Steve's Birding,Wildlife & Walking Blog: The Patch Saturday April 1st & Saturday 8th April 2023.

A couple of decent visits to the local patch with a few editions to the patch year list keeping things ticking over nicely and the local patch year list now standing at 112 species.

Saturday April 1st

A new month saw me parking as always at Winter's for first light and i proceeded to get the kit together and my plan was to cover the whole patch today,walking from Winter's up to the Skitter then along East Halton Beck to Chapel Farm/Chapel Field Road,then along East Marsh Road to Goxhill Haven and then back along the Humber floodbank to Winter's,approx. 10.5 miles.

Back to the birds,Winter's itself was quiet on the water bird front,with17 Tufties,7 Coot and 3 Little Grebe being present along with the now resident pair of Oyc's.

The bushes were certainly more productive with my first singing male Blackcap of the year in the plantation along with 3 singing male Chiffchaff,a single Redwing and a lovely Tree Sparrow,the latter,the first i have seen here for a good while.

Overhead,three Sand Martins spent some time feeding over the main lake before heading north along the floodbank towards the Skitter.

A while spent scanning the Humber for anything of note,revealed my first Great-crested Grebes of the year,as 2 birds drifted out on the out going tide,with no birds on the ponds at Winter's yet this year,this was a welcome addition to the patch year list.

The marshes held 4 Ruff,18 Shoveler,12 Wigeon,a single Little-ringed Plover,55 Teal and the lovely Spoonbill was still here.

Further looks at the latter are making me think that it is not a full adult,as the yellow areas on the breast and throat are not bright yellow,so it may be a 3rd calendar year instead of a full adult.

A few nice mammals were recorded here today and included a lovely Fox,5 Roe Deer and 2 Brown Hare.

The Skitter area saw a single Chiffchaff and at least 625 Pink-footed Geese still present,the latter will surely be on their way back north in the coming weeks.

Not much was recorded along the Beck,apart from a Siskin which flew north and 2 more Roe Deer.

Very little diversity bird wise along Chapel Field Road/East Marsh Road,apart from a single Corn Bunting at Spring Farm,being a very welcome year tick here.

A few more mammals were noted in these areas,which included 7 more Roe Deer and another Brown Hare.

Goxhill Haven was quiet,but Dawson City held a few bits which included another Chiffchaff,Little Grebe and incredibly,4 singing male Cetti's Warbler.

As i wandered back towards Winter's 223 Curlew were logged feeding along Goxhill Marsh and 8 Avocet fed at East Halton Skitter.

Saturday 8th April

A cold start at Winter's this morning saw a slight mist at first light giving an atmospheric start to the day.

Again,as on my last visit,the main lake was fairly quiet with 22 Tufted Duck,a drake Pochard,14 Shelduck and the pair of Oystercatcher.

The bushes and plantation were a bit more lively on today's visit,with 3 singing male Blackcap,7 singing male Chiffchaff(With an interesting grey/brown looking bird which didn't call),now 3 Tree Sparrow holding up hope that they might stay and breed and a pair of Bullfinch.

As i walked past the old chimney,the familiar sound of a singing male Sedge Warbler filled my ears and it was great to see this newly arrived bird singing and defending his territory,what great birds these are.

After enjoying all the spring songsters i looked on the marshes to see if the Spoonbill was still present,but sadly there was no sign today.

Other goodies seen though included a hunting Peregrine,a pair of Wigeon,66 Curlew and 3 Little Egret.

Mammal sightings today comprised of 6 Roe Deer and 2 Brown Hare here.

By now it was beginning to warm up and i decided to walk up past the old railway to the village and check the paddocks adding a further 4 singing male Blackcap's to the days total along with 6 singing male Chiffchaff.

As the temperature rose further,i began to see a few insects,which included my first Peacock Butterfly of the year along Back Lane,along with a Small Tortoiseshell.

Walking along Skitter Road a concerted effort to look for insects along the edge of Redhouse Wood paid divedends,with me finding a single Gonia picea nectaring on a Dandelion.This Tachinid Fly is a parasite of both Antler Moths and Comma Butterfly caterpillars.

Also along here,several Eupeodes sp. Hoverflies,my first 2 local Bombus pascuorum and Bee Flies of the year and another Small Tort.

As i neared the Skitter another new butterfly for the year in the form of a single Green-veined White certainly made it feel like spring today.

Upon reaching the Skitter a good look around revealed 2 Ruff feeding on the banks of the outfall and 13 Avocet were also present.

After checking the Skitter area i walked back to Winter's along the edge of the marshes seeing my first Swallow of the year,as a single bird flew south towards Winter's.

I managed to find another couple of Gonia picea here and also a female Tawny-mining Bee.