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!.
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