1st Jan.
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.
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| Sunset Over East Halton,9th. |
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| East Halton Skitter,9th. |
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| Phone-scoped Photo Of Waders At Dawn,9th. |
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| Humber Sunrise.9th. |
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