Final Countdown To 2021....Wednesday 30th December 2020.

The final visit to the local patch today for 2020,saw another productive visit being enjoyed and the patch year list not gaining anymore new species and finishing on an impressive 157 species.This is even more satisfying when you take into account i have missed 14 weeks coverage,due to Covid 19 restrictions.

Obviously the best finds fell to the unbelievable duo of Olive-backed Pipit and Dusky Warbler found together in the same 200 metre stretch of Saltmarsh/Hedgerows near to Dawson City nature reserve,just east of Goxhill Haven on the 8th November,with the Pipit staying until 15th.This followed hot on the heels of the Pallid Swift i found in the same area on 11th November 2018.

Anyway,back to today's visit,starting at a pretty cold Winter's first thing with the Tufted Duck flock building up to 34 birds now and the 1st winter male Scaup still in residence along with the 2 female Pochard.

Other numbers and species here included the 12 Mute Swans still,54 Gadwall,225 Wigeon,a singing male Cetti's Warbler,146 Greylag and a lovely adult female Marsh Harrier,the latter being seen also hunting the mitigation area and the Skitter pools.Along the shoreline up to the old seaplane jetty,450 Lapwing,177 Teal and 300 Dunlin were watched feeding and resting.

The Winter's to Skitter area and Skitter itself held a few good birds also,which included a colour ringed Redshank,with the combo of black ring over black flag on the left leg and yellow ring over lime ring on the right leg.I suspect it may be a bird ringed at Welwick Marsh in Yorkshire by the Humber Wader Ringing Group,but i'm waiting on confirmation.

Also here were 67 Redshank,630 Dunlin,18 Black-tailed Godwit,1 Avocet,3 Stonechat,2 Water Pipit and 200 Fieldfare.

The area between the Skitter and Dawson City held some good numbers of birds and included 1 Short-eared Owl,2 Cetti's Warbler,43 Great black-backed Gulls,5 adult Whooper Swan,182 Wigeon,117 Bar-tailed Godwit,a further 300 Dunlin(Certainly not part of the Skitter flock),34 Ringed Plover,2 Knot and a female Stonechat.

A total of 1350 Pink-footed Geese also flew west,with 350 feeding in a pasture close to Dawson City. 

A look around Goxhill Haven revealed a pair of Stonechat,80 Turnstone and 5 Common Scoter were seen distantly off Goxhill Tilery.

The return walk back to the car at Winter's saw no new additions to the above,but a very Spectacular,orange moon rise was seen over the Humber.

Another great visit and onwards and upwards to the new year list starting on the 1st January.

The Humber Sea Terminal In The Dark.

A Stunning Full Moon This Evening.

Sundown Over The Skitter Fields.

Sunrise Over The Industrial Skyline Of Killingholme,

The Humber Head Peatlands.....Boxing Day 2020.

A change of scenery today,visiting the NNR that encompasses Crowle & Thorne Moors,saw some nice bits being seen in the 8 hours on site.

I started proceedings by parking at the car park at Crowle,getting all the required kit together for the long walk and i was off.

It was fairly quiet,as expected along the first section of the walk,but a nice flock of 27 Lesser Redpoll made for a nice sighting,the largest flock i had seen for a while.

A couple of Buck Roe Deer were seen just before i crossed over the Bailey bridge and into gods own country,the first deer sighting of the day.

Will Pitts scrape held a few birds as always,with 63 Mallard and a gorgeous drake Goosander and in the bushes bird of the visit so far this morning,went to a precious Willow Tit,feeding with a mixed Tit flock.This species is spiralling out of control country wide and much work is required to understand what exactly is causing the decline.

A few more Lesser Redpolls were seen,before I made it to the Limestone Road and Blue Bridge.

A few nice birds around here included the Water Pipit that has been present for a while and was only seen in flight,as is the majority of sightings of this species,but thankfully they are usually quite vocal.

A pair of Stonechat were encountered nearby and added a lovely splash of colour from the dapper male,certainly brightening up this monochrome winter's day.

This was the first pair of a total of 6 birds being recorded during the visit,another additional pair and 2 individual males seen separately.

Much scanning of the surrounding areas as i walked revealed at least 6 different Marsh Harrier,including a smart 1st adult plumaged male(or 3rd calendar year) as some may call it and overhead a flock of 67 Pinks flew west.

it really was a joy to visit here again,with it's solitude and not a soul in sight,time to just be at one with the natural world and watch some great birds.

I eventually made it all the way back to the Crowle side of the NNR and back into Lincolnshire,seeing a Great-spotted Woodpecker and 3 more gorgeous Roe Deer,they really are a fave of mine.

