Welcome To My Blog,This Will Be Mainly Used As A Diary For My Local Birding Patch At East Halton/Goxhill On The Banks Of The Humber Estuary,With Occasional Twitching And Visits Elsewhere Including Photos From Mine & Tracey's Walks Around Our Beautiful Countryside.
A planned day out with Tracey and Clara today along the Spa Trail from Horncastle to Woodhall Spa,which also incorporates the Viking Way saw us enjoying a lovely,if slightly longer than imagined walk.
It starts along the canal at Horncastle joining the Viking Way and then follows the old railway which stretched between Thornton Lodge Farm up to Woodhall Spa.
It was beautiful,bright weather when we set off,with wall to wall sunshine,but after lunchtime it clouded over,but was still pleasant.
The walk is mainly through a mixture of farmland and woodland habitat,but the last section is through the Hotchkin Golf cCourse at Woodhall,so an eye out for low flying golf balls was needed.
A stop at the superb Tea House In The Woods at Woodhall was a must,before walking the 7.5 miles back to Horncastle.
A few birds were seen along the way and included a cracking pale morph Common Buzzard and 23 Brambling near Martin and a nice flock of 57 Siskin at the golf course at Woodhall.
An all together enjoyable day out,with us being a little sore when we got back,but glad we had another great day out together again.
The following are a few photos from the walk,including some of the superb sculptures along the route.
Another couple of cracking visits to the local patch,adding 6 more species to the local patch year list,with a new addition to the patch life list and 2 long stayers remaining,this is what i recorded over the 2 day's.
Saturday 15th
A poor forecast today of mist,saw me arriving slightly later than normal after the previous nights shift at work.I even had to sit in the car for an hour or so waiting for the fog to clear.
Today the mitigation area was the star site,with it being covered in birds,with waders featuring heavily.
The White-tailed Lapwing was still in residence,seen by a couple of visitors,but not by myself today,as it had moved away from it's favoured pool,but i made up for this finding a first for my patch....
I was getting a bit peed off with the mist rolling back in slightly,but all was not lost when a cracking Glossy Ibis flew in,did a couple of circuits and landed on the first pool on the mitigation area.
I got my phone out and was just setting my phone scoping kit up,when something spooked it and it flew straight towards me,over my head and off back towards North Killingholme Haven.....crap!
This is the first record for the local patch of this long awaited addition,just a shame i didn't get any pics or it stayed any longer....but it may return.
Other species on here today included some great counts of Waders and included 37 Redshank,98 Curlew,521 Lapwing,11 Black-tailed Godwit and 45 Dunlin.
Pretty decent Wildfowl numbers included 227 Wigeon,8 Gadwall,18 Shoveler and 73 Teal,making for a great sight to watch along with all the Waders.
Other species recorded on here today included a male Stonechat,gorgeous male Bullfinch and a calling Cetti's Warbler in the borrow pit along the Humber floodbank.
I walked up to the Skitter and gave the area a good look around,seeing 1 Water Pipit,18 Shelduck,29 Avocet and a whopping count of 1102 Dunlin.
As i wandered back to Winter's,a nice find for the year list was a pair of cracking drake Pochard,with some decent numbers of wildfowl present which included 23 Shoveler,the female Goldeneye still,34 Tufted Duck,20 Gadwall and 127 Mallard.
Sunday 16th
Another visit today,this time bright and early,saw me finding another stonking bird for the patch,as a jogger flushed a Long-eared Owl from the small copse near the car park at Winter's and it landed in the hedge next to me before flying a further 2 times.
I didn't pursue it any more,as i know how sensitive this species is to disturbance....but what a cracking record,the first i have had down here for many,many years.
Also while i was at Winter's and waiting for Jon,a single Barnacle Goose flew over head towards the Skitter...another usefull year tick.
The White-tailed Lapwing was eventually found back on it's favoured pool and gave some nice views today and was actually watched feeding for a change,it really is a smart bird.
It's also nice to see it still drawing in a few visitors and is one of the rarest birds in the country currently and long may it continue an amazing record for here.
After saying goodbye to Jon and Graham,i decided to go over to Goxhill and have a look for the Cattle Egret and it was in exactly the place Graham had relocated it at.
