More Local Patching,What A Great Day Out!.....Sunday 20th January 2019.

An organised meet up today with John,to join him on his WEBS count and to obviously visit the patch again,resulted in a fine day out and another 14 species added to the patch list for the year.The following is what we saw on the visit.
 After getting all the kit together a quick check of the pit at the rear of Winter's and also the main lake revealed very little in the way of surprises,but new for the year was a single drake Pochard,with the usual 2nd calendar year female Marsh Harrier passing us by as we made our way onto the flood bank.
 A distant Short-eared Owl could be seen hunting the mitigation site and then another which was another first for the year,things were going great.
 Other bits ad bobs between Winter's and the Skitter included a single Rock Pipit and a Brown Hare and 5 Roe Deer on the mitigation site.
 A good walk around the pools at the Skitter and the Haven area revealed another Rock Pipit,Short-eared Owl and at least 5 water Pipits,with a poor count of just 7 Snipe being logged.
 The next section of our walk between the Skitter and Dawson was unusually productive with some great sightings added.
 The first was a Merlin perched along one of the hedgerows bordering a field which also held a decent flock of at least 1300 Pink-footed Geese with this flock also holding a single Barnacle Goose,things were really good today!.The Merlin is no doubt the bird seen by GPC and most probably the bird i saw myself before Christmas.
 A distant Little Egret passed east towards East Halton beck and a Cetti's spluttered its alarm call next to Ruins Pond,year ticks were coming thick and fast.
 A walk out over the saltmarsh to view the huge Sandbank off Dawson saw some good numbers of waders and wildfowl which included 250 Wigeon,700 Lapwing,300 Golden Plover and also 2 drake Goosander which passed by west.
 As we walked again,i flushed a single male Bearded Tit which shot from the Spartina into a small reedbed,another nice sighting for the day an also a welcome first for the year.
 As we passed Dawson City,2 Marsh Harrier were noted roosting on the reserve,a 2nd calendar year male and CC bird which was certainly different to the bird earlier at Winter's,so 3 now for the day was decent i thought.
 More prolonged scanning and counting of waders between Dawson and the Haven saw a great count of 62 Bar-tailed Godwit,5 Grey Plover,268 Dunlin,33 Ringed Plover,30 Turnstone and another single Rock Pipit.
 As we re-traced our footsteps another spluttering Cetti's was heard in Dawson,making it 2 for the day and a couple of Common Buzzards also made it into the notebook.
 As we reached the Skitter again,i said my good byes to John as he carried on towards Winter's and i decided to cover the beck side and Skitter road.Plenty of effort was put in,but little reward was gained,with nothing new to add to the sighting's already logged during the day,apart from another couple of Common Buzzard and a Roe Deer.
 As i neared Winter's an impressive sight of 65 Stock Dove were seen wheeling around giving some nice flight views and a pretty decent count also i thought.
 A quick scan of the main lake at Winter's before i headed home revealed a single female Goldeneye.
 A really good day today and just goes to show how satisfying local patching can be.

Pink-footed Geese,Goxhill Marsh.

A Small Portion Of The Pink Flock At Goxhill Marsh.

Some Of The Stock Dove Flock Near To Winter's Pond.

Tophill Low,Another Cracking Day Out!...Saturday Janury 19th 2019.

