With the continuing easterly and northerly airflow,with some pretty cold days it has to be said,migrant birds are beginning to slowly arrive from warmer shores.The following are a compilation of sighting's from these 2 visits to my local patch.
Sunday 11th April
The first three hours of the visit today,were taken up by me carrying out my WEBS count for April.A few niceities were seen and included 3 Ruff(2 Males and a Female) and 6 Wigeon still,hanging on at on Winter's Pond.Also along the approach road to Winter's,a lovely Barn Owl was watched hunting,a great sight to see.
On the mitigation area,the best sighting's went to 5 Black-tailed Godwit,a Dunlin,79 Teal and 57 precious Curlew.
Migrant species around the 2 sites,included 2 Chiffchaff,a male White Wagtail and my first Wheatear of the year,a female,on the mitigation area.
After my WEBS count had been completed,i then headed to the Skitter were i saw another couple of Chiffs,2 Oystercatcher,75 Linnet,18 shelduck and there were 2 Water Pipit still around the pools.
I then decided to walk along the track down past the gas compound and up past the new gas pipeline site and along East Marsh Road,seeing very little new sightings for the day,but 2 Little Egret fed in the drainage dyke along East Marsh Road.
As i arrived at Goxhill Haven,i flushed a Red-legged Partridge,now to some people that probably means nothing,but on my patch this species is pretty rare to be fare,so was notable all the same.
I stopped in Dawson City for my lunch and some welcome sunshine and respite from the northerly wind and enjoyed my lunch as 3 male Blackcap sang around the reserve.
Also on Dawson,were another 2 singing Chiffs and a singing male Cetti's Warbler.
The walk between Dawson and East Halton Skitter saw another 2 Chiffchaff and a decent count for the time of year of 161 Curlew.
Saturday 17th April
A much more productive day today regarding migrants,but a freezing -3 start to the day,saw plenty of warm clothing for the start to the day.
First goodie as i got out of the car,was that iconic sound of the spring,as a male Cuckoo sang at the back of Winter's.I eventually located him sat partially hidden in a Willow,but what a great sound and start to the day.
Also at winter's were 2 singing male Cetti's Warbler,2 Chiffchaff and a lovely male Blackcap and along the sea wall towards the old seaplane jetty,2 male Sparrowhawk sunbathed in the early morning sun.
A walk along the sea wall up to the Skitter,saw another addition to the year list and another spring migrant,a lovely Whimbrel.I watched as the bird fed along the rocky shore,giving some lovely scope views,but i could not get close enough to get any video unfortunately.
The mitigation area held a few nice birds,which included 2 Wigeon,39 Teal,Little Egret and a cracking male Yellow Wagtail.The latter was another first for the year and added a very welcome splash of colour to the day's sighting's.
At 10.00am i was meeting up with Jackson and others to carry out a litter pick around the small copse at the Skitter and after 2 hours of graft,we managed to collect 300kg of rubbish.It really is a shame this has to be done,but there are so many people who just do not care about the environment and throw their litter out of their cars or just flytip it.
After the litter pick,i said goodbye to the gang and headed over to the Goxhill Tilery area for a change.
By now the weather was lovely and a decent 15 degrees and the Butterflies certainly responded with me seeing my first Brimstone of the year,3 Green-veined White,11 Small Tortoiseshell and 3 Peacock Butterfly.
Another insect which seems to be doing well and is certainly spreading it's range,is the Dark-edged Bee Fly and i managed to see at least 2 around the woodland area at Quebec.
Bird sightings around the area included 11 Common Buzzard,which included a group of 9 drifting high west up the estuary,3 singing male Blackcap,7 singing male Chiffchaff,another Whimbrel and Yellow Wagtail also passing over and the final newbie for the year,a singing male Willow Warbler near the Old Boatyard.
A great couple of visits,but still no local Sedge or Reed Warbler,Whitethroat or Lesser Whitethroat or House martin.We really need some southerlies to bring the rest of the migrants in.
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| Sunrise Over The Estuary On The 17th. |
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| Dawn At Winter's Pond On The 17th. |
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| Looking Along The Sea Wall,At East Halton,11th. |
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| East Halton Skitter,11th. |
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| Ruins Pond,11th. |
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| Goxhill Marsh From The 11th. |
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| A Lovely Male Roe Deer Buck,From The 11th. |
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| Sunrise Over The Humber On The 11th. |
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