Steve's Birding,Wildlife & Walking Blog: Blue-winged Belter & More Local Patching,8th,15th,16th & 23rd October 2022.

Another great series of visits to the local patch,with another nice find and addition to the patch life list,the following is what i saw.

Saturday 8th October

An early start at Winter's Pond as always today,saw me getting the gear together for another visit to this cracking area.

A quick scan of the main lake revealed a good count of 22 Ruff,the most I've had here to date,14 Dunlin,90 Shoveler,3 Pintail(2 Drakes and a female),18 Tufted Duck and a Kingfisher.

The bushes revealed at least 5 Chiffchaff,a singing male Cetti's Warbler and 2 Great-spotted Woodpecker(Including 1 in off the Humber and west towards East Halton village)as i walked around to check the rear pond.

An un-ringed Great-white Egret was feeding on the rear pond when i reached there and gave some nice views through the scope.

As i wandered back towards the cottage,i turned around to see 6 Whooper Swan flying in from the direction of the Skitter and they dropped onto the main lake and proceeded to give some nice views.This was obviously a family group,with 2 adults and 4 cygnets,the adults still having peat stained necks from the breeding grounds in Iceland.

I then decided to walk up to the Skitter taking in the Mitigation Area,with some Wildfowl now beginning to use the site regularly.

A few scans revealed at least 37 Wigeon,a female Pintail and 105 Mallard in the channels which are slowly filling with water again.

Along the fenceline up to the Skitter,6 Stonechat were seen and were they're usual uncooperative selves as i attempted to kapture some video.

The group consisted of 2 males and 4 females and are always a pleasure to see.

A few insects along here included a lovely Painted Lady.

A good look around the Skitter saw another 2 female Stonechat being seen,along with another Kingfisher,15 Avocet and 14 Ruff,the latter no doubt part of the Winter's roost.

A few insects seen in the now warm sunshine included a Small White,Speckled Wood,Comma and 2 Red Admirals.

On returning to Winter's before heading for home,it was great to see the Whooper family still here,all huddled together sleeping.

Saturday 15th October

A nice start to proceedings on today's visit as i approached Winter's,was a lovely Barn Owl hunting along Marsh Lane,the first I've seen for a while.

As i got ready for the day here,a quick look on the grassland saw a pair of Egyptian Geese grazing,not the most inspiring of species to start the day,but a NFY species and only the second time I've seen the species for the patch.

More scanning of the main lake saw only low numbers of Wildfowl as is often the case at first light,but amongst the small flock of Black-tails were 23 Dunlin and 8 Ruff.

A walk around to the rear pond saw me seeing my first local Redwing of the autumn,2 Chiffchaff and a Kingfisher flying along the floodbank,it really is turning out to be a good year for the latter.

Nothing of note on the rear pond apart from the 2 Drake Pintail still,so i wandered back towards the car,stopping at the small wood to scan the Wildfowl,which had now built up in numbers.

Now i have been looking through the Shoveler every weekend since we started getting bigger than normal numbers here this year and today it paid off,as i picked up a bird in amongst them with a striking white loral spot,dark eyestripe and pale eye lids forming a broken eye ring.....this had to be a Blue-winged Teal!!!!!.

A few digi-scoped images and a quick chat to GPC after sending him the images,had him leaving Alkborough.

I carried on watching the Teal,as of course i hadn't seen the blue forewing or the birds legs to check for any unwanted bling,thankfully the legs were clear,it then proceeded to go to sleep out of view.

Graham arrived to the news it was out of view and asleep and to make things worse ND rang to say he had just had a Pratincole sp. at Alkborough where Graham had just left!.

We waited for what seemed like ages,but eventually the BWT woke up and began to feed again,this time in amongst some European Teal and Shoveler allowing some great size comparisons to be made,it then went to sleep again.

A really good pointer for picking the bird out when it was asleep,was the fact it showed the striking white eye-lids when it would open and close its eyes,a great feature for future reference on picking them out of dozing flocks of Wildfowl.

It was then flushed along with the rest of the flock by a passing Marsh Harrier and we seized the chance to get closer as it settled down again.

We got relatively close this time and i got some decent digiscoped shots and video of the open wing and also noted another good feature....its dull yellowish legs.

While watching this cracker,several flocks of Gulls had come and gone and we noted 2 separate Med Gulls a lovely 2nd Winter bird and a First Winter......what a place this is!.

Sunday 16th October

The obvious destination this morning,bright and early,was Winter's to see if the female Blue-winged Teal was still in residence.

After it got light,an initial scan of the main lake didn't reveal our American visitor,but then a Marsh Harrier passed by and flushed all the birds off the rear pond and sure enough it had done the trick and there she was with her Shoveler cousins.

More nice views and studying of the bird ensued and it was great to have such a great bird here with much more relaxed viewing now we had gained plenty of pics and video the previous day.

Also on the main lake were a cracking count of 22 Ruff roosting as they have in previous visits,before dispersing for the day onto the fields with the Lapwings and Black-tails.

Also present were the Egyptian Geese pair still,a female Pintail and a single Little Egret.

I then decided to go for a wander in the now lovely,warm autumnal sunshine and walked up along Marsh Lane,Skitter Road around the Skitter and back along the Mit Site.

Not many birds of note were seen apart from a lone female Stonechat on the Mitigation Site,but of several butterflies seen,species included Small Copper and Speckled Wood,with a single Hornet at East Halton Grange.

On my return to Winter's,more views of the star bird and a lovely adult Med.Gull before i left for home was a great end to the day.

Sunday 23rd October

A pretty mixed up day today,due to the heavy rain from 9ish until 2pm,saw me having a quick scout around Winter's first and last thing in between the rain.

A complete clear out of Wildfowl including all the Coot as well made for a strange atmosphere here for this time of year.

All was not lost though,with the autumn/winter periods first local Goldeneye being seen,a female on the main lake,along with 10 Ruff and 4 Pintail.

A cracking old type adult male Marsh Harrier put in a few appearances,which was great to see.

In the bushes,an obvious increase in passerines included 13 Robins,Fieldfare,Lesser Redpoll and Grey Wag over,Chiffchaff and a handful of Redwing.

The period of heavy rain saw me watching from the car at the Skitter,parked on the floodbank,with the highlight being a duo of Dark-bellied Brent Geese which flew north along the estuary and were my first records of the year here.

Other bits seen from my watch point,included a single Great-crested Grebe floating out on the falling tide,18 Avocet and a Harbour Porpoise.

Before i left for home after the deluge,some coverage of the Mit Site,saw a few nice sightings being enjoyed which included a Fox,Barn Owl,3 Stonechat(Male and 2 females),450 Pinks,63 Curlew,105 Mallard,67 Wigeon,a juvenile Marsh Harrier and 6 Roe Deer.

Well what a great few visits again and i really enjoyed finding the Blue-winged Teal,as it was not only a first for the local patch,but also a self find tick and the 12th record for Lincolnshire.

The patch year list now stands at 156 species.

Five Of The Six Whooper Swans On The 8th.

Whooper Swans,On Winter's,8th.

Looking Towards The Skitter,From Near Winter's Pond,8th.

Snoozing Whooper's After Their Epic Journey From Iceland,8th.

Winter's Pond,8th.

Looking Along The Floodbank Towards Killingholme,15th.

First Views Of The 1st calendar year Blue-winged Teal On Winter's,Note The Distinct Pale Loral Spot,Dark Eyestripe And Pale Eye Lids Forming A Broken Eye Ring,15th.