This is a summary of my first two visits of the year,including some cracking birds being seen.
Wednesday 1st
I was up and at it bright and early today,arriving in the dark and listening to what would be my first species for the new year and it was....Carrion Crow,followed by Jackdaw and then i could hear a distant Tawny Owl calling in Red House Wood as a Barn Owl hunted the mitigation site.
An inspired look on the pit at the back of the main lake on Winter's saw a first for the patch in the form of a cracking male Red-crested Pochard.I watched as he dived for beak fulls of aquatic weed in which he was avidly feeding on getting some record video of him for posterity.
Another great record came next in the form of a female Green Woodpecker,as it called around the pine plantation,i then saw it fly along the approach road and saw her perched in an Ash tree as i walked along towards Skitter Road.A good record,being only the second record of this species for me personally down here.
A walk along the beck and up to Chapel Field Road,added another good bird for the time of year,in the form of a Chiffchaff around Chapel Field
Farms pond,what a cracking start i was having to this new birding year!.
A scan from Goxhill Haven,saw the sight of a lovely flock of 7 Goosander as they swam about off Dawson City.I have a feeling that these birds may be part of the regular winter flock seen on Hull's East Park,which certainly isn't too far away as the Goosander flies.
Only a short summary on today,as it was a day mainly targeting new birds for the year and i managed a solid 78 species,a pretty good start i thought.
Sunday 5th
An even better visit today regarding scarce species,with some nice highlights and another decent tally of year ticks adding to the already good total so far.
A great start at Winter's first thing saw the drake Red-crested Pochard still in residence,with a brief visiting pair of Goosander also here,before they were flushed onto the Humber.
Between Winter's and the Skitter,it was the usual fare on offer until two small looking geese flew over me and I'm sure i could see belly bars on one of them.Sure enough when they landed,the white blazes on their foreheads soon gave them away as White-fronted Geese and they settled down to graze with their larger Greylag cousins,another good species to get under the belt for the year.
A good look around the Skitter revealed some nice sightings and the Green Sand had returned as he/she was watched feeding in the haven.Also here were at least 760 Dunlin,2 Water Pipit,3 Stonechat(1 male & 2 females),80 Avocet and distantly 2 Marsh Harrier and a Short-eared Owl hunted the Saltmarsh between the Skitter and Dawson.
Along the beck their were no great surprises today,but 42 Jackdaw,36 Stock Dove and 15 Yellowhammer entered the notebook.
No sign of the Chiffie at Chapel Field Farm today,but a pair of Mistle Thrush were new for the year,so not all bad.
Chapel Field Road added another 2 species to the year list,with a lovely pair of Grey Partridge and a Pied Wagtail being seen and part of the Pink flock were watched as they were drinking from puddles in a field along East Marsh Road.Frustratingly,there were two birds with neck collars,but i just couldn't make out the numbers/lettering on them,maybe next time.
After arriving at Goxhill Haven,the obligatory scan of the Humber saw only 89 Goldeneye being seen,but instead of the single female Common Scoter being logged as on previous visits,there were now 3.Other wildfowl off here included 245 Wigeon,a decent count for this side of the Humber.
Finally we caught up with the Pink flock to have a proper scan through them,with at least 3250 birds present today,it wasn't long before we had found 3 Barnacle and a single White-fronted Goose in amongst them,but still no Bean Geese.It was great to watch these birds as they fed and quarrelled in amongst their family groups,just brilliant birds and a real pleasure to spend time with.
Final goodie of the day went to the returning juvenile male Hen Harrier as he was watched hunting the saltmarsh between Ruins Pond and the Skitter,what a cracking bird and a real bonus,as i thought he had gone.
So what a superb couple of visits and i'm on 92 species for the year already,a good start to the year,onwards and upwards to finding some rares this year hopefully.
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| New Year's Day Sunrise On The Humber. |
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