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.
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| The fresh water pools at East Halton Skitter,winter home to Water Pipits. |
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| 'Littoralis' Rock Pipit,East Halton Skitter. |
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| Black-tailed Godwit's,Near To Dawson City. |
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| Incoming Black-tailed Godwit's,Near To Dawson City. |
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| Pink-footed Geese,East Halton Skitter. |
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| Pink-footed Geese,East Halton Skitter. |
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| Winter's Pond,East Halton. |
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