto Flamborough for the remainder of the day and a far more relaxed affair saw me visiting Holmes Gut where a few niceties had been located.

First goodies were 2 Red-breasted Flycatcher, feeding in the stand of Sycamores, but also occasionally visiting the adjacent Hawthorn hedge giving some lovely views. Also here were 2 Yellow-browed Warblers and finally i got onto the reported Icterine Warbler.

The latter was my first for some years and it was great to study the bird through the scope, with it's lovely lemon yellow wash to it's face and breast, a gorgeous bird.

After enjoying all these goodies an aborted attempt to look for the Siberian Stonechat near North Dykes drew a blank, but 3 Wheatear were nice to watch along a stubble field.

After all this excitement, i headed home after adding this mega rare Leaf Warbler to my life list, what a great day!.

Saturday 5th October

An early start today, saw me heading north again to the Flamborough area to see a couple of birds i have seen before, with one being a particular favourite.

I arrived at South Landing to a bright, but pretty windy dawn and walked the mile or so with a couple of other visitors to Booted Gully which is situated between South Landing and Old Fall.

Its a small wooded valley which runs down to the sea and the previous day a Red-flanked Bluetail had been found here.

After arriving at Booted Gully we searched the area, but found nothing, so i left the other guys and walked around to the sheltered side of the gully when the Bluetail flew out and onto the path in front of me at a about 40 feet away. I watched it through the bins as it perched on the dead Umbellifer stems on the edge of the path, showing off those orangy flanks, cobalt blue wash to it's tail,  white throat patch and big eyes with neat white eye rings, what a bird!.

Now i have seen 6 of these lovely little Chats to date, but they are a bird i absolutely love, just stunning in my opinion, as are all the Chat family, but these are something special in my eyes.

They have become commoner in recent years after they have started breeding as close as Finland and are expected at east coast locations such as Flamborough or Spurn in the right conditions. 

After watching this little stunner, more and more people arrived and the bird became more elusive, unfortunately, there are some twitchers who are just not patient.

I walked back to South Landing looking for migrants and enjoyed some nice views of a Yellow-browed Warbler and shortly afterwards a good candidate for a Siberian Chiffchaff, with it's colder grey upperparts, but it didn't call unfortunately.

After enjoying the South Landing area i decided to travel over to Bempton RSPB to see if i could see the recently found Daurian Shrike.

On arrival at Bempton to a considerably quieter car park than the previous week, i made my way along the nature trail to where the Shrike was being watched.

After a few minutes i got my first views of this lovely bird, as it was watched perched up on the top of a Hawthorn, showing off it's striking pallid plumage, reddish tail, greyish bill, weak mask behind the eye and lovely subtle crescent markings on the birds crown, breast, flanks and head making for a very smart bird. On close views through the scope, the brownish/red iris could also be appreciated.

I spent a good hour or so watching this visitor from the far east as it caught several Wasps, despatching them with ease and then wiping the stinger of on a branch or Bramble stem. This was a great piece of behaviour to watch and the bird certainly performed well, allowing some great chances to get some phone-scoped photos and video.

After enjoying this cracking bird, it was off to my final destination for the day, Bridlington Harbour, where a little visitor from the Arctic tundra had been found, a Grey Phalarope.

After paying for my parking, i made my way down to the harbour mouth, to be treated to some fantastic close views and flybys from this pelagic wader and it was a real challenge to video through the scope, being too close at times.

These birds are always a crowd pleaser and it is always a pleasure to see one.

Also around the Harbour, were at least 4 Purple Sandpiper, adding another nice species to this already superb day.

Well what a series of awesome visits to the Flamborough area and what a great privilege to see these rare and scarce migrants with some great company along the way and i will very much look forward to my next visit up here, what an area!.

Thornwick Bay.

Male Wheatear, Thornwick Bay.

Eastern Olivaceous Warbler, Old Fall, Courtesy Of Darren Chapman, 22nd.

Eastern Olivaceous Warbler, Old Fall, Courtesy Of Darren Chapman, 22nd.

Pale-legged Leaf Warbler, Bempton Cliffs RSPB, 29th, Courtesy Of Damian Money.

Daurian Shrike, Bempton Cliffs RSPB, 5th October.

All Above Daurian Shrike Photos Taken With Swarovski ATX85, Swarovski VPA2 & Google Pixel 8 Pro.

Local Patching Roundup - September 2024

 Sunday 1st

A good start to the month saw a good count of 74 species seen between Winter's and the Skitter, with highlights in the form of 2 Arctic Skua which flew north along the Humber after chasing a juvenile Kittiwake.

Continued watching of the Humber during the day added a few other nice maritime species which included a juvenile Little Gull which flew south, 2 Arctic Tern, 2 Sandwich Tern and 11 Common Tern which all flew out south also.

Always expected at this time of year, were 16 Common Scoter, with 11 flying north and 5 south and in the afternoon, 2 Greenshank and 3 Ruff flew south.

Winter's held a few nice birds today, which included a Great-white Egret, 2 Green Sands, a juvenile Little-ringed Plover and 4 Swift.

A wander up to the Skitter saw the highlights consisting of Marsh Harrier, Ruff, 4100 Icelandic Black-tailed Godwits and 58 Avocet.

