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.
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| Sunset Over Red House Wood On The 20th. |
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| Phonescoped Image Of The Cracking Male Merlin On The 20th. |
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| The Incredible Sunrise Over Goxhill On The 13th. |
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