A cracking few visits to the local birding patch at East Halton,with some great birds recorded which included a new species for the patch on 16th September in the form of a cracking juvenile White-winged black Tern at East Halton Skitter.
Saturday 26th August
An early start today at Winter's as always saw a few nice birds at dawn which included 2 Green sands before they departed high to the west.
On the main lake the welcome sight of my first Wigeon of the autumn period saw two females happily feeding in amongst the other Wildfowl present.
Other species consisted of 17 Tufties,4 Gadwall,285 Mallard,17 Teal,14 Little Grebe,Great-crested Grebe,17 Coot,4 Moorhen and 135 Greylags.
A scan from the floodbank over the Humber revealed a flock of 35 Common Scoter loafing on the water on the outgoing tide.
It looked like there were a considerable amount of waders present this morning,with the majority looking like they were Avocets.A quick trip up to the Skitter saw me counting the largest flock of Avo's on the patch to date with a whopping count of 535 birds.This was an impressive sight indeed was great to see with plenty of juveniles in amongst the throng.
Other waders around the Skitter saw 2 Grey Plover,6 Ringed Plover,1 Bar-tailed Godwit,4 Common Sands and a good count of 177 Redshank.
Also at the Skitter,a single juvenile Yellow-legged Gull was seen and a cracking,fresh,autumn plumaged male Wheatear.
The lone Pink-footed Goose was also still here.
Back up at Winter's a few Hirundines were present and included 7 Sand Martin,3 House Martin and a good total of 162 Swallows had flown north along the Estuary during the morning.
Thursday 7th September
A later start than normal today after dropping Mrs R at work,saw me starting proceedings as normal at Winter's Pond.
After getting the gear together a quick look on the main lake saw 2 lovely juvenile Spotted Redshank roosting with the handful of Icelanders,a great start and the first sighting of the year of the species for the patch.
This site certainly has been good for the species,with me seeing at least one bird here in the last 4 years in autumn,no doubt associating with the Black-tailed Godwits.
Wader wise on here also were two juvenile Little-ringed Plover,always a nice species to see.
Also on the main lake,some winter visitors had arrived in the form of single Pintail and the 2 Wigeon from my previous visit had now increased to 38 birds,a lovely sight and sound to hear the males whistling calls again,a welcome feature here in the autumn and winter months.
A scan from the floodbank had me picking up two distant Sandwich Terns,another new for the year species for me here,as they flew out south towards Killingholme.
The rest of the visit was fairly quiet,much quieter than 26th August.
Saturday 16th September
Today just had a good feel about it with a clammy east-south easterly wind at dawn which became variable later and i thought to myself that there will be something good on the Humbertoday.
Not long after Jon and myself had got our gear together and began to scan the main lake at Winter's we were welcomed by the lovely sound of Pink-footed Geese,with birds coming over from Yorkshire and heading onto the marshes and nearby fields to feed.
It was just great to have these lovely birds back again and they really do epitomise the winter birding scene here for me.
A total of 324 birds were counted,a good start for the first sighting of the autumn period.
Also on Winter's were 502 Greylag,31 Canada Geese,8 Wigeon,1 Pintail,121 Mallard and 21 Shoveler.
As we arrived at the floodbank we began to scan the estuary and first goodie was a year tick in the form of a single Guillemot,a decent start.This was quickly followed by a duo of cracking juvenile Grey Wagtail and we watched as they fed along the shoreline when another flew overhead north,a good count for here.
Next goodie was a single 1st winter Med Gull which flew towards the Skitter in a good movement of Common Gulls up the estuary.
More scanning and i then picked a juvenile Arctic Skua heading north from our position,a new species for the year here for me.
Today was turning into one of those brilliant visits,but better was to come.
Jon headed off towards the Skitter to carry out his WEBS count along Goxhill Marsh and i carried on near Winter's carrying out my WEBS count.
A single juvenile Gannet was then picked up heading out south,being followed sometime later by another and then a single Little-ringed Plover flew north and a Green Sandpiper was seen on the marshes.
Jon then messaged me to say he had seen 3 Wheatear at the Skitter,so i wandered up there as the tide began to drop off.
I was scanning the Godwits which were building up in good numbers as they left their high tide roost at Killingholme Haven,when i picked up a Marsh Tern feeding at the outfall.
To my eyes it looked like a White-winged Black,with a gleaming white rump,grey tail sides and brown mantle and i hurriedly got nearer.
Sure enough it was what i suspected and it began to mob the Godwits before heading out further from the bankside and north out into the estuary.More features were noted with the pale grey wings contrasting well with the mantle,little ear covert spots,partial dark cap and tiny black bill.
I rang Jon but he just could not get onto it.
To put this into context,this is the first record for my local patch and the 217th species i have seen here and continues the good run of scarce and rare species i have recorded along here since 2017.
After the excitement of the Tern,i hung around the Skitter watching the now 3460 strong flock of Icelandic Black-tails,hoping the Tern may return,but it didn't sadly.
More nice sightings here though consisted of 6 Common Sandpiper,15 Knot,7 Bar-tailed Godwit and 253 Teal flew north.
A juvenile Yellow-legged Gull spent some time around the outfall before flying out into the estuary.
A steady wander back to Winter's with Jon,saw me catching up with 2 of his Wheatear which are always a pleasure to see.
Well what a cracking day,1 new patch species and 5 year ticks,this patch is just outstanding!
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| Phone scoped image of the sun peeping through the clouds. |
