The Moors,Saturday 26th March 2022.

A free day today saw me setting off to one of my favourite local destinations,for a full day's birding,the following is what i saw.

I started as usual,by parking at the North Linc's Council car park,had a quick bite to eat and packed the gear for the long walk from Crowle and then onto Thorne Moors.

It was a tad cool first thing,so i had quite a few layers on to begin with and i walked west along the path from the car park heading for the bailey bridge onto Thorne Moors.

Along this first section a mixture of the commoner species and a few niceties included a drumming Great-spotted Woodpecker,4 singing male Chiffchaff,a lovely Common Buzzard and a flock of 17 north bound Fieldfare,chacked as they fed in a horse paddock.

A little further along and a patch of colour seen from the corner of my eye revealed a smart male Stonechat,quickly followed by his mate and i watched as they hunted from several perches and then a little further along near the new boardwalk another pair,so 2 pairs of Stonechat was a decent start to the day.

I walked on and eventually made it to the bailey bridge and i crossed into the home county.

A quick stop here for a drink and to take the first layer off saw me hearing the familiar nasal song of a male Brambling and i quickly found him in the top of a Silver Birch eating the newly sprouting buds.

As i got too near he flew and joined a further flock of 10 other birds,with at least 3 males wheezing away,such lovely birds at any time of year,but they are particularly striking in their lovely summer plumage.

I carried on,walking along side Will Pitts Scrape,to the sound of Chiffchaff's,Chaffinch,Wren's and Robins and i stopped to have a quick scan of the lake.

Nothing too exciting on here,apart from a flock of 20 Tufties,more Chiff's in the waterside Willow's and a chorus of Common Frog's nearby.

After shedding another layer i walked down the side of Will Pitts Wood,to the very precious sound of a singing male Willow Tit.These lovely little birds are still hanging on here in the wet woodland and long may it continue.

As i walked past the pumping station alongside the Warping Drain,a sudden blast of Cetti's song saw me seeing the culprit briefly and a little further along another as i turned to walk along Goole Moor Tram.

By now it was getting properly warm and i was down to my T shirt and Waistcoat and trousers obviously....those ticks!.

I then managed to find an Orange Underwing perched on some grass stems so i set the scope up and phonescoped it and took some video.

To put this into context i have never managed to get any video,let alone a decent photo of one,so i was pretty chuffed to say the least.

I carried on along Goole Moor Tram,seeing my first Dark-edged Bee Flies of the year,Small Tort's,another pair of Stonechat and i flushed 2 stunning Woodcock from the edge of the path.

After what seemed like ages,i eventually made it to the Limestone Road(I had forgotton how long Goole Moor Tram was) and began to head along the Paraffin Cuttings.

I just could not believe i had seen no one up to now,with cracking day's weather too,it was just bliss.

As i walked along the cuttings,first 1 pair,then 2 pairs and then a 3rd pair of Stonechat were seen,with the male of the final pair even singing.It was just lovely to watch these beautiful little Chats as they went about their business.

I then found another Orange Underwing,this time walking about on the ground,giving incredible views and i just crouched down and filmed it with my phone.It looked to be taking salt or minerals from the road,something i have never seen this species do before,an interesting piece of behaviour.

After heading along the Limestone Road and finally reaching Blue Bridge,i made a welcome stop at the picnic table for a sit down,some food and a drink.

Sat here in glorious sunshine daydreaming about what i was going to find on the local patch tomorrow,suddenly had me jumping into action as a Cetti's Warbler blasted away that song and on one of the pools nearby 8 gorgeous adult Whooper Swan fed and loafed....what a fantastic day i was having.

The remainder of the visit along the Limestone Road and back onto Crowle saw my first Green-tiger Beetles of the year being seen,a couple of Peacock Butterflies and a lovely male Brimstone really did make it feel like spring.

Another handfull of Chiffchaff's before i crossed back onto Crowle Moor,made it 33 singing males for the day,with 29 of them being on Thorne.

Well what a fantastic day today,in beautiful weather,made for another brilliant visit to this brilliant area for birds and wildlife....and i only scratch the surface of what can be seen here.

The Map Of The NNR At Crowle.

Goole Moor Tram.

The Paraffin Cuttings.

Monsal Dale - Miller's Dale - The White Peak,Saturday 19th March 2022.

A good forecast today saw the gang heading to one of our favourite areas to walk between White Lodge Car Park and Miller's Dale Station taking in Monsal Dale,Cressbrook Dale,Litton Mill and Miller's Dale Station and back again.

