Welcome To My Blog,This Will Be Mainly Used As A Diary For My Local Birding Patch At East Halton/Goxhill On The Banks Of The Humber Estuary,With Occasional Twitching And Visits Elsewhere Including Photos From Mine & Tracey's Walks Around Our Beautiful Countryside.
A decent forecast and the chance to get out and about again with Tracey, saw us heading to a favourite destination for this time of year, Clumber Park and introduce the New Year in, in style.
After parking up, we headed for the café first for a hot cuppa before carrying out our usual walk around the great lake.
A few nice birds were seen which included 2 Great-white Egrets, 4 Goosander and a cracking count these days of 74 Pochard.
Sadly no Hawfinches were seen today, but there were a lot of people here. It was just nice to get out again in the fresh air.
After a very kind offer from Tim, to join him and Mark, to travel down to Norfolk to see the wintering Black-winged Kite was a no brainer as i had never seen this species before.
After an expert drive by Tim, of which i spent most of the time asleep, we arrived at Ludham Bridge on the banks of the River Ant just before it began to get light.
After a short while we started to see a few people heading off along the river bank, in the direction of where the Kite had been seen the previous evening going to roost.
We got our kit together and we were off looking.
Lots of scanning and waiting then ensued, but we were treated to fly overs by 2 Bewick's Swans, 12 Common Cranes and some lovely views of Red Kites before someone thought they had seen the Kite, but again it was frustratingly brief and we again waited, before, at last we saw it sat amongst a flock of Wood Pigeons.
This was a great relief for us, but the bird was sat with its back to us and its head was partially hidden by a branch. The bird then flew and landed out of view, before again flying and this time it was in full view perched and preening, giving some lovely views in the scope and allowing me to take some fairly decent video considering the distance involved. We watched as it preened, with those piercing red eyes and black supercilium/lores, black shoulder patch, long wings and short tail making for a very handsome raptor.
This was a new species for myself and a new UK bird for both Tim and Mark.
After enjoying the Kite, we had a quick look on the grazing marshes from the bridge, enjoying some distant views of 2 Cranes feeding, but no sign of the previous days Glossy Ibis.
After enjoying our time at Ludham Bridge we headed off towards Titchwell, having a pretty productive drive, seeing Glossy Ibis, Hen Harrier and several Red Kites. Just as we were approaching Chosely Drying Barns, i spotted a Heron flying towards us and it proceeded to land on a nearby muck heap just as we were parking up, it was a Cattle Egret. We watched it briefly, before it proceeded to fly off inland.
After arriving at Titchwell we headed out to the sea along the coastal path seeing a few nice birds which included A lovely Drake Pintail, a fine drake Red-breasted Merganser, Great-white Egret and a couple of Marsh Harriers.
Some prolonged scanning of the sea, saw us adding more niceties to the already excellent day list of birds which included 3 long-tailed Ducks, at least 3 Shags, a Great-northern Diver and more Mergs.
It was really nice to be back here after quite a few years of not visiting, a top site for birding.
After enjoying our mega day, Tim expertly drove us back home after another successful twitch.
The River Ant And Grazing Marshes At Ludham Bridge.
The chance to get away for a few days between Christmas & New Year with Mrs R, saw us staying in the lovely village of Grasmere and spending our time visiting Grasmere, Windermere, Keswick, Derwent Water and Hawkshead.
It was really nice to get to visit this superb area, even if it was so busy and nice to have a few days away with Tracey again.
The weather was fairly good, with bright days and frosty nights, allowing us to take some nice photos, the best of which are included here.
At last after a 2 month hiatus, or nearly that long, i have now got the chance to start blogging again about myself and Tracey's adventures.
We have travelled back in this blog, about a trip we did back in early November of last year, were we travelled up to North Yorkshire, visiting the lovely seaside villages of Saltburn and then Staithes, before on the way home stopping off at the Hole of Horcum, a huge glacial bowl between Whitby and Pickering.
The following are my favourite photos from this cracking day out and about.
The Statue Of 'Hendrix' The Black Cat, Who Spent Many An Hour Wandering Along The Pier And Beach Area At Saltburn.
Beautiful Staithes, Such A Stunning Little Place!.
Looking North From Staithes Harbour, To The Highest Cliffs In England At Boulby.
A free day together and a lovely if windy forecast, saw Tracey and myself travelling again to the lovely Peak District to carry out another favourite walk.
After a fairly decent drive over through urban Sheffield and the lovely White Peak countryside, we arrived at our destination, Monsal Head.
After getting some warm gear on we headed off and down onto the old railway viaduct, before heading towards Cressbrook and the River Wye.
The obligatory stop to take some landscape pics is always part of any visit here and we then headed down to Cressbrook Mill.
As we arrived at Cressbrook Mill, the lovely sight of a singing male Dipper greeted us, always a great sighting in my book and a nice start to the days bird sightings.
It was a tad muddy in places due to the overnight rain as we walked along Water-cum-jolly Dale, but the path soon became drier as we reached Litton Mill.
More nice bird sightings here included a pair of Goosander watched fishing along the river and a pair of Dippers gave brilliant views, particularly the male, who was frantically displaying to his mate and she wasn't taking a blind bit of notice which was amusing.
We then walked up onto the old railway for the last leg up to Miller's Dale station.
A welcome stop at the station for a nice cuppa and a toastie certainly did the trick before we began the return leg of the walk.
As we approached Litton tunnel, we decided to walk over the top, instead of through it today. This was a very good choice, as the views of the surrounding countryside and autumnal colours were superb.
As we made it back down to the old railway again, we walked through Cressbrook tunnel, past Upper Dale and Cressbrook Mill and up to the car at Monsal Head.
What a brilliant walk today in perfect weather for walking, the following are my favourite photos from our day in this cracking part of the world.
