Friday 29th March
After finishing my 6-2 shift at work,the weather was lovely,so Trace and myself decided to walk the square encompassing Winter's Pond,the mitigation site,East Halton Skitter and then back along Skitter Road.
Highlights went to the lovely sight of 42 Whooper Swans sat on the Humber off Winter's,making for the largest flock of this,our most beautiful of winter visitors, to date for the patch.The only other notable,was a single Short-eared Owl hunting around the Skitter pools,no doubt the bird i had seen on my last visit.
Sunday 31st March
An all day visit today resulted in another 3 species being added to the patch year list,which seems to be the running average on recent visits.
The first addition was seen as soon as i got out of the car,a Green Sandpiper.It flew out of Winter's and carried on high south,being watched until it was a speck in the distance.
Also here,was a much more expected addition,as the lovely flutey song of a male Blackcap was heard singing in the small conifer plantation.I never did see the bird,but luckily,i found another later on at Dawson City.
The final new species for the year,was another wader,a Ruff.It was watched briefly flying around the Skitter pools with a hand full of Lapwing,before landing out of sight,the first here since last autumn,so was a welcome addition to the days sightings.
Non bird sightings in today's lovely spring sunshine,included my first local Dark-edged Bee-Fly seen beside the public footpath near to Chapel Farm,my first Small White of the year and also a Small Tortoiseshell and a couple of Peacock along East Halton beck.
Monday 8th April
Today was really hard going,in windy,cold & misty conditions,but again i managed to add 3 more species to the year list for the patch.
The first was a frosty looking Redpoll with a good sized white rump,which flew along the Humber bank near to Dawson City calling,but i never did see it on the deck,but it certainly looked interesting.At the minimum it was a Mealie,so that is what i will go with,but it could have been an Arctic.
The next 2 additions provided a splash of summer,with 3 Swallows flying west and a single Sand Martin heading north over the river.I bet both species were wondering what the hell they were doing here in these conditions,but certainly brightened up a tough visit today.
Other birds on the move west up the estuary included at least 62 Linnet,with smaller numbers of Goldfinches & Meadow Pipits and a big movement of Herring Gulls,with smaller numbers of Lesser black-backed & Common Gulls involved also.
Encouraging signs on the mitigation site saw 41 Shelduck & 32 Curlew being recorded,but no signs as of yet of any birds nesting of any species.
Non bird sightings today,saw an outstanding day for mammals with a stunning dog Otter watched on Winter's first thing and also a Fox seen there as well.
Elsewhere the usual 4 Roe Deer were recorded on the mitigation site along with 2 Brown Hare and 4 more Roe Deer were seen near to Dawson City.
More fantastic local patching over these 3 days out,but i really need to find the BIG one!.
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| Winter's Pond At Dawn On The 31st March. |
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| North Sea Ferries heading Into Port On The 31st March. |
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| Horse Chestnut At East Halton Skitter,31st March. |
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| Rook,Goxhill Marsh On The 31st. |
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| Rooks,Goxhill Marsh On The 31st. |
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| Migrating Common Buzzards,Goxhill Marsh On The 31st. |
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| Dark-edged Bee Fly,Goxhill On The 31st. |
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| Mute Swan,Winter's Pond On The 8th April. |
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| Common Gulls,Goxhill Haven On The 8th April. |
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| Herring Gull,Goxhill Haven On The 8th April. |
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| Adult Lesser black-backed Gull,East Halton Skitter On The 8th April. |
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