Steve's Birding,Wildlife & Walking Blog: Winter Wanderer's Return & Super Seabird.....Local Patching!.....17th,24th & 25th September & 1st October 2022.

Another great few weeks on the local birding patch,with the welcome return of my beloved wintering Pink-footed Geese and also some great birds boosting the local patch year list up to a decent 153 species.

Saturday 17th September

With a north/north westerly airflow today,it was all about Pink-footed Geese arriving along the estuary and onto the local patch,with a superb count of 957 birds.

Several flocks were feeding close to Winter's Pond and on the adjacent mitigation site,giving some great views as they fed and flew overhead with that distinct 'Wink,wink' call.

It was just great to see these beautiful birds back for the winter!.

Winter's was obviously busy,with several flocks of Pinks dropping in for a wash and brush up,before moving onto the mitigation area or further up the estuary.

Other birds here included the colour ringed Great-white Egret still in residence,6 Ruff,40 Gadwall,68 Shoveler,a drake Pintail and 62 Wigeon.

A wander up Marsh Lane and Skitter Road,saw some nice views of a juvenile Hobby around East Halton Grange,which briefly attempted to catch Swallow's from a flock of 22 birds feeding around the farm,but then reverted to catching Dragonflies instead,lovely to watch.

At the Skitter the best bird was a Dark Morph Arctic Skua chasing Gulls off the Haven and offshore a Bull Grey Seal went about his business of catching his lunch.

Saturday 24th September

Another day of north/north westerly winds,saw an early start at dawn as always at Winter's Pond,with at least 1800 Pink-footed Geese out of their Yorkshire roost before commuting onto the patch,making for a superb sight and sound with an amazingly colourful sunrise today.

The Winter's area held a few good birds which included the CR GWE still,a male Pintail,with 5 others flying north,a Redhead Red-breasted Merganser which flew out south along the Humber,107 Wigeon,a single Common Scoter out south and a Great-spotted Woodpecker.

A walk up along the perimeter of the car storage area,along to Station Road,then along Skitter Road and up to the Skitter revealed a few nice birds which included 2 Marsh Harrier,a juvenile male Peregrine,Kingfisher and 7 Avocet.

A wander from the Skitter back upto Winter's revealed little in the way of surprises,but another look from the floodbank at Winter's in the strengthening wind,saw me finding a spanking pale morph juvenile Long-tailed Skua which gave superb views through the scope,for at least 20 minutes,before it dropped down onto the Humber and was not seen afterwards.

Also off here was a juvenile Gannet which flew through my scope view,as i was watching the Long-tail.

Two juvenile Arctic Skuas were still present and causing the usual mayhem,chasing Gulls all over the place.It's just amazing the contrast in behaviour of Long-tailed and Arctic Skuas,with Arctic's being the powerfull bullies and raptor like in their habits,where as the juvvie Long-tail was much more relaxed,dip feeding like a Kittiwake.What a great end to the day's proceedings!.

Sunday 25th September

Today another full day on the patch and early start,saw me walking up to Dawson City and back.

Best of the sightings at Winter's first thing went to a whopping patch count of 92 Shoveler,with 2 Grey Wagtail and 3 Pintail,with 2 Arctic Skua and a juvenile Arctic Tern on the Humber.

A buck Muntjac gave amazing views,before it saw me and bolted in the opposite direction,giving a distinctive little bark as it went.It was also nice to see a Fox here for the first time in ages as well.

A walk along the mitigation site and up to the Skitter,saw at least 2250 Pink-footed Geese in the area,along with 4 Stonechat.A few ducks are returning to use the grass areas for grazing along with the local Lags and Pink-feet.

At the Skitter,an Arctic Skua was seen along with a female Pintail and 9 Avocet and the Mute Swan family have turned up as they do every autumn,with 9 cygnets again as they did last year,what a prolific pair they are!.

A few niceities between the Skitter and Dawson City included another Fox which caught a Vole while i was watching it,a Peregrine flew by south towards the Skitter and on the Humber off Dawson,2 Redhead Red-breasted Mergs where loafing on the rising tide.

Saturday 1st October

A cracking start to today's visit from the off,saw a lovely Merlin heading over Winter's and towards Killingholme,with 15 Ruff,3 Grey Wagtail in the area,a smart juvenile Curlew Sandpiper feeding around the margins of the main lake and a 'New' un-ringed Great-white Egret present.

Also here were 90 Shoveler,2 drake Pintail,a Greenshank and a cracking juvenile Spotted Redshank which flew off west.

Winter's really is such a great site and long may it continue!

A pair of Stonechat were seen along Marsh Lane as i wandered by,but a great sighting at East Halton Grange saw at least 10 Hornet's being seen,the first i have ever seen on the patch.

I spent about thirty minutes watching these amazing,docile,social Wasps as they went about their business feeding on Ivy pollen,just so impressive!.

A maximum of 400 Pinks today was a bit disappointing after recent visits.

A few Butterflies still on the wing today included some nice views of Red Admiral,Comma and Small Copper.

Another crop of great birds and wildlife sightings to enjoy on these 4 visits,what a great local area i have.