Steve's Birding,Wildlife & Walking Blog: Local Patching.....September Update.

As i have been really busy of late and not had chance to post weekly,here is a compilation of sightings from the local patch and obviously a selection of photos from each day visited.

8th September

Winter's Pond today,held the usual post breeding flock of Greylag's,with 500 birds present and a single Green Sandpiper fed around the edges of the main lake,with 4 Little Egret here also,a big number for the site.
From the shore,2 Bar-tailed Godwit,130 Teal and 2 Pintail flew north along the estuary.
Between WP and the Skitter,more Teal passed by north,with another 250 birds and also passing in the same direction were my first Pink-footed Geese of the autumn period with 10 being seen,a very welcome sighting!.
Also along here a good count of 57 Redshank,13 Turnstone and the first Goldcrest of the autumn in the bushes,with a juvenile Marsh harrier hunting the mitigation site.Also on the site,were the female Roe Deer with her twins,what a lovely sight.
The Skitter was alive with birds today and the best of which were 43 Knot,12 Avocet,12 Bar-tailed Godwit,3 Grey Heron,300 Golden Plover,another Marsh Harrier,this time an adult female and 42 Shelduck.A Great-spotted Woodpecker in the plantation was the first i have seen here this year.
Between the Skitter and Dawson City 4 Common Buzzard,included 3 migrant birds which passed east over the estuary,a single Cetti's Warbler calling in the borrow pit near Ruins Pond and 52 Curlew entered the notebook.
Nothing was noted on Dawson City itself,but on the shore a new bird species for the year was logged,Sanderling.Six birds were observed on the sandbank off here and are the 26th species of wader to be recorded on the patch this year.Other notables included 16 Bar-tailed Godwit and 9 Pintail.
Along the salt marsh edge walking back towards Long Wood,9 Bearded Tit showed brilliantly and allowed some opportunities to try and get some photos.The males rank as one of our most stunning birds in my opinion,little beauties.
After reaching the Skitter again,a walk along the edge of the mitigation site produced 2 Chat species,with both singles of Stonechat and Whinchat being recorded.This is the first time here,that i have recorded both species at the same time and was a great end to a decent patch visit today.

15th September

Plenty of activity on Winter's Pond at dawn today with Ruff,2 Knot,Green Sand Piper,622 Greylag and a Grey Wagtail flying north west.The latter was the first sighting of the year for the patch.
Overhead passage continued in good form,with 2 immature Spoonbill heading north along the estuary,the 3rd record for the year of this increasing species,which is certainly becoming a welcome sight.
The Skitter held the usual suspects,with 6 Little Egret,168 Golden Plover,44 Knot and 48 Shelduck,with a 'New' Marsh Harrier,a first adult male hunting the salt marsh here.
Between the Skitter and Ruins Pond,3 Ruff with a flock of 238 Golden Plover was nice to see,a pair of Bearded Tit,61 Curlew and a single Whimbrel also entered the notebook.
The Dawson City area produced only the 2nd record of the year of Willow Tit,with a single bird observed along the borrow pits here and 61 Pink-footed Geese flew south inland,with a single Treecreeper on the reserve itself.
Back to the Skitter and a whopping count of 1104 Black-tailed Godwit was achieved and made for an impressive sight.Also along here were 2 juvenile Wheatear,7 Avocet and 34 Dunlin.

21st September

The usual start at Winter's Pond today,a little later than normal,after a quick sleep after my night shift,saw male Cetti's Warbler,34 Coot and 100 Pink-feet entering the notebook.
Because it was high tide,i decided to cover the inland fields for a change first seeing a cracking old type adult male Marsh Harrier hunting the rough field next to Winter's,giving some lovely views.
Nothing else was seen along Skitter Road until i passed Grange Farm and picked up a Hobby hawking dragonflies distantly over Langmere Wood,i continued to watch and amazingly another 2 joined it.This could mean local breeding,who knows,i was just pleased to add the species to my patch year list and enjoy watching them with their superb aerial prowess.
The Skitter area provided me with plenty of sightings to add to the notebook on today's visit,with 128 Knot,juvenile Common Sandpiper,350 Golden Plover,3 Ruff,4 Avocet and a 'New' colour ringed Black-tailed Godwit with the combination of yellow ring over a white ring inscribed with a number 8 on the right leg and green over lime on the left leg.This bird is an adult female and was first ringed at Skagafjaroarsysla,Siglufjorour in Northern Iceland on 10.07.2012. and has subsequently been seen at Belfast RSPB in Northern Ireland,Castle Espie In Northern Ireland,the Tagus Estuary in Portugal and Killingholme and Immingham on the Humber,returning each year to Iceland to breed.What a superb insight into the birds life history.
Between the Skitter and Winter's,2 cracking sighting's were seen and both new species for the year.The first was 2 cracking adult Arctic Skuas,a dark morph and pale morph bird watched moving north along the estuary,giving some lovely views through the new Swaro scope and the second sighting involved a Little Stint bombing past me with a flock of Knot.This becomes the 27th species of wader for the year.
Considering the amount of time put in today,it was certainly a productive one,with 3 new species for the year.

28th September

On today's visit,it was a tale of two halves,as the weather put a bit of a spanner in the works.
Things started well at Winter's with the usual juv/female Goldeneye,14 Wigeon and a pair of Pochard being the notables,with an adult female Marsh Harrier passing along the estuary,south
As in recent years,Pink-footed Geese have been roosting on Paul Holme Strays and passing over the river to feed on recently harvested cereal fields and this morning,the very impressive sight and sound of at least 2100 birds fed on fields next to Winter's.These are one of my favourite bird species and i look forward to every autumn when our little Icelandic friends return.
After watching the Pinks,the weather began to take a turn for the worse and i quickly headed to the car.
The rest of my visit today was spent sheltering in the car,parked at the Skitter watching the river and haven,which was pretty productive to be fair.Highlights went to a mixed flock of 20 Terns,which contained 18 Common and 2 Arctic which passed north along the estuary,the first returning Rock Pipit of the autumn/winter period,6 Avocet,50 Dunlin and a juvenile Common Sandpiper,no doubt the bird from my last visit.
Other notables when the sun eventually came out again,included a juvenile Hobby which arrived from the north bank and began to hawk dragonflies along the Humber flood bank before disappearing inland and a pair of Stonechat watched along the sea wall.
Another productive visit bringing a good September to a close.