A compilation of sightings from my last three visits to the local patch adding 5 species to the patch year list,putting it on a respectable 107 species.
8th March
A poor start to the day weather wise,as it bucketed it down on arrival at Winter's first thing,but some fine recompense was had in the form of the big dog Otter showing for at least 30 minutes as he caught his breakfast.What a fantastic sight to see this big male again,as it had been quite a while since i last saw him.
After what seemed like ages the weather finally broke and a timely drive past Grange Farm saw a cracking Red Kite being seen before i lost it in the direction of Winter's.A quick drive around there,saw the bird being relocated and it gave fantastic prolonged views as it flew slowly over Winter's and across the fields in the direction of the village,a well earned year tick after persevering with the weather.
Earlier at the Skitter,i had seen a single adult Whooper Swan flying along the estuary and it was relocated as Jon and myself walked past the mitigation site,the bird being seen on one of the floods.So two year ticks in less than an hour was great!.
The Skitter was fairly quiet,with 4 Water Pipit around the pools and a respectable count of 31 Snipe here also.
Two singing male Cetti's Warbler were heard at opposite ends of Ruins Pond,which was the first multiple record of males for this little site.
A female Stonechat entertained on the foreshore infront of Dawson City and 29 Pink-footed Geese showed overhead,but that was about it for today's visit,but it certainly had been another good one.
15th March
Another complete wash out and windy day today,saw me spending nearly all of my visit watching the Humber which did have some success.
A decent passage of gulls today,mainly consisted of Black-headed and Common Gulls moving up the Estuary,but thankfully,in amongst them were 4 adult Kittiwakes watched thermalling north along the river towards Hull.These are the first sighting of the year for me here,so were a very welcome sighting of this,our most maritime of gulls.Also on and over the river,were a single drake Common Scoter heading out towards Killingholme,57 Pink-footed Geese observed landing on the mud at Paul Holme Strays and 10 Goldeneye loafing on the out going tide.
A brief visit,hoping for the rain to stop at Winter's,saw another year tick being added in the form of a couple of Kingfishers watched chasing around the pit and onto the mitigation site.This species is certainly not the commonest to occur here,so it was nice to add these beauties to the year list.
16th March
After a very kind message from Mark Bannister while i was at work saying he had just found a Black Redstart on my patch near to Winter's,saw me racing home from work and heading over to East Halton to see if i could find the little beauty.After a good while searching i spotted a bird on the sea wall about half way to the Skitter and distant scope views certainly showed a Chat like shape,sure enough as i got around to where i had seen the bird,i was treated to some superb views of this little cracker as it sallied after flies from the sea wall,fence posts and on the rocky shore.It seems a very long time ago since i found my first ever at Goxhill Haven on the 3rd of March 1987,how time flies and all that!.
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| Some Big Skies On The Visit Today,8th March. |
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