Steve's Birding,Wildlife & Walking Blog: Local Patching....Friday 2nd April & Tuesday 6th April 2021.

Wednesday 7 April 2021

Local Patching....Friday 2nd April & Tuesday 6th April 2021.

A couple of visits to the local patch at East Halton/Goxhill in the continuing freezing conditions resulted in some nice additions to the patching year list over the 2 visits,the following is what i recorded.

Good Friday 2nd April

Today i concentrated my efforts between Winter's and the Skitter only,with some decent results to be fair.

Winter's held 4 singing male Chiffchaff first thing,a single Fieldfare and my first Swallow of the year,also a single,feeding over the back pit.Also here were a Redhead Goosander and a buck and doe Roe Deer were observed around the margins of the back pit.

On the Humber,3 Common Scoter drifted on the out going tide,a drake and 2 females,always a pleasure to see these marine ducks.

Some good coverage of the mitigation site,saw the best bird of the day being seen,as a lovely Red Kite drifted high south west over,my first local bird of the year.This species is now annual on the patch,a lot different to when i first started birding back in 1986.

Also on the mit site were 16 Shoveler,6 Icelandic Black-tails and a stonking male Sparrowhawk which perched briefly on the fence line before disappearing,66 Teal and a Little Egret.

A lone Chiffchaff also sang in the plantation at the Skitter,this little woodland would be so much more productive without all the disturbance and litter,a real shame.

6th April

Full coverage of the patch today in a freezing north westerly blast with a few snow flurries,certainly paid dividends with 3 new for the year species being recorded.

On Winter's first thing,2 each of both Chiffchaff and Cetti's Warbler were doing their bests to attract a mate.

Seven Wigeon were still present on the main lake with 2 Black-tailed Godwit and the resident pair of Oystercatcher feeding on the grassland near the car park.

A Swallow battled it's way north along the floodbank and along the shoreline up to the Skitter 31 Shelduck,106 Redshank,29 Teal and a handfull of Curlew fed.

A quick scan of the mitigation area revealed 77 Curlew roosting first thing,a Little Egret and a distant Barn Owl hunted the wet grassland near the Skitter.

I then spotted 4 Little-ringed Plover on the first strip of water from the car park and they showed well before flying off,calling,heading south west.It was really nice to see these lovely little birds for the year,one day hopefully,they will settle on the patch and breed.

I then headed along Marsh Lane & Skitter Road adding 4 more singing male Chiffchaff to the days tally,with 2 singing together in Red House Wood,along with 2 drumming Great-spotted Woodpecker,which were having a drum off between each other.

Nothing new of note along the beck or at Chapel Farm to add to the days list,but some nice views of Roe Deer were had again as on my last visit here.

Chapel Field and East marsh Road was also more of the same,with Roe Deer and some added Brown hare sightings to keep interest ticking over.

At Goxhill Haven,some nice views of a foraging flock of 19 Turnstone would have made for some great video footage,but it was just too windy unfortunately.

I stopped in Dawson City for my lunch where the now derelict hide used to be and watched as a Chiffchaff sang nearby and a Swallow and Cetti's Warbler both put in welcome appearances.

Another singing male Chiffchaff and Cetti's Warbler were seen between Dawson and the Skitter and as i approached the bankside puddle at the Skitter,two Water Pipit flew up in usual fashion before disappearing back into the marsh.

After reaching the Winter's end of the mitigation area,i could see the 4 Little-ringed Plovers had come back after flying off earlier and also a female Ruff was feeding around the margins as well,year tick number 3.

I spent five minutes watching the LRP's and the Ruff before wandering back to the car.

A quick scan of the grassland revealed another Ruff,this time a male and i grabbed some video as he energetically fed in the loose company of 6 Lapwing.

This male,although not in full summer plumage yet,was a lovely marked bird and he gave some nice views.

So,not a bad couple of visits to the patch and hopefully this will continue now with no more Covid interruptions!.