After arriving back at the car and seeing i had walked just under 13 miles today,i travelled home with slightly aching legs,but it had certainly been worth the effort and i look forward to my next visit,hopefully in the not too distant future.

Thorne Moors 

Thorne Moors.

Local Patch Wax & Wildfowl,24th & 27th December 2020.

Another couple of visits to the local patch on the Humber,with 1 new addition to the year list,putting me on 157 for the year here.

The following is what i recorded on my two visits:

Christmas Eve,24th December

The usual early start this morning at WP,saw hundreds of Fieldfare's passing over and amazingly a single Waxwing was seen and heard as it flew over and towards the Mitigation area.Unfortunately,i could not relocate this bird later in amongst the throngs of Fieldfare.

I was really pleased with the Waxwing,as it is certainly not a great winter for them so far and continues the good run of birds here.

On the main lake the 1st winter Drake Scaup was still present along with 27 Tufted Duck,2 female Pochard,36 Gadwall,12 Teal and a whopping count of 207 Wigeon.

The latter count is the largest i have had here for Wigeon so far,with much larger numbers residing in the winter on the Yorkshire side of the Estuary.

The weather again today,left a lot to be desired and i got rained on several times,so by the time i reached the Skitter,i was a tad wet and didn't bother covering the pools.

Around the Skitter,were approx. 1500 Fieldfare,feeding on every Hawthorn they could find food on,but the bushes are quickly getting stripped now and a good majority of the birds from previous weeks,have moved on already to find new food sources.

A 1st calendar year Marsh Harrier tried it's best to lift my spirits and it briefly worked until the rain started again....another cocked up forecast from the Met Office!.

I then walked along Skitter Road and back to the car and home,to dry the kit out.

Sunday 27th December

A much more pleasant day weather wise today,with some nice sunshine and a fresh south westerly wind.

Winter's was again,as on previous recent visits,alive with wildfowl,with a huge count of 12 Mute Swans here.This is the most i have counted here so far,as the resident pair usually chase off any Swan that lands on here,but i think today,they were just overwhelmed!.

The 1st winter drake Scaup is still here and his plumage is slowly advancing towards being an adult with more grey feathering coming through on the mantle.

Other species here included a lovely pair of Goosander,the 2 female Pochard still,at least 20 Tufted Duck,67 Gadwall and 18 Shoveler.

The bushes and hedgerows held a pair of lovely Bullfinch,80 Fieldfare and 16 Blackbird.

Along the shoreline up to Killingholme,211 Teal and 400 Lapwing were feeding and loafing on the Humber mud.

As i walked towards the Skitter along the Humber floodbank a 1st calendar year Peregrine went shooting past,scattering birds in all directions,thus making the Skitter devoid of any waders or gulls,as they all flushed towards Goxhill.

The mitigation area held a few birds including a Common Buzzard,32 Carrion Crow,200 Fieldfare and 19 Blackbird.Also along here were 5 lovely Roe Deer, always a pleasure to watch.

The usual suspects were recorded along Skitter Road and Marsh Lane,until the adult Peregrine which is often perched up on the fields along here,flew past and over towards Red House Wood.

Another couple of great visits,i love my hobby!.

A Very Wet Sunday & Raptor Fest,Local Patching At It's Finest!,13th & 20th December 2020.

A couple of visits agin to the local birding patch along the Humber Estuary at Goxhill/East Halton.

No new additions to the year list this time,but plenty of great birding as always,with some great numbers and variety of Wildfowl,Thrushes & Starlings with some lovely raptors thrown in also.

13th December

An early start today parking at Goxhill Tilery,saw one of the most stunning sun rises i have seen this year,just filling the sky in tones of orange,red and yellow,just spectacular.

Just before it began to get light,i was treated to the sight of 2 Woodcock heading to roost and 2 male Tawny Owls calling to each other from their separate territories,a great start to the visit i thought.

I had come here again to check out the diving duck flock which winters off here,with today's visit revealing some decent numbers still.The best of which were 7 Scaup which had dropped down from the superb count of 29,along with 254 Goldeneye and 34 Common Scoter.

A walk along the shore here saw a lovely male Snow Bunting still being present,2 Rock Pipits,531 Pink-footed Geese heading west and a massive count of 980 Dunlin between the Tilery and Goxhill Haven.

Other niceities along here included 8 lovely Roe Deer and a singing male Cetti's Warbler.

Eventually the promised for rain set in and i got a bit of a soaking,so i walked back to the car to dry off.

