Another round of superb visits to the local patch at East Halton over these three days,seeing some great birds,the following is what i encountered.
Friday 20th
Some perfect conditions today for pushing seabirds up the estuary,saw me stuck at work until finishing at 1.30pm.After this i headed straight for the patch to see what i could find in the torrential rain and south easterly blast.
On arrival at East Halton,i parked up at the Skitter and positioned the car so the rain didn't come in through the window.
First birds i set eyes on were incredibly,2 juvenile Long-tailed Skuas sat together on the Humber off the Skitter.i watched as they drifted along on the tide before i lost sight of them in the gloom,an amazing start!.
Then it was the turn of Little Gulls to entertain,as birds headed both north and south along the estuary,with some passing close by my position,giving some stunning views of this cracking little species.
Birds of various ages were seen,including some cracking juveniles.In all a total of 22 flew north and 37 flew out south.
Next into the notebook were at least 6 Kittiwakes,with 2 juveniles heading south along the estuary and a juvenile and 3 adults heading north,a typical species to be encountered at this time of year and in these conditions.
A couple of Arctic Skuas were then seen heading out south,followed by 2 juvenile and a 2nd calendar year Gannet flying north and then 2 adults,2 3rd calendar years,juvenile and 2 2nd calendar year birds all heading out south.
The adult Gannets are the first i have seen on the patch for a long while,as adults rarely get blown up the estuary.
Other interesting sightings away from seabirds,went to a cracking Little Stint seen with a flock of Dunlin and a single Dark-bellied Brent Goose which flew north.
A very productive few hours,sadly cut short as the weather deteriorated.
Sunday 22nd
WEBS day today saw me meeting up with Jon and us having a good all day visit ,seeing some great birds.
We started proceedings at Winter's as always which was fairly quiet again,best of the sightings here went to 5 Goldeneye(1st W. drake and 4 females)and a good count of 16 little Grebe.
The marshes were alive with birds this morning though,now with the water levels building nicely and it wasn't long before i picked out some nice birds,a flock of Russian White-fronts.
There were 4 birds,2 adults and 2 juveniles and it made me think about the birds last winter and the outside possibility that these two adults may have visited us before.
They gave some lovely views as they fed unconcernedly,loosely associating with the Greylag flock.
Other bits on here included 3 Ruff,6 Pintail,a brief Short-eared Owl which was flushed by a passing Marsh Harrier and the now resident 3 Cattle Egret were still following the cattle around giving some nice views.
Some good counts of Wildfowl and Waders here included 520 Wigeon,280 Teal,180 Lapwing,46 Black-tailed Godwit,153 Curlew and 24 Redshank making for some great viewing.
After viewing the marshes we wandered up to the Skitter,seeing a hunting Peregrine over the marshes putting all the feeding waders and ducks up,the usual mayhem that they cause.
We then decided to walk along Skitter Road and back to Winter's which proved a pretty good decision as the first nice bird was a single Crossbill which flew west,followed by a Little Owl and Jay nearby and a Green Sand in a flooded field near The Grange.
After arriving back at Winter's,more scanning of the marshes before sundown saw some lovely afternoon light giving great conditions for looking for Owls,but none materialised unfortunately.
All was not lost though,as the lovely White-front family were still present along with the 2 Barnacle Geese and a first winter Med.Gull flew onto the Humber to roost.
A pretty decent count of 87 species were recorded today and just goes to show how good this patch is.
Sunday 29th
A dawn start at Winter's first thing saw a spectacular burning orange sunrise,so plenty of pictures were taken.
After this lovely start it was down to looking for our feathered friends and as on my last visit Winter's was fairly quiet,but the marshes were again alive with birds.
The best sightings went to the 3 Cattle Egret still in residence,9 Ruff,5 Pintail,a Kingfisher,2 Stonechat and a single Brambling which flew south.
Numbers of Wildfowl and Waders here included 246 Wigeon,161 Curlew,47 Dunlin,51 Redshank and a good count of 132 Black-tailed Godwit.
As the tide dropped off i wandered up to the Skitter,watching the feeding waders and managing to get some cracking video of both Bar-tailed Godwit and Knot at pretty close range.
The latter two species were in pretty good numbers today with 11 of the former and 19 of the latter.Also around the Skitter area were a Peregrine,134 Avocet and 3 Water Rail which showed brilliantly allowing me to take some pleasing video.
A walk along Skitter Road saw a Jay being seen again at The Grange and a whopping flock of at least 700 Wood Pigeon in the area making for an impressive sight.
On return to the marshes another good look for the previous weekend's White-fronts,saw them definitely not here,but the 2 Barnies were still around and the three Cattle Egret were roosting in the little wood at Winter's.
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| The Locals On The Marshes On The 22nd. |
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| Spectacular Sunrise On The 29th. |
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| Phone-scoped Photo Of A Bar-tailed Godwit At East Halton Skitter,29th. |
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| Skitter Road Near The Grange On The 29th. |
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