Today it gave some cracking views feeding in amongst the Sheep and later on some horse paddocks,finding plenty of worms to satisfy its appetite,what a great little bird.
Well what an amazing start to the year,i hope it continues in this vein,but i'm sure it won't,but you have got to always remain positive in local patching,88 species already isn't too bad,onwards and upwards to 160!.
A lovely day out with Tracey at Scarborough on New Year's Eve,was curtailed slightly,when i received a message from local photographer Mike Pickwell,that he had found a wader with Yellow legs on the grassland at Winter's Pond.
Thinking that this may be the Lesser Yellowlegs from a few weeks previous,i sent Mike a photo of a Lesser Yellowlegs,to which he replied no.
A quick Whatsapp message to GPC that there was an interesting wader at Winter's had him ringing me with the news i didn't want to hear,it was the White-tailed Lapwing!!!!!.
The bird had left Blacktoft on Christmas Eve and could have concievably been on my patch since,but i hadn't been down due to having an adverse reaction to my covid booster jab and then being away in the Dales for a few days.
To rub salt into the wound even further,Wes Payne found a Cattle Egret on fields just along Station Road on the outskirts of the village,so 2 firsts for my patch on the same day,was serious.
So it was a bright and early start on New Year's Day filled with anticipation and praying both birds were still present.
After an aborted attempt to try and hear some Owls in the windy conditions(We did see a Woodcock),Jon and myself wandered back to Winter's waiting for the first light of dawn.
No sign of the WTL on Winter's and a good look on the Mitigation site also drew a blank,so we walked up past the Skitter and checked the wet field behind the pig farm,which was also empty.
Then Graham rang me to say the bird was on the mitigation site,where we had walked past earlier....****!
A quick power walk back and we were watching this first for the patch and Lincolnshire.......aaaand relax.
Some great scope views of the bird were enjoyed by all present,albeit the bird didn't move from it's position all day.
Next was a walk up Marsh Lane for the Cattle Egret....thankfully on arrival,the bird was feeding distantly with 8 Little Egrets,patch tick number 2 safely in the bag.
After enjoying some nice views of the Cattle Egret,it was back to the Lapwing and nice to chat to some birding mates,Chris Atkin,Nige Lound and a few others.
Another timely message from Jon and there was a female Red-crested Pochard in amongst the Wigeon on Winter's.
I was soon there and watching the bird swimming around with the mixed wildfowl,spending most of it's time asleep.
This is the 2nd time in 5 years i have seen RCP on New Year's Day,as i found a Drake on here on Jan 1st 2020.
3rd Jan.
A much more relaxed visit today,with a Barn Owl at Winter's at Dawn followed by the WTL still on it's favourite pool on the mitigation area.
Other bits on here included a single Short-eared Owl and 2 drake Pintail,both usefull year ticks.
After seeing what was on here,i walked up to the fields near Station House and was pleased to see the Cattle Egret was still present and showed much closer today,allowing me to take some decent phonescoped video until some clueless twit...chers arrived and flushed it ****s.
After watching the Cat,i then walked up Skitter Road and spent a good while around the Skitter today seeing a proper scarce bird for the patch,as 2 Bewick's Swans flew over me and out over the Humber and into Yorkshire,what a year tick and superb sighting!.
These Swans are declining as a wintering bird in the UK,so to say i was pleased to see them was a bit of an understatement.
Other birds around the pools included 1 Water Pipit still,44 Black-tailed Godwit,4 Bearded Tit,Water Rail and a pair of Stonechat.A Cetti's Warbler was heard calling in the waterside bushes at Ruins Pond.
9th Jan
An early morning start as usual at Winter's saw a lovely sunrise and hardly any wind for a change,the usual suspects were around until a lovely female/imm. Merlin crossed the estuary from Yorkshire onto the mitigation area,a welcome sight and the first new addition to the year list for the day.
A quick look on the Mit site,saw the WTL still here,but not in an accessible area for visitors,so i decided to not put the news out,as i can just see people climbing over fences to get to see it and particularly irresponsible photographers doing the same,flushing feeding waders and wildfowl in all directions.
It was nice to see so many birds using the site today and sample counts included 48 Curlew,21 Redshank,71 Wigeon,185 Teal,2 Black-tailed Godwit and 300 Lapwing,with smaller numbers of other species.
