Monday, 13 October 2014

Arctic Stunner.....Sunday 12.10.2014.

After reading reports on the excellent find of an Arctic Warbler near to Stonebridge car park at Donna Nook on Saturday,this was my destination for my days birding.
 I left home in thick fog and hoped it would be clear as i neared the coast,sure enough after reaching North Somercotes,apart from a few wisps of mist it was looking good for a bright morning,the only down side being,a clear night might mean 0 Arctic Warbler.
 After arriving at Stonebridge car park just as it was beginning to get light,thankfully i was the first there,so got parked easily,but i was soon joined by others coming to look for this 9th for Lincolnshire.
 As it got light properly several of us searched and after about thirty mins,someone shouted it out,thank god for that!.
 It was watched at first feeding in a willow at the entrance to the car park giving some really nice views before flying to the area it was seen in on Saturday.At first it was a real pain to see,but we managed to get some cracking views of it in the bins,getting some good photos was another thing while i was on site,but i got some brilliant shots of Hawthorn branches.
 I spent at least 4 hours watching this eastern rare,before the amount of visitors got too much and i decided to make a move.I was really pleased i had made the effort as this was a NEW bird for my Linc's list and what a beauty it was too.
 Other sightings while i was on site here,included 72 Pink-footed Geese south,1 Grey Wagtail south and hand fulls of Dark-bellied Brents.
 So after visiting Donna i decided to drive over to Anderby Creek to look for the adult Rosy Pastor,along with several other like minded birders and twitchers.
 Sadly after looking for at least 3 hours there was no sign of the Rosy,bugger.
Apart from one grumpy local who's garden the Starling had been visiting,the rest of the people were really helpfull,what a shame it had done a bunk.
 Other sightings while looking for the star bird included a good southerly passage again of Pinks,with flocks of 77,76,62,35,54,64,160 and 231.Most of the flocks flew south over land,but a couple actually cut in from the sea from the east.A single Chiffie was seen near the garden where the Starling had been and a Brambling was near the toilet block at the car park.
 On arriving home i found out that late afternoon a Radde's Warbler had been found by a visiting birder from Essex back at Donna,completing a good weekend by Linc's standards for rares.
 A good day out and about in some cracking autumnal weather today.
Arctic Warbler,Donna Nook.


Arctic Warbler,Donna Nook.

Arctic Warbler,Donna Nook..note you can just make out the start of the first wing bar on this photo,on the median coverts.

Arctic Warbler,Donna Nook.

Dark-bellied Brents,Donna Nook.

South bound Pink-footed Geese,Anderby Creek.

Starling,Anderby Creek.

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