I then decided to go over to Winter's and have a quick look,before the rain set in again.

A brief look over the main lake saw some good numbers present again,with 56 Gadwall,female Pochard,21 Shoveler,17 Tufted Duck and 57 Wigeon being logged and then the dreaded rain returned and that was it for the day....bugger!.

20th December

With a much better forecast than the previous weekend,i was again up and at it early,repeating my habits of the past few weeks visiting the Goxhill Tilery area in the morning,before moving over to Winter's/East Halton Skitter in the afternoon.

As it began to get light,it was obvious from the word go,that there were substantial numbers of Winter Thrushes around,with at least 310 Fieldfare and 150 Redwing making for great viewing.

As i walked towards the Humber floodbank,3 Roe Deer and 3 Brown Hare provided some nice mammalian distraction from the birds,with a Kingfisher peeping in Quebec.

A couple of good scans of the Humber revealed 328 Goldeneye,5 Common Scoter and just 4 Scaup today,but as the tide was coming in,birds were spread all over the place.

Along the shore and fields,2 Rock Pipit,Common Buzzard,and 37 Carrion Crow were noted and then i saw a Peregrine perched up on the gantry of one of the cranes at New Holland Bulk Terminal.

I watched this bird and then all of a sudden it took off after something and it soon became apparent it was a Stock Dove,when another bird joined it and i watched as this pair of Peregrines put on an amazing display as they twisted and turned,dive bombing this poor Stock Dove,but to my amazement and probably the Perg's it got away.

After this superb aerial display,i wandered back to the car and headed over to Winter's again as last week.

After getting the gear together and having a quick scoff and drink,i scanned over the main lake first.

Decent numbers of Wildfowl again today were present,with a slight increase of Tufties to 25,but in amongst them was a smart 1st winter Drake Scaup.This is the 5th bird i have recorded on Winter's this autumn/winter,with a female,1st Winter male,an adult female and 1st Winter female and now this young male completing the records.

Also on the main lake were 20 Shoveler,47 Gadwall,female Pochard and along the hedgerows,550 Fieldfare and 300 Starling.

I then decided to walk along the sea wall up to the Skitter,seeing the lovely male Merlin that has been present for 4 or 5 weeks now chasing Fieldfares and further over on one of the stubble fields,the regular female Peregrine was perched up.

A scan of the Humber saw 11 female/imm. Common Scoter bobbing along on the out going tide,no doubt part of the New Holland/Goxhill flock.

A good wander around the Skitter Pools and surrounding hedgerows up to Ruins Pond saw some really impressive numbers of birds,particularly Fieldfares and Starlings.

Numbers involved were probably under estimated,but there was at least 3600 Fieldfare,by far the largest number i have seen locally for a long time and at least 6000 Starlings,making for a spectacular sight.

Other species observed included 3 Marsh Harrier,Common Buzzard,3 Water and 2 Rock Pipit.

I decided to walk back along the edge of the Mit site on the way back to the car,which proved to be a brilliant decision,with me gaining the closest views i have ever had of a Merlin and this was a stonking male!.He posed on a pile of brash left from when the hedges were cleared,what a cracking little bird.

Also along here were a single Barn Owl hunting around Winter's and the rough field next door at dusk and another Water Pipit.

As i was about to leave,a huge flock of Starlings,probably in the region of 30,000 birds were wheeling around near Killingholme Power Station,making for a brilliant end to what had been a superb days birding again around this brilliant patch of mine.

Sunset Over Red House Wood On The 20th.

Phonescoped Image Of The Cracking Male Merlin On The 20th.

The Incredible Sunrise Over Goxhill On The 13th.

Goxhill & East Halton - More Local Patch Birding,Saturday & Sunday 5th/6th December 2020.

A productive couple of visits again over the two visits i made here,with 2 new species for the patch life list and obviously the year list putting me on 211(Patch Life List) and 154 for the patch year list.

The last few months it has to be said have been really good and it just goes to show what can be found with plenty of time put in,even on my small inland section of the Estuary and it makes you think what goes undiscovered in other areas.

Saturday 5th 

I decided to cover an area today west of Goxhill Haven,in roughly the area i had seen the 2 Snow Buntings in on the 15th November.This area has been kind to me in the past with sighting's including Bewick's Swan,Snow Bunting,Twite,Ring-necked Duck,Smew,Velvet Scoter and Long-tailed Duck amongst others being recorded.

I parked the car near Goxhill Tilery and had a quick look around Quebec and the bushes around the Tilery,with not much being seen apart from a Water Rail climbing about in some Hawthorns and a couple of Common Buzzards.