As previous readers to my blog know,this area is a personal fave and takes in some lovely scenery and is great for wildlife and birds.

Today's highlights from the avian world included at least 4 pairs of Dippers,just lovely to see and the most we have encountered along here,at least 15 singing male Chiffchaff and a lovely Raven overhead at White Lodge/Monsal Dale.

But it wasn't just about the birds as we saw several Bumble Bees and also my first Brimstone Butterflies of the year,with one,a male at Miller's Dale station and another.a female near Litton Mill.

As always it was a real pleasure to visit here again and the following are my favourite photos from our day.

Monsal Head Weir,In Full Flow Today.

The Iconic Monsal Head Viaduct.

A View Along Cressbrook Dale.

A Sign Of Spring,Greater Celandines.

A Female Common Toad Found In Water-Cum-Jolly Dale.

Cressbrook Tunnel.

Cressbrook Dale.

Cressbrook Mill.

Monsal Head Weir,Home To Dippers And Grey Wagtails.

Local Patching Update - 6th,12th & 18th March 2021.

 After a dreaded dose of Covid(Thankfully i wasn't too bad),it was back to the beloved local patch at East Halton/Goxhill.

The following is what i saw on my 3 visits re-counted here:

6th March

An early start as per at Winter's Pond,saw Jon and myself having a pretty decent visit today,with a great start seeing 3 adult Whooper Swans trumpeting their way west,our first sighting of this lovely species for the year.

Other species on and around Winter's included a single Little Egret,a singing male Cetti's Warbler and later in the day the interesting Gull(God knows what it is)was still present,coming in for it's daily feed of bread from one of the locals.

We then walked up Marsh Lane and along Skitter road for a change,with nothing major seen,it was just nice to see and hear several Skylark's singing and displayng as well as a drumming male Great-spotted Woodpecker in Red House Wood as we passed by.

We eventually made it to the Skitter and a few nice bits were seen in the general area and included a single Water Pipit,flushed from the bankside pool towards Ruins Pond,a male Ruff on the wet field behind the pig farm and a nice surprise in the form of a Woodcock flushed and seen really well as it flew along the adjacent hedgerow and shot back into cover.

Not many sightings of this species during the year usually,so 2 this year so far are most welcome.

The rest of Goxhill Marsh and Dawson City held the usual suspects,with a cracking count of 426 Curlew and a few singing male Cetti's Warblers kept the interest going.

The mitigation area today,held the White-tailed Lapwing still,with a few visitors to see it and it has also changed its habits,which may mean it's going to depart.It has certainly entertained us in it's time here and is a most welcome visitor to my humble local patch.

Finally,a pair of adult Peregrines put on a fantastic display over the mitigation area as they chased a Black-tailed Godwit unsuccessfully and then carried on to basically scare every bird present.They really are a superb species and most sightings here usually involve an adrenaline filled bout of hunting,fantastic to watch.

12th March

An early morning visit again,saw a nice start involving a lovely Barn Owl along Marsh Lane as i got the kit ready for the day,what a great way to start proceedings i thought.

The best bird of the day was seen next as i was stood on the floodbank infront of Jean's cottage in a shower of quite heavy rain,but it was so worth it,as a male Hen Harrier flew across the Humber from Yorkshire,over the main lake at Winter's and inland.This is my first spring record of the species,as all my encounters in the past have been in autumn or winter,it is also my first adult male....what a bird!.

Other species seen on here included a female Goldeneye with the Tuftie flock,the 2 Oyster's,now 2 Great-crested Grebe and 10 Black-tailed Godwit.

Some good coverage of the mitigation area saw some decent numbers of Wildfowl present today,but the White-tailed Lapwing has finally left us and has now taken up residence at Frampton Marsh RSPB reserve in the Wash.

I really hope it doesn't hang around too long there,as it won't get accepted by BBRC if it carries on over here for much longer.

A single 'Littoralis' Rock Pipit was seen along the shoreline up to the Skitter,moulting nicely into it's summer plumage,giving the usual tantalising views before disappearing.

The Skitter area today provided a few nice sightings and included another Barn Owl,which showed nicely and also a singing male Chiffchaff in the plantation,with 1 Water Pipit again in the usual spot.

The Chiff is my first local singing bird of the year after the bird near Goxhill Haven back in February.

After returning to Winter's Pond,the rest of the visit was spent watching THE Gull as it arrived for it's afternoon feed.