Saturday 7th/Sunday 8th

Two visits over this weekend saw more goodies being seen.

Saturday saw a misty start to proceedings, but 2 nice birds were quickly found on Winter's, the first a 1st Winter Caspian Gull, resting on the spit on the main lake before flying onto the Humber with 2 Herring Gulls. This is the first sighting of the species for the site and the first for 5 years i have seen on the ground on the patch.

The second highlight was a lovely juvenile Garganey, which didn't really show closely and spent most of it's time on the far side of the main lake, a good record all the same, and nice to get one in autumn here for a change.

A watch from the floodbank, saw a few bits over the Humber which included an Arctic Skua, 3 Common and a Sandwich Tern.

A Sanderling flew past north, my second of the year here.

A wander past the chimney saw me finding my 168th species to be seen by myself at Winter's in the form of a juvenile Whinchat and it showed really nicely before disappearing onto the marshes.

This completes an impressive list of Chats for the site which includes Robin, Redstart, Black Redstart, Stonechat and White-spotted Bluethroat.

Sunday saw another brilliant days birding and included a similar array of species as Saturday, with the Juvvie Garganey still being at winter's. Other species on the site included singles of Green and Common Sandpipers, a Ruff and a Whimbrel which flew south overhead, with 4 Pochard, 26 Wigeon and 4 Swift also here.

On the Humber 42 Common Scoter drifted out on the tide and 2 year additions to the patch list were seen, a single Black Tern which flew south and a couple of juvenile Gannets which flew north.

A wander along Marsh Lane, saw a single juvenile Whinchat being seen, perhaps the previous days bird from Winter's.

Final nice bird of the visit, was a juvenile Hobby hawking insects high over East Halton Skitter.

The best non bird sighting of the visit went to a lovely Otter watched on Winter's early morning, a real pleasure to see.

Saturday 13th/Sunday 14th 

A quieter visit than last weekend on Saturday, saw a welcome highlight, as my first returning Pink-footed Geese of the autumn were watched in the Winter's area, with 335 being watched.

It was really great to see these cracking birds arriving back on the estuary, my soundtrack to the autumn/winter period here, really special!.

On Winter's itself, 5 Green and 1 Common Sandpiper were feeding around the margins of the main lake along with a good count of 68 Swallows.

On the Humber, a single juvenile Gannet flew north and a juvenile Hobby was watched over East Halton Marshes, with the final highlight being 3 juvenile Stonechats along Marsh Lane.

Sunday saw me covering the whole patch in some decent weather and recording an impressive 86 species.

From a local patch perspective the rarest sighting went to the flock of 15 Sanderling watched feeding off Dawson City on the Humber shore, by far my largest flock down here.

Other nice bits included an adult Med Gull, Whimbrel and a Peregrine at East Halton Skitter, with singles of Swift, Green Sand, Common Sand and Ruff at Winter's.

Saturday 21st

A decent visit today saw Winter's being the focus of all the sightings during the day with the main highlight being my first patch record for the year of Cattle Egret, with a single adult feeding on the grassland near the car park. It strangely avoided the cattle on site and preferred to catch Craneflies in the long grass instead.

Other species seen at Winter's included a whopping count of 36 Little Grebe, a site record count, along with 56 Teal, 10 Wigeon, 13 Moorhen, a Ruff, 2 Green Sands and a Pintail.

Saturday 27th

Today's visit was mainly spent watching from the car due to the strong northerly and showers.

Pink-footed Geese were definitely on the move, with 3465 being counted moving north along the estuary.

Also 10 Barnacle Geese were also seen moving north, perhaps part of a movement seen along coastal watchpoints along the east coast.

The expected movement of seabirds didn't really materialise, but northerlies are not really the best here for seabirds. I still managed to see 5 Common Scoter, 2 adult Kittiwakes, 4 Arctic Tern and 6 juvenile Gannets.

A Peregrine flew across the Humber from Yorkshire, followed by a female Sparrowhawk.

On Winter's a juvenile Garganey was seen, perhaps the bird from a few weeks ago, but i think this one looked a fresher plumaged bird.

Well a good months birding was enjoyed and now i look forward to see what October will bring.

1st Winter Caspian Gull, Winter's Pond, 7th.

Juvenile Garganey, Winter's Pond, 7th.

Juvenile Whinchat, Winter's Pond, 7th.

Dawn At Winter's Pond, 13th.

Juvenile Swallow, Winter's Pond, 13th.

Juvenile Cormorant Winter's Pond, 13th.

Juvenile Stonechat, Marsh Lane, 13th.

Comma, East Halton Skitter, 13th.

Hoverfly Species, Helophilus pendulus, East Halton Skitter, 13th.

East Halton Skitter, 13th.

A Colourful Dawn Sky At Winter's Pond, 14th.

Some Nosey Locals, Goxhill Marsh, 14th.

Female Long-winged Conehead, Goxhill Marsh, 14th.

Distant Record Shot Of Part Of The Sanderling Flock From The 14th.

Dawson City, 14th.

The Humber Floodbank Near East Halton Skitter, 14th.

Robin, Winter's Pond, 21st.

Adult Cattle Egret, Winter's Pond, 21st.