More Local Patching - 8th & 9th February 2022.

 A couple of visits to the local patch mid-week for a change saw 5 more species being added to the local patch year list,which now stands at 101 species.

Tuesday 8th

I started the visit today,in usual fashion,by parking at Winter's Pond and got my pack up and kit together for my day on the patch.

A cursory scan of the main lake,saw nothing too exciting to start with,so i wandered up to see if you know who was on it's favourite pool and sure enough it was,huddled out of the breeze behind a clump of sedges,it's usual habits when it is windy.

Also on view from my position was a gorgeous Barn Owl hunting along the reedy dyke which runs parallell to the mitigation area.A couple of interactions with the regular female Kestrel,saw it become more and more distant towards the Skitter,what a lovely start to the day.

I wandered back towards Winter's and just as i reached the small copse near to the car park,i could have sworn i heard a snippet of a Treecreeper calling.A quick burst of Treecreeper song from my sound library on the phone had the desired affect,as a Treecreeper showed nicely before disappearing further into the copse.

This is the first Treecreeper i have seen for the patch this year and the second record in consecutive years on here.

Some decent numbers of birds were now present on the main lake and included the adult Great-crested Grebe which is almost in full summer plumage now,56 Tufted Duck,67 Wigeon,female Goldeneye,82 Mallard and the 5 Pochard still.

I then decided to walk up towards the Skitter along the floodbank,with some pretty good numbers of birds taking advantage of the excellent feeding on the mitigation area.

Highlights and numbers of species included 118 Wigeon,87 Curlew,24 Islandica Black-tailed Godwit(A record count for the site),18 Shoveler,17 Redshank,550+ Starling,the Drake Pintail still,763 Lapwing and a singing male Cetti's Warbler.

The latter was singing in the borrow pit bordering the mitigation area,as you walk towards the Skitter.

The Skitter was quite productive today,despite it being high tide,with a small roost of waders on the side of the Haven.A quick scan through them revealed 4 Ruff with the Redshank,another welcome addition to the year list and great to see.

Other species included 2 Marsh Harrier hunting the pools,an adult female and a 2nd calendar year male,at least 2 Bearded Tit in the reedbeds and 2 Water Pipit together as i walked towards Ruins Pond.

The latter were flushed from a flooded pool along the side of the floodbank,a favourite with the species over the years.

As i headed towards Firecrest corner and passed by Ruins Pond,a sure sign of spring was a single Coot and Little Grebe on the pond and overhead the welcome sound of singing Skylarks was fantastic to hear,it really did feel like spring today!.

The very welcome 'Kleep' call of an Oystercatcher was heard next,as a single bird flew south along the Humber towards the Skitter,patch tick number 3 for the day.

The traditional Pink pasture had a decent flock on it today and i stopped to count them,with a respectable 1510 birds being present and i thought to myself it won't be long before these beauties are heading back to Iceland.

A look on the Humber from near to Dawson City saw 66 Goldeneye,50 Teal and 30 Wigeon drifting along on the outgoing tide.

While scanning,unbelievably,a Peacock Butterfly bombed past me and onto the reserve and shortly afterwards i saw a Buff-tailed Bumble Bee and i wondered what these poor insects are going to find to feed on at this time of year.

The only other notable sighting here was a Barn Owl which was unfortunately flushed from it's day time roosting site,a welcome sighting all the same.

Wednesday 9th

Today i decided to cover an area of the local patch i don't really get to visit that often,but one i have decided to try and cover more this year and it proved to be fairly productive with regards to common species,with some nice records.

I began by parking near to Goxhill Tilery,i then got all the gear together and headed along Syke's Lane,then up to Ferry Road,all the way along Ferry Road to Goxhill Haven,back along the floodbank to the Tilery and the car.

Sighting's mainly consisted of commoner species as mentioned before,but i did manage to find one species which was new for the patch year,a Chiffchaff.

It was observed around bushes which border the small ponds at the old boatyard between Goxhill Haven and the Tilery and gave some cracking views,calling quite often,a lovely sighting for the time of the year and quite unexpected.

Other niceities included more signs of spring,with a singing male Mistle Thrush showing really nicely,allowing me to obtain some nice video of him.

Before heading for home,i dropped in at Winter's to see the White-tailed Lapwing still in residence on it's favourite pool and also a welcome addition to the patch year list on the main lake at Winter's in the form of a pair of Goosander.

The Goosander pair put on a great show,as they preened and dozed on the grassland near the car park,just lovely to see and a great end to the day.

A couple of productive visits,with the exotic Peewit still in residence and great to see.

A Distant Storm Passing Over Hull Thankfully,Taken From The Floodbank Beside The Mitigation Site At East Halton,8th.

East Halton Marshes,9th.