18th March

WEBS count weekend has arrived again and because it was such a nice days weather i decided to walk the whole patch taking in the mitigation area,East Halton beck,Chapel Farm,Chapel Field Road,East Marsh Road,Goxhill Haven and then back along the Humber bank to Winter's Pond,approx.15 miles walked.

No big surprises were encountered for my WEBS count,but a lovely pair of Pintail were on the rear pit at Winter's,before relocating to the MIT site.

For the first time this year,i had 2 singing male Cetti's Warbler's at WP,the first i saw was singing near the car park and showed incredibly well,singing at the top of a Hawthorn on a couple of occasions,what a cracking little bird they are and I'm so glad they are doing so well and spreading north,with those lovely chestnut and grey tones and explosive song.

Between Winter's and the Skitter,the Rock Pipit was agian present and a lovely surprise in the form of my first Kingfisher of the year,as a single flew along the Humber shore towards the Skitter.

As i walked along the beck,a very welcome message from Simon at Paull telling me there was a Red Kite heading my way,saw me retracing my footsteps and then seeing the bird thankfully as it flew south and then slightly inland before heading south again towards Killingholme.

This is my first sighting of the species for the year on the local patch,an annual event i know these days,but still great to see them here.

The walk along the beck was fairly quiet,apart from 4 Roe Deer and a Small Tortoiseshell and as i reached Chapel Farm,the best bird went to a couple of Jays,alarm calling as they often do when humans are spotted.

As i walked along Chapel Field Road,de-ja vu struck,as i picked up another Red Kite,this time heading west towards Goxhill village,so two in a day was brilliant.

The walk along East Marsh Road was similar as my previous visit along here,but today the Rookery was in full swing with birds being very vocal as they went about their business of nest building and pair bonding,i just love their call,the archytypical call of the countryside,just great.

From Goxhill Haven to Winter's more of the usual sightings were logged,which included 2 more singing male Chiffchaff,making it 4 for the day.

Another look on Winter's before heading home,saw the Gull arriving for its bread feed,hopefully we will soon find out what it is,now a DNA sample has been collected,fingers crossed it is something good,as it has the world's experts baffled to its identity.

Three enjoyable visits to my little part of Lincolnshire,I'm looking forward to finding something good on my next visit,so fingers crossed!.

Dawn At Winter's Pond On The 18th.

Blackthorn Blossum,Chapel Farm,18th.

Coltsfoot,Chapel Farm,18th.

The Messingham Area,Sunday 13th March 2022.

 After visiting the local patch on Saturday and having a spare day i decided to visit Messingham Sand Quarries and the surrounding area,the following is what i saw during the day.

After hearing the Cattle Egret was still around i went to look for this bird first and it wasn't long before i was watching this confiding individual as it fed in amongst it's adopted herd of horses.

It seemed to be finding plenty of food and was even watched eating a couple of Common Toads,at times coming incredibly close,too close to phonescope.

Also in the area where displaying Peewits,Oystercatcher's,Common Snipe and a couple of singing Chiffchaff,it really fealt like spring proper.

A look on the adjacent 'New Workings' where the local aggregate company are excavating,saw a cracking leucistic adult Black-headed Gull being seen in amongst the local Gulls and an interesting hybrid Caspian x Herring Gull.

After enjoying looking around this area,i drove the short journey over to Messingham Sand Quarries nature reserve.

An enjoyable couple of hours looking around this gem of a reserve didn't reveal any surprises,but i did have at least another 8 singing male Chiffchaff,making the day even more spring like.

A nice day out visiting one of my fave local areas again.

Eastern Cracker!..,Saturday 5th March 2022.

After shaking off a bout of Corona Virus,it was great to get out and i headed over into gods own country and paid the wintering 2nd calendar year Drake Baikal Teal a visit.

The bird had been found at Swinemoor,an area of floods on the banks of the River Hull between Beverley and Tickton and i had played it cool in not visiting,due to the fact i had already seen a spanking Drake at Flamborough on the 15th April 2013.

On arrival the bird was seen more or less straight away,being watched sleeping,as it often does,after talking to the local birders,but after being flushed it did actually swim about for a while and gave some nice views,before it slipped back to the inevitable sleep mode.

The bird is a second calendar year male,with it showing some brown feathering along the flanks still,but the head pattern is nearly fully coloured up,what a cracking little duck and a great local find for Garry Taylor on his local patch.

After getting my fill of views and after it was flushed again by dog walkers,i headed home after seeing this lovely bird.