I then did a repeat of my previous visit and walked up to the Skitter and spent some time watching the Humber on the dropping tide.
Some good counts of Wildfowl included 256 Teal,119 Wigeon,72 Mallard and the best of the bunch,67 Goldeneye,the latter no doubt part of the wintering flock that resides every winter off New Holland/Goxhill.
Other species around here included 2 Water Pipit around the pools,2 Shelduck(NFY),320 Dunlin and 2255 Pink-footed Geese landing in fields along Goxhill Marsh.
Back up to Winter's along the sea wall allowed me to take some pleasing video of some feeding Black-tailed Godwits and a single Rock Pipit was also seen along here.
The female Goldeneye was still present when i returned to Winter's for the second time today and also the Great-crested Grebe,with a single Bullfinch being added to the year list.
A last look on the mitigation area,before leaving saw a single Short-eared Owl hunting,2 distant Marsh Harriers heading to roost,but no sign of the WTL....
Well what a start to the year,with the rarest bird i have seen down here to date and the patch life list now on 215 species and year list now on 83 species.
A cracking day out today,visiting firstly Cromford,it's canal and historic Mills and later walking up to Matlock Bath with it's lovely Victorian riverside scenery.
We had never visited Cromford before and we walked along the canal up to High Peak Junction and back.
A few nice birds were seen along here and included a 'Cronking' Raven as it flew overhead and 4 Little Grebes(The tamest ones I've ever seen) and a gorgeous pair of Mute Swans along the canal.
After our first little walk,we explored the famous Mills area here,which Sir Richard Arkwright put firmly on the world map after his inventions in Cotton spinning and production.
It was then onto our personal favourite area Matlock Bath,only a 20 minute walk along the A38.Along here and near to Masson Mill,we saw a gorgeous Dipper,our first of the year.
Tracey and myself spent our honeymoon in the area 25 years ago in this coming March and stayed at Matlock Bath....happy memories.
The following are my favourite images from our super day out.
A day out with Mrs R today to Scarborough saw us enjoying some of the avian delights on offer around this superb area for birds and wildlife.
We parked up on Marine Drive after a quick brekkie stop at Macdonald's,the perfect start to any birding dayand it wasn't long before we were watching the first nice birds of the day.
Unknowingly,we had parked right under the resident pair of Peregrines and we both enjoyed some superb scope views of both birds,but sadly it was just too windy to try and take any video.
Onwards towards the harbour and Trace decided to pop up into town while i spent a few hours trying to take some video of the resident juvenile Great-northern Diver and as it was high tide,i managed some nice clips of the Purple Sandpiper roost as well.
The Great-northern Diver has been around for quite some time now and to be fair,gave me a bit of a runaround,but the Purps were they're usual confiding selves.
It wasn't the largest flock by no means i had seen here,but 25 birds was a nice count and it was great to watch them jostling for the best roosting position,in amongst a few minor fall outs.
As the tide rose,3 Red-throated Diver,2 Guillemot and a Razorbill all joined the Great-northern in the harbour,but to be honest i never really got close to any of them.
After all this birding,it was now definitely time for some fish and chips!.
Instead of writing a review of the year,i have decided to post a blog about some of the amazing places myself and Tracey visited throughout the year and the following are my favourite photos,including the Peak District,The Yorkshire Coast,The Yorkshire Dales,Llyn Peninsula,Snowdonia etc. etc...enjoy!:
Sunrise Over The Humber At East Halton,January.
Selwick's Bay,Flamborough,April.
Whitestone Point,Whitby,June.
Whitestone Point,Whitby,June.
Ness Point,Nr.Robin Hoods Bay,June.
View Of Dovedale,From Thorpe Cloud,July.
Ilam Park,July.
Selwick's Bay,Flamborough,July.
Helen's Tower And South Stack,Anglesey,July.
Cliffside Scenery,South Stack RSPB,July.
North Landing,Flamborough,July.
Cavedale,Castleton,Peak District National Park,July.
Wild Seas,Low Newton By The Sea,Northumberland,August.
Dunstanburgh Castle,Northumberland,August.
Embleton Bay,Northumberland,August.
Stag Rocks And Bamburgh Castle,Northumberlnad,August.
