Another series of visits to the local patch here,with some poor weather at times,but still enjoyable visiting this superb area for the hobby.
4th December
A pretty decent visit today,in a force 4-5 westerly wind with occasional showers saw me covering Winter's,the mitigation area,the Skitter and beckside/Chapel Field Road areas.
Sighting of the day went to the best views of Bittern I've had for many years on the patch,with a very showy individual on Winter's,which allowed a fairly close approach,allowing me to obtain some nice phonescoped video.This bird is no doubt one of the birds which has been seen on and off since September here,when i had 2 together,what a cryptically plumaged cracker!.
Also seen at Winter's while i was watching the Bittern,was a very brief sighting of an Otter,down near Jean's cottage carrying an Eel.The sighting was all too brief for me,but great to see one locally again.
Other sightings at Winter's included 131 Wigeon,1 adult Great-crested Grebe still,78 Teal and 5 female Common Scoter flew up the estuary off here.
The 2 Barnacle Geese were still with the Greylag flock,mostly feeding on the mitigation area,with occasional visits to Winter's.
Best sighting's around the Skitter included 2 Water Pipit,a pair of Stonechat,a nice flock of 63 Stock Dove and 2 1st calendar year Marsh Harriers.
11th December
WEBS Count day today,saw me starting proceedings as usual at Winter's,with some great numbers of Wildfowl present in the area which included 62 Gadwall,8 Mute Swan,32 Coot,139 Mallard,267 Teal and the best of the bunch 6 cracking Goosander.
The latter consisted of 5 drakes and 1 redhead,the boys jostling to get nearest to the girl,with much chasing and posturing,just great to watch.
Also here were the 2 Barnies again with the local Lag flock,approx.1800 Pinks overhead from their Yorkshire roost sites and unusual for here,9 Stock Dove.
A walk along the mitigation area saw some nice sightings being logged which included 450 Starling,41 more Stock Dove,a lone Little Egret and a pair of Stonechat.
The Skitter area had some decent numbers of birds again today,with another pair of Stonechat,2 Water Pipits again,352 Dunlin,2 Bearded Tit and a good sized flock of 51 Redwing feeding in a wet field near to the gas compound.Also on the same field were 94 Curlew no doubt taking advantage of the same food source as the Redwings,Earthworms.
I carried on up to Dawson City,through Goxhill Marsh,with the 4 Ruff still feeding on the flooded field behind the pig farm and 2 Marsh Harrier also in the general area,which included a 1st calendar year bird and the regular 2nd calendar year male.
As i walked passed Ruins Pond,the regular female Merlin gave some nice scope views,before bombing off after something and another pair of Stonechat were watched on the saltmarsh as i walked up to Dawson City.
Dawson City itself was fairly quiet,apart from 44 Curlew feeding on the pasture,but other birds in the general area and on the Humber consisted of 55 Mallard,400 Lapwing,89 Wigeon and 2 female Common Scoter sat on the Humber.
19th December
There are not many visits to my patch were i get peed off,but today wasn't great weather wise,with low cloud and fog/drizzle all day,but i stuck at it and managed to find a few nice sightings to cheer me up.
Winter's first thing held a single drake Goosander and a female Goldeneye,with the 2 Barnies on here again with a flock of 189 Greylag.
Also here were a briefly singing male Cetti's Warbler,10 Little Grebe and 24 Coot,with 50 Wigeon being seen also.
I walked as far as Ruins Pond today,with some decent numbers of Redshank being seen to be fair which included 90 birds between Winter's and here,with the 4 Ruff still on the flooded field near the pig farm,a single Water Pipit on the same field,the same 2 Marsh Harriers as on my last visit in the area,at least 2 Bearded Tit and a nice flock of 36 Avocet at the Skitter.
The best sighting of the day was seen in this area,2 Short-eared Owl.I presume these are the 2 birds seen hunting along the mitigation area a few weeks ago and certainly lifted the spirits in the gloom,but they looked a little wet bless them.
As i neared Winter's before leaving for home a low flying flock of Geese came in from the direction of Killingholme and they were Barnacle Geese.A quick count of them revealed 68 birds,my highest flock here to date.
It would be interesting to know where they originated,could be birds from Cleethorpes or Whitton,but could easily be wild birds,but with so many naturalised populations in the UK now,who knows,but they were nice to see all the same.
A few decent visits again here,hopefully we will get some sunny weather again soon.
 |
| Phonescoped Photo Of Teal Feeding Along The Shore Near Winter's Pond,11th. |
 |
| A Very Colourful Sky At Winter's Pond With Some Lovely Reflections On The 11th. |
No comments:
Post a Comment