Another couple of brilliant visits to the local patch over last weekend,included a mammal encounter i will never forget and finally some better numbers of summer migrants arrive.
Friday 23rd April
As it was a lovely afternoon today,Tracey and myself decided to go for a walk on the local patch at East Halton.
A couple of new species for the year were the first highlights of the visit,with both a singing male Whitethroat and Reed Warbler being seen and heard at Winter's,a good start to the visit we thought.
As we began to walk along the seawall towards the Skitter,i spotted a Badger feeding on the mitigation area a very strange sighting for the time of day.But after thinking how dry the recent weather has been it is possibly just hungry,as dry weather means they cannot hunt for earth worms.It was a real privilege to see this cracking animal and it was our first for quite a while.
We carried on walking finding 2 stunning Whimbrel feeding along the shore,but they were the usual jumpy and shy birds this species more than often is,but lovely scope views were enjoyed.
A surprise sighting at the Skitter,was a single Pink-footed Goose and i thought it may be injured or something as the local wintering flock had moved on many weeks ago,but it looked in fine condition.
A walk back along the mitigation area to the car revealed 3 Little Egret,2 Black-tailed Godwit and the first Lapwing chick of the season,plus,unbelievably,the Badger was still feeding.
I managed to get pretty close and have a good look at him and he looked in perfect condition,what an absolute privilege to see.I left him to feed after taking some video and a few photos,what a fantastic end to our visit.
Saturday 24th April
A dawn start today in fairly cold conditions again,had seen a decent arrival of migrants at Winter's with 5 Whimbrel flying west,now 4 singing male Reed Warbler,2 singing male Whitethroat,3 singing male Blackcap and a new species for the year,in the form of 2 singing and displaying male Sedge Warblers.A party of 10 Oystercatcher,also flew north along the estuary from here,an unusual number at any time of the year.
The walk between Winter's and the Skitter was productive also,with my first Common Sandpiper of the year along the shoreline and also a cracking male Cuckoo,which gave a super close flyby.
No sign of the Badger on the mitigation area was good news and hopefully he will have found enough food now to satisfy his appetite.
Also on the mitigation area were 4 lovely Whimbrel which gave some nice scope views,before they headed off north.
At the Skitter,the highlights included another Sedge Warbler,Whitethroat and Common Sandpiper with the Pink-footed Goose also still here.
Breeding success for a pair of Greylags,saw 6 newly hatched goslings following their proud parents about.
Between the Skitter and Dawson City,more migrant arrivals featured,with another 9 singing male Sedge Warbler,2 Whitethroat and 3 Reed Warbler being seen or heard and 4 singing male Cetti's Warbler were also logged,a good 6 recorded for the day,my most along here.
On the Humber,3 Bar-tailed Godwit fed along with much smaller numbers of Curlew,than a week ago,as birds depart for their breeding grounds and over head a year tick Lesser Redpoll entered the notebook.
The mitigation area held 3 Little Egret again,with 2 Sand Martin and a couple of Swallow being seen and also another pair of Greylag with a brood of 6 goslings were noted.
Final good sighting of the visit,went to 2 Wheatear feeding along the fence posts on the mit site,the male certainly of the 'Greenland' race and the female probably also.
Another couple of brilliant visits,particularly the Badger sighting and finally some positivity regarding migrant numbers,although very few Hirundines are in yet here.
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| Badger On The Mitigation Area,23rd. |
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| Sunrise Over Winter's On The 24th. |
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| Pink-footed Goose At The Skitter,24th. |
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| Female Wheatear On The Mitigation area,24th. |
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