A bumper post on the last 5 visits to the local patch at East Halton/Goxhill,with the patch year list now standing at a cracking 165 species,the following are the highlights of my visits:
Saturday 29th October
A very wet visit today,saw me starting proceedings as always at Winter's first thing,bright and early.
The main highlight was the young female Blue-winged Teal still in residence with the Shoveler gang,albeit on the rear pond,so not viewable from the main track and car park.
Other bits here included 6 Pintail,3 Siskin which flew south,2 female Goldeneye and an increase in Blackbirds and Robins.
I persevered through the wet and walked up to the Skitter,covering the pools,seeing 1 Water Pipit and the very welcome sight of 5 lovely Twite feeding along the track from the gas compound.
It's always a real pleasure to see these lovely little moorland Finches and i left them to feed after getting a few record shots.
I then carried on up towards Dawson City along the saltmarsh in the hope of a Jack Snipe,but only managed to find 7 Stonechat,which was nice all the same.
The Dawson City area was fairly quiet,apart from a flock of 6 Bearded Tit which flew up high south,before piling into another reedbed at great speed,like little exocet missiles.
The last leg back towards Winter's along the mit site,saw a flock of 7 Little Egret taking advantage of the wet conditions,no doubt bringing plenty of worms to the surface of the grass.
Sunday 30th October
A drier day today thankfully,saw a repeat of the previous day at Winter's with our star American visitor still present,showing nicely on the main lake from dawn.
Also around Winter's were 4 Pintail,2 Marsh Harrier,a Great Spotted Woodpecker and 7 Ruff along the Humber,shoreline near the seaplane jetty.
A wander along Marsh Lane and Skitter Road,saw the best bird going to a Great-white Egret which flew north and then north east,before i lost sight of it,a really exceptional year for the species here,long may it continue.
Four Stonechat and a Water Pipit were the only highlights at the Skitter today.
Sunday November 13th
A cracking start today as i approached Winter's car park,saw a Long-eared Owl hunting along the roadside ditch,before flipping over the hedge into the rough grass field next door.This could be the bird i saw back in January,in relatively the same place.
It was pretty foggy to be fair today,but we still had a couple of hundred metres visibility thankfully.
No sign of the BWT on Winter's today,but 2 Barnacle Geese and 16 Shoveler were on the main lake.
We stuck at it,heading up to the Skitter,then down along past the gas compound and along East Marsh Road up to Goxhill Haven.
A nice Spotted Redshank,with the Redshank flock just west of Goxhill Haven was great to see.
As we walked between Goxhill Haven and Dawson City,the very welcome sight of a flock of 18 Snow Bunting appeared,but they were very flighty,not allowing a close approach at all,but just great to see all the same.
Also along this section were 5 Rock Pipits together.
As we walked past the long wood and towards the Skitter,that welcome chuntering call of Brent Geese could be heard and sure enough,22 Birds flew past towards the Skitter,my largest flock here to date.
These birds no doubt getting lost in the misty conditions.
After enjoying the lovely Brents,the next goodie was a cracking Short-eared Owl watched hunting,before it crashed down and caught a Vole,another nice bird to add to the day's sightings.
Saturday November 19th
A good forecast today for pushing birds up the Humber from the sea,saw a very good visit with a total of 5 year ticks being noted.
The first few hours were spent parked up on the flood bank at the Skitter as some proper heavy rain along with a fairly brisk south easterly breeze did the trick bird wise.
First goodie,was a smart 1st winter Little Gull watched feeding along the shoreline,as it flew along picking food items from the surface of the mud and water,what a smart bird.
More scanning followed,with another good bird picked up,as a Red-throated Diver passed by north,really high up,before i lost it over Saltend,GPC later saw the bird up at Barton.
Next was a species i had hoped for today,as 3 Little Auks whizzed past along the shoreline,before again being lost in the rain towards Goxhill.
These lovely diminutive Auks are such smart birds and it reminded me of when i saw my first sighting of the species here in November 1987.
Also from my position,other sightings included a Redhead Red-breasted Merganser,3 Goldeneye,7 Kittiwake and 3 Common Scoter.
Eventually the rain eased and i decided to drive around to Winter's.
After getting plenty of warm kit on i spent some time scanning the main lake and soon came across the now familiar sight of our female Blue-winged Teal.
It does make me wonder where she disappears too,as the previous week there was no sight of her anywhere,perhaps she goes onto the mitigation site,as the water level is building up nicely on there now.
Other birds on and around the main lake,saw a Great-white Egret being seen,female Pochard and 2 gorgeous drake Pintail.
I then reached the flood bank and got back to scanning the Humber,quickly seeing a couple of biggish flocks of Common Scoter,in total numbering 128 birds,a few more Kittiwakes and then the best bird of the day,as a brute of Great-northern Diver appeared from the north,low over the water,before gaining height and i lost it going past Killingholme Haven.
GPC had seen a bird on the Humber earlier off The Deep,but this bird headed south east inland from Graham's position and it makes me wonder if it cut back to the Humber,or this was a different bird.
More scanning saw the final addition to the year list being seen,as a female Scaup was picked up flying in from the direction of Killingholme,before it settled with the Scoter flock.
Also around were 7 Dark-bellied Brent Geese,which settled on the Humber off Winter's and a gorgeous juvenile Peregrine which flew across to Yorkshire.......what a day!
Sunday 20th November
A much quieter day today,but still enjoyable as the wind had swung around to the south west.
After arriving a later than normal today,i spent the day around Winter's and the mitigation area seeing a decent variety in species.
Highlights at Winter's again included the lovely female Blue-winged Teal,as she showed on and off on the main lake,sometimes disappearing onto the rear pond.
The female Pochard was still here,along with a single Cetti's Warbler and 2 Marsh Harrier.
A scan from the flood bank saw a pair of Goosander heading north,approx. 320 Pink-footed Geese in the area along with a decent count of 390 Wigeon on the Humber.
Some good coverage of the mitigation site,saw a few nice birds which included a single Dark-bellied Brent Goose,3 pairs of Stonechat and a gorgeous Barn Owl hunting distantly.
More waders are beginning to use the site again now the water levels are raising and included 36 Curlew,7 Redshank and 140 Lapwing,which were great to see.
Well what an epic series of visits putting me now on 163 species for the year and again proving this area really does provide some really good birding and just goes to show what you can see when you put the time in.
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| Twite,East Halton Skitter,29th October. |
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| Distant Record Shot Of 2 Of The Snow Buntings From The 13th November. |
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| Male Stonechat,East Halton Marshes. |
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| Female Blue-winged Teal,Winter's Pond. |
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| Yours Truly Watching The Humber On The BIG Day,19th November. |
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| Winter's Pond,What A Cracking Place!!!!,20th November. |
