The continued efforts on the local patch of trying to find something good continues and the yearlist is ticking along slowly with a decent 131 species now.
The following is what i saw over the last 2 visits.
Saturday April 29th
An early start today at the usual spot of Winter's Pond saw the weather being a bit cool as has it been for weeks now it seems.
The main lake was as quiet as ever and i wandered down to the floodbank to scan the Humber,as the wind was from the north east and you never know what may turn up at this time of year....hopefully some Terns.
After an hour or so i gave up and decided to walk around the rest of the site and go and look on the marshes.
I managed to find a missing Warbler from my summer visitors so far this year along here,Lesser Whitethroat,with at least 4 singing males in the Hawthorn scrub around the site,just great to hear their stuttering rattle again.
A few nice waders were present today and included 7 Whimbrel,4 Ruff,a flock of 20 Icelandic Black-tailed Godwits,a single Little-ringed Plover and a pair of Lapwings with at least 1 chick.
Passerines present included 2 male Wheatear and yet another Brambling,this time a female feeding along one of the hedgerows,which was chased by one of the local Reed Bunting males.
Back onto the floodbank and i decided to walk up to the Skitter and it was good to see some better numbers of summer visiting warblers present which was encouraging after what seems like weeks of cool weather.
As i approached the Skitter,a single adult Kittiwake was seen flying leasurely north,a new species for the year.
I then headed inland along the beck and followed my usual route up to Goxhill Haven.
More of the same summer migrants were encountered and the weather had improved nicely now and it was pleasantly warm and a nice surprise was a hunting Barn Owl near Chapel Farm which gave cracking views.
As i passed by the Rookery along East Marsh Road,it was great to see the first fledged young Rooks of the season,still keeping close to the nest and waiting for their parents to deliver their next meals.
At Goxhill Haven the welcome sound of a male Cuckoo was heard,but sadly i didn't see this lovely bird and it added to my year list another summer migrant species.
A total of 4 singing male Cetti's Warblers were recorded between Goxhill Haven and East Halton Skitter and the final addition to the year list was seen feeding in the outfall at the Skitter,a Common Sandpiper,giving it's usual fidgety,bobbing display as it preened.
Migrant totals from the day included 11 Whimbrel,1 Little-ringed Plover,1 Common Sandpiper,20 Sedge Warbler,9 Reed Warbler,12 Sand Martin,24 Swallow,5 Willow Warbler,8 Chiffchaff,6 Blackcap,13 Lesser Whitethroat,17 Whitethroat,2 Wheatear,4 Yellow Wagtail and the male Cuckoo.
A very good count of 82 species was logged during the day
Saturday May 6th
After arriving later than usual after dropping Mrs R at work,i got the kit together and headed onto the marshes first to check if any waders had been dropped in overnight with the heavy rain.
This proved to be a good choice,as i looked up to see all the birds on the site scattering in all directions as an Osprey flew relatively low down towards me,with a group of Shelduck in hot pursuit.
It flew over the marshes and the over Winter's,hovering briefly on 2 occasions,before carrying on its journey and i lost it in the direction of Killingholme Haven.
If only i had remembered to put my memory card back in my camera,i would have had some decent shots!.
After all the excitement of the 'Fish Eagle',i then settled down to look at the waders and wildfowl.
This included a whopping count of 36 Ruff,with 4 very dapper males,almost in full summer plumage and a very good count of 45 Icelandic Black-tailed Godwits.
The latter looked to be nearly all 2nd calendar year birds,so fingers crossed they may summer here,providing the site doesn't totally dry out.
Also here were a single female Wheatear,2 Common Buzzard,2 Redshank,2 Dunlin and 2 whimbrel.
I then walked around to Winter's to see what was present around the site.
Overhead 8 Swift,1 Sand Martin,4 Swallow and 5 House Martin fed on the considerable amount of insect prey.
A singing male Willow Warbler,2 singing male Lesser Whitethroat,3 singing male Whitethroat and 2 singing male Cetti's Warbler all sang out their songs in the hope of attracting a mate.
More scanning over the marshes had me finding another raptor first for the year in the form of a 2nd calendar year Hobby which was catching St.Marks Flies,a habit i have often seen the species do,when sufficient odonata prey isn't available.
The bird gave some nice scope views,before drifting off high west.
Another enjoyable couple of visits to this cracking patch and i look forward to my next visit.
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| Sunrise Through The Low Cloud On The 29th April. |
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| Male Yellow Wagtail,Chapel Farm,29th April. |
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| Pied Shieldbug,Winter's Pond,6th May. |
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