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 And Holidays Around Our Beautiful Countryside.
Today we had planned to head along the Yorkshire coast up to Staithes and as we travelled along the M62 and then the A1, Tracey said 'Why don't we go to the Yorkshire dales instead', so we tapped Malham into the sat nav and an hour later we were parking up in Malham village.
It was pretty cold first thing and it clouded over, but we wern't going to let that spoil our day.
We completed the usual walk we do when we visit here, taking in the lovely little Janet's Foss waterfall, with its limestone tufa deposits, the incomparable beauty of Gordale Scar and finally the jewel in the crown Malhan Cove with its stunning cliffscape and limestone scenery.
This area is absolutely beautiful and has long been a favourite of ours.
As always on our walks, we looked for birds and the locals didn't disappoint, with some lovely views of 2 singing male Dippers and a couple of Grey Wagtails which always are a joy to see.
After our walk a lovely sunday lunch in the Lister Arms certainly rounded off a lovely visit.
As another months birding came to an end, the local patch year list was now standing at a respectable 154 species. The following are the species and highlights observed during this excellent month.
Saturday 5th
A visit to East Halton today, covering the square encompassing East Halton Marshes, Winter's Pond and East Halton Skitter, saw a respectable 72 species being recorded.
Highlights at Winter's Pond, included the juvenile Black Tern still, 37 Northern Shoveler, 7 Eurasian Wigeon, 19 Tufted Duck, 24 Gadwall, 28 Little Grebe, a Great-crested Grebe, a Hobby, 4 Little Egret and a single Great-white Egret. The best sighting of the day here was just a flyover, but was my 3rd species of Egret for the day, as 3 Cattle Egret flew south west over the main lake, later being seen at Novartis Ings at Grimsby.
Also observed at Winter's, were the first 6 Pink-footed Geese of the autumn/winter period, as they dropped in on the main lake to bathe, a welcome sight and sound.
The Skitter area also received some good coverage, with the best sightings going to a juvenile Spotted Redshank, Ruff, a juvenile Little-ringed Plover which flew south, 41 Pied Avocet which included a colour flagged bird ringed on the Castletown estate in Cumbria in 2021.
Sunday 6th
Today was spent watching from and over Winter's Pond, with the best sighting of the day going to 3 Common Cranes, watched as they flew south west across the Humber from Yorkshire. They had been tracked all along the east coast from Barmston, making this my second sighting of the year for the local patch of this cracking species after 2 were seen flying east at Goxhill Haven back in April.
Other goodies seen from our watchpoint, included a first winter Caspian Gull which flew north and then south, 2 Great-white Egret, a Green Woodpecker, Eurasian Hobby, Peregrine, 45 Barn Swallows, 6 Willow Warbler, 15 Chiffchaff, 5 Little Egret, 77 Pied Avocet on the Humber, 8 Northern Pintail which flew north, 12 Eurasian Wigeon and 565 Greylags.
Sunday 13th
Another visit again to East Halton, covering the areas between Winter's Pond and the Skitter, saw an excellent count of 82 species being seen.
A search and listen for Owls first thing, saw a good return, with singles of Western-Barn and Tawny Owls and 3 Little Owls entering the notes, a good start to the day. The latter species seems to be spreading in the East Halton area, with 3 sites now holding birds.
At Winter's, a record count for the site of 93 Northern Shoveler, was an excellent record along with 2 Great-white Egret, 32 Northern Lapwing, Great-spotted Woodpecker, a late juvenile Sedge Warbler, 5 Western-house Martin, 2 Lesser and a single Common Whitethroat.
A decent movement of Terns on the Humber saw me finding another juvenile Black Tern, as it hawked insects over the Humber and Marshes, 4 Arctic which flew north along the Humber and 2 Sandwich Tern as they flew out south on the dropping tide.
Sightings at the Skitter today, inlcuded 137 Common Redshank counted between there and Killingholme Haven, 2555 Icelandic-black Tailed Godwits in the same area, 51 Pied Avocet and 2 Bar-tailed Godwits.
A lovely Clouded Yellow was also seen at the Skitter today.
Saturday 19th
East Halton again today, saw 65 species being recorded in and around Winter's Pond, which included 53 Pink-footed Geese on the main lake, a single Female Northern Pintail, 53 Eurasian Teal, 24 Little Grebe, 22 Tufted Ducks and another big count for the local patch again of Northern Shoveler with 134 being seen, smashing the count from the 13th.
Waders from my watchpoint today included 3 Whimbrel which flew north, a single Common Greenshank which flew south, 5 Red Knot, 2 Ruff and 93 Common Redshank.
Two juvenile Northern Gannets were watched flying up the Humber off here and became my first records for the local patch year list.
Monday 21st
A change of scenery this morning, saw me visiting Goxhill and walking up to Dawson City and back, this proved a great decision.
First a cracking juvenile Osprey flew past me and east along the Humber, giving some lovely views of this big fish eating Eagle, then it was quickly followed by a juvenile Curlew Sandpiper, in the same area as it fed with Dunlin and Ringed Plover, making for 2 year ticks in about 30 minutes.
Other species seen in the area included 132 Pinks which flew west, 3 Northern Pintail, 32 Pied Avocet, a juvenile Common Greenshank feeding at the Haven, a first winter Caspian Gull which flew west, 51 Great Cormorant observed at their roost site off Goxhill Tilery and a huntng Barn Owl.
A visit to Winter's in the afternoon, saw the best sightings going to 2 Female Pintail, 43 Pink-footed Geese, 15 Tufted Duck, 51 Pied Avocet on the Humber, 2 Great-white Egret still, 2 juvenile Hobby hawking insects over the marshes, 6 Common Buzzard, 12 Great Cormorant and 450 Black-headed Gulls.
An absolutely cracking months birding.
Dawn At Winter's Pond, 5th.
Watching The Humber In Comfort, 5th.
Buck Roe Deer, East Halton Skitter, 5th.
Colour Flagged Avocet, 7A, 5th.
Clouded Yellow, East Halton Skitter, 13th.
Fiery Sunrise, Winter's Pond, 19th.
Life History Of Colour-flagged Avocet, 7A, Observed on the 5th.
Another great forecast after yesterday's cloudy day saw us heading north and over the border into Scotland to visit St.Abbs & St.Abbs Head.
The drive up was an easy one and it wasn't long before we were parking up at the National Trust for Scotland car park.
We explored all the coastline along here as far as Pettico Wick and the lighthouse headland and the impressive Mire Loch. It is an absolutely stunning area and we were duly impressed.
Bird and wildlife sightings included 3 Roe Deer, 3 Raven, an adult Whooper Swan on Mire Loch, 2 pairs of Stonechat and a mixture of commoner species.
After enjoying this super area, we wandered the short distance into St.Abbs itself and had some well earned lunch and a look around the harbour and village. What a lovely area, with the locals being so friendly also, we will definitely be back.
After enjoying St.Abbs we headed back to Bamburgh for a few hours enjoying some lovely views of a flock of Common Scoter, Red-throated Diver and feeding Gannets off Stag Rocks, before having a final visit to Budle Bay, before heading back to the cottage to pack.
What a brilliant mini-break this has been, Northumberland and the Scottish coast have been superb and we already cannot wait to come back.