I then walked down the public footpath towards the Humber when i picked up a Diver flying west relatively high up and unbelievably it was a Great-northern!.

I watched as this beast of a Diver flew steadily west with that slow,direct,powerfull,flight Great-northern's have,with it's huge feet sticking out from it's tail,giving some decent views through the Swaro,what a cracker and very unexpected to be fair,even though there has been a large influx into the UK of late.This is a new species for my patch list and a very welcome addition it has to be said

About 5 minutes later,a 2nd calendar year male Marsh Harrier flew east towards Goxhill Haven with an entourage of Carrion Crows in hot pursuit.

As i walked along the shore a flock of 15 Snow Buntings flew past me towards New Holland and after flying around for about ten minutes they eventually settled.

I managed to get some distant video before they were off again and flying over the wet stubble fields between the Tilery and New Holland when they were joined by another flock of 18 birds,so 33 all together.They gave decent views on and off for the rest of the time i was present and i quickly found the reason why they were so jumpy,there were 2 Peregrines sat on the fields also.

As the main reason i had travelled up this way today was to view the wintering duck flock,it was pretty productive it has to be said,with 338 Goldeneye,48 Common Scoter and surprisingly 29 Scaup with 7 Tufted Duck also.Thanks to the flat calm conditions it was ideal for viewing these birds today and it brought back great memories of the huge Aythya flock which used to winter off here,which in turn attracted Ring-necked Duck,Red-crested Pochard,Smew,Long-tailed Duck,Velvet Scoter, & Eider.

There was a flock of mixed gulls feeding on the wet stubble also and a quick scan through them revealed a 1st Winter Caspian Gull.It was watched feeding and in flight on a few occasions and showed all the required features including pale based dark bill,dark eye,pale head with necklace of grey streaks on the nape,long grey legs,Nike stripe along the coverts(Folded wing) and baggy feathering on the undertail.This is another new species for the patch life list,which was turning out to be a superb day!.

As i walked back to the car i enjoyed amazing scope views of one of the Peregrines as it demolished what looked like a Black-headed Gull which it had caught,what a fantastic visit!.

6th December

Today i started proceedings at Winter's,parking at dawn in my usual place beside the main lake and to be fair it was alive with birds today.

A scan of the lake revealed 2 Scaup,an adult female and a 1st winter female with the Tuftie flock and they gave superb views as they swam around with their cousins,this being the 3rd record of the species here this year involving 4 birds.Other wildfowl included the afore mentioned 16 Tufted Duck,54 Wigeon,61 Gadwall,15 Shoveler,61 Teal  and a Barnacle Goose with 82 Greylags which noisely dropped in.

Around the bushes and hedges were 59 Redwing,34 Blackbird and a gorgeous female Sparrowhawk which eye balled me at close range as it sat on the fence near the car.

Along the shore here,a single Rock Pipit again and 28 Carrion Crows fed,with approx 10K Starlings bombing past me towards the Skitter and Goxhill Marsh.

I then headed inland along Marsh Lane and Skitter Road seeing more winter Thrushes and a large mixed flock of Corvids feeding on the stubble fields near Red House Farm/The Grange,with a flock of 15 Pied Wagtail feeding nearby.

Along the beck,34 Blackbird and 106 Fieldfare and 1500 Starlings were feeding in the bushes and on the fields and overhead a flock of 11 Barnacle Geese flew south west.The only highlight along Chapel Field Road were a pair of Stonechat watched on the gas pipeline site.

East Marsh Road and Goxhill Haven were relatively quiet and i walked towards Dawson City as the tide dropped to a fantastic mixed flock of waders and wildfowl.

The best were 2 lovely Drake Goosander which were sat on the shore preening giving some nice views.Also here were 24 Grey Plover,15 Bar-tailed Godwit,3500 Lapwing,2 Rock Pipit and another Stonechat.

Between Dawson City and the Skitter,it was pretty productive to be fair,with 3 Cetti's Warbler,another female Stonechat,a lovely Short-eared Owl watched hunting and 2 Barn Owls.The latter no doubt showing better now,due to the cooler weather of the past week or so,making them hunt earlier and for longer periods.

Finally as i walked back to the car at Winter's in the lovely twighlight,another female Stonechat was seen and i was treated to the lovely sight and sound of at least 700 Pink-footed Geese going to roost on the Humber.

A couple of really good visits again to the local patch,what a great place it is!.

Big Skies Over The Estuary & Along The Humber Floodbank Towards Quebec Cottages.

Greylag Geese,Goxhill,5th.

Record Shot Of some Of The Snow Buntings From The 5th.