Steve's Birding,Wildlife & Walking Blog: Local Patching Update

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!.