A compilation of the last 4 visits to the local patch,with some great birding and nice birds the following are the highlights.
Thursday 9th
A visit today to carry out my WEBS count for the month today,was cut short by a certain Green Warbler at Buckton on the Yorkshire coast.
A few decent numbers were seen on Winter's though and included 14 Little Grebe and the pair of Mute Swans with their now well grown cygnets.
Sunday 19th
An evening visit for a change today saw some nice birds being logged,with Winter's being alive with birds compared to my previous visit.
Good counts included 271 Mallard,750 Greylags,650 Icelandic Black-tailed Godwits,51 Gadwall,60 Wigeon,54 Tufted Duck and the 2 Great-crested Grebes still being present.
A watch from the floodbank infront of Winter's,saw some large numbers of Gulls being seen and included 342 Black-headed Gulls.In amongst these were 2 smart 1st Winter Med.Gulls.
Other niceties seen from my vantage point included 32 Common Scoter and a flock of 15 Pintail moving north along the estuary.
On the nearby fields just before i left for home,the lovely sight of a Doe Roe Deer and her 2 fawns made for some lovely viewing.
Saturday 25th
A cracking visit today in some nice weather resulted in some great birds being seen and included my first Pink-footed Geese of the autumn.In all a total of 2206 birds were noted during the day including a flock of at least 500 birds feeding on stubble adjacent to the mitigation area.
To say i was pleased to see the Pinks was an understatement and i look forward to the coming months watching these beautiful Geese.
Winter's had some welcome variety today,with another first autumn record in the form of a single female/juvenile Goldeneye which had tagged onto the Tuftie flock.
Other species on here included 250 Greylag,5 Pintail,198 Mallard,12 Shoveler,12 Little Grebe,2 Little Egret and a smart 1st winter Med.Gull.
In the bushes,the best went to a Chiffie and a singing male Cetti's Warbler.
A walk along the Humber bank up to the Skitter,saw me seeing a gorgeous juvenile Whimbrel,which i managed to get some pretty decent video of,with a Wheatear,another singing male Cetti's Warbler,Chiffchaff and 65 Goldfinch all entering the notes.
The Skitter area was also fairly productive today,with a single Common Sandpiper,4 Little Egrets,2 Avocet and another Chiffie being noted along with a good count of 2372 Icelandic Black-tailed Godwits.
As i walked towards Ruins Pond,i saw a juvenile Hobby distantly hawking Dragonflies,so i made my way towards it..But getting anywhere near it perched was another matter,but in flight it showed superbly,giving some outstanding scope views.
Also along this section up to Dawson City,450 Golden Plover another 2 singing male Cetti's Warbler and a male Roe Deer were logged.
On arrival at Dawson City i spent a good hour watching and not 1,but 2 juvenile Hobby were hawking insects here giving some breath-taking views as they caught mainly Common Darters,but were seen catching several Craneflies also,what a species these beautiful Falcons are.
Also in the Dawson area were 2 more singing male Cetti's Warbler,making an excellent 7 for the day,2 Common Buzzard and a nice year tick in the form of a Bittern.The latter was watched as it flew right across the reserve and landed in the strip of water nearest the floodbank.
The best non-bird sighting went to a gorgeous Fox watched along the bank and it gave some absolutely cracking views through the scope allowing me to take some nice video.
Monday 27th
A very wet and blustery start to the day today,saw me watching the Humber from the shelter of the car at the Skitter on the rising tide.
The weather was pretty perfect for seabirds to start,with a howling south easterly and banks of showers pushing birds up the estuary.
Highlights went to my first Gannets for the patch yearlist,with 4 birds being seen,3 juveniles and a lovely 3rd calendar year bird.Also seen were a single Juvenile Dark Morph Arctic Skua,Guillemot and 2 Arctic Terns.
The 'Good' conditions were soon short lived as the wind swung around to the south west and the sun came out,so i drove around to Winter's.
On arrival at Winter's the grassland was covered in Black-tailed Godwits,with at least 1700 birds being present.
I scanned through them several times,finding 7 colour-ringed birds,5 of which had been ringed at Welwick Saltmarsh on the Yorkshire side of the estuary,1 which had been ringed in France(Orange flag over white on the left leg and red over orange on the right leg)which i have seen on two other occasions this autumn here and a bird which had been ringed with the combinations of Yellow-White-Green on the left leg and Red-Black-Red on the right leg.This latter bird was ringed at Harty on the Swale Estuary in Kent on the 8th October 2018 and has subsequently been seen at the Oare Marshes in Kent and at Snettisham RSPB in Norfolk on 6 occasions through 2020/21 before my sighting today.
Other goodies around Winter's included,unbelievably,2 Bitterns seen together,at the bottom of the lake near Jean's cottage.So after no records all year,3 birds in 2 visits was pretty good i thought.
Wildfowl on Winter's included at least 68 Wigeon and 2 lovely Pintail.
The only other notables today,were the lovely juvenile Whimbrel still along the floodbank,a NFY Grey Wagtail along the beck and a gorgeous winter adult plumaged Spotted Redshank found in amongst the Black-tailed Godwits before i headed home.
Well what a cracking few weeks on the patch,i wonder what other goodies the autumn is going to bring.
Winter's Pond,27th. 
East Halton Marshes,27th. 
Skitter Road,27th.
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