With the prospect of being able to get out this weekend on both Saturday and Sunday,i decided to make a visit to one of my favourite reserves in the whole of Yorkshire...Tophill Low. 
As i travelled over the Humber,i wondered what this gem of a reserve will serve up today.
 After paying for my day permit,i decided to cover the northern end of the reserve first taking in Hempholme Lock and the River Hull as well.
 As i got my kit together and set off,a drumming Great-spotted Woodpecker,11 Siskin and at least 50 Redwing were quickly seen in and around the car park,a decent start i thought.
 As i quietly wandered through D Woods,the only highlights entering the notebook were 3 Song Thrush and at least 25 Blackbird.
 North Marsh was frozen solid,so i carried on towards Hempholme and as i neared the lock itself i could see a white Heron in the dyke alongside Hempholme Meadow.
 As a jogger went past the heron it jumped out of the dyke and so the first good bird of the visit was logged,a majestic Great-white Egret and my first find of the year.
 I know this species has become comparatively commoner than it used to be,but to me they are still a great bird to see.It flew over towards the River Hull,landing out of view and i hoped it would allow some photos when i reached the lock itself.
 As i searched the river bank before the lock,there was no sight of the Egret,but then as i crossed over to the opposite bank he was there,this time with a Little Egret for company and they both decided to fly off unfortunately,the Little heading off along the river and the Great flying into Struncheon Hill ponds.
 A good scan of the area revealed 25 Mute Swans grazing on the adjacent fields and 6 Little Grebe along the river.
 As i headed back towards D woods,a nice 2nd calendar year male Marsh Harrier headed along the river towards Hempholme and a Roe Deer quietly disappeared into the undergrowth as i approached.
 Back at the car park area now and another view of the Siskins and it was onto O reservoir to look for the star bird if it was still present,a Red-necked Grebe.
 It was seen virtually straight away,but unfortunately never close,but nice to see all the same and i attempted to take some mega distant record shots just for posterity.
 After seeing the grebe,i made my way around to Watton Nature Reserve,well at least the hide which overlooks it anyway.
 Prolonged scanning from here revealed little in the way of surprises,but a nice pair of Pintail and a single Black-tailed Godwit were added to the day list ,along with another Little Egret.
 South Marsh was frozen solid,so i made my way around to the wardens hut for a chat with friends Martin and Doug over a very welcome cuppa and i decided to join them at the gull roost.
 It was a pretty good omen,as when i have joined Martin in the past,ive always really enjoyed seeing the thousands of gulls dropping into D res and seen the odd rare along the way.
 We all got in position and began to scan the constant flow of gulls into the reservoir and the first good bird was soon found by Martin,a 1st winter Med.Gull,this was followed by two different adults and then sometime later the cream of the crop,a second calendar year Caspian Gull which was also found by Martin.... well he is a bit good at this gull lark.
 It really is a privilege to visit a cracking reserve like this and then spend time with people who really do know they're hobbies inside out,what a great day again here!.I slowly travelled back home to north Linc's after another brilliant day in the home county and look forward to visiting again sometime.

Great-white Egret,Hempholme Lock.

Great-white Egret,Hempholme Lock.

Looking South Along The River Hull From Hempholme Lock.

Looking North Along The River Hull From Hempholme Lock.

Red-necked Grebe,O Reservoir.

Watton Nature Reserve.

The Famous D Reservoir Gull Roost.

2019 Off To A Start!.......Sunday 13th January 2019.

After 2 very busy weekends,i eventually made it out to the patch today and made my first efforts at getting a few species under my belt in this new birding year.
 The weather today made birding very difficult at times with a strong W/SW wind,but a few spells of sunshine in the afternoon were pleasant and it was just great to get out again to be honest.
 I began as always from my parking spot at Winter's Pond,the pits itself were pretty quiet,with 3 Little Grebe,20 Wigeon,5 Mute Swan and the resident Common Buzzard being the highlights.
 As i walked onto the humber bank and nearly got blew into the Humber,a couple of raptor sightings livened things up with the 1st calendar Marsh Harrier seen on my previous visit being seen crossing the river and a juvenile Peregrine putting on fine aerial display as it dive bombed a couple of Carrion Crows and then a Teal.The latter ditched in the Humber and the Peregrine hovered above the Teal,Kestrel like,as it kept diving to evade the predator and re-surfacing.Eventually the Perg had,had enough and flew off to the north bank and the Teal survived to fight another day.
 I eventually arrived at the Skitter to the usual suspects,with 29 Redshank & 18 Teal feeding in the Haven and a minimum of 6 Water and 1 Rock Pipit around the fresh water pools and shoreline.
 I carried on towards Dawson and eventually arrived with not a single Pink-footed Goose in sight,very strange,as i had seen the usual flocks passing across from the north bank at dawn.A small flock of about 200 birds did eventually fly in to land on their usual pasture.
 Dawson itself was very quiet and a quick scan from the bankside here revealed a group of 5 Goldeneye sat on the river and 18 Black-tailed Godwit and approx. 300 Wigeon along the shoreline as the tide was dropping off.
 As i made the return leg back towards Winter's,2 different male Marsh Harriers were seen,the old adult male which breeds at Dawson and a new bird,which looked like a first adult male/3rd calendar year,with a pale rear crown and slightly rufous rump both heading towards Dawson no doubt to roost.The latter i will keep an eye out for in future visits as it looked an interesting bird plumage wise.
 Skitter Road was fairly quiet with the highlight being a Common Buzzard over the woodland at the rear of Grange Farm and 11 Snipe in a wet field near to Winter's.
 Not the most inspiring of visits today,no doubt due to the blustery conditions,but a decent 63 species were logged,onwards and upwards.

The fresh water pools at East Halton Skitter,winter home to Water Pipits.

'Littoralis' Rock Pipit,East Halton Skitter.

Black-tailed Godwit's,Near To Dawson City.

Incoming Black-tailed Godwit's,Near To Dawson City.

Pink-footed Geese,East Halton Skitter.

Pink-footed Geese,East Halton Skitter.

Winter's Pond,East Halton.