A decent month overall with the patch seeing some nice birds and a cracker that got away!.
The following is what i saw through the month.
Thursday 1st
An evening trip to carry out my monthly WEBS count before heading south to the New Forest saw a few nice birds being seen, which included a juvenile Wood Sandpiper on the remnants of water on East Halton Marshes.
This beauty became my 3rd of the species seen on the site for the year, a good return.
Also on the marshes were 3100 Icelandic Black-tailed Godwits and a solitary Dunlin.
Saturday 10th
After returning from the New Forest, it was back to patching and today's visit was pretty productive to be fair, with the first different passerine migrants of the autumn.
These included 2 each of Whinchat and Stonechat on the marshes, the former nice to see and a good species to catch up with these days. Equally as nice, were the 2 juvvie Stonechats, watched chasing the Whinchats in a bit of a melee with the local Reed Bunts and Mipits.
Other species seen today of note included a 4th Calendar year Yellow-legged Gull along the foreshore towards the Skitter and 3 Common Sands at the Skitter itself, with Winter's seeing the juvenile Wood Sandpiper being still around along with a good count of 8 Green Sands.
Also at Winter's were 13 Willow Warbler, 24 Little Grebe, 2 Swift and a year tick adult Kittiwake watched offshore.
Friday 16th
An evening visit today produced some nice numbers of species and variety at Winter's with the juvenile Wood Sand still here, along with 4 Green and 1 Common sandpiper, 2 juvenile Little-ringed Plover, Whimbrel and 380 Black-tailed Godwits.
Non Wader species included a good count of 235 Sand Martins, 2 Drake Pochard,19 Coot and 20 Little Grebes.
A juvenile Hobby was watched over Winter's before it drifted off over the village.
Saturday 24th
A showery day today saw a few nice birds being seen, with Winter's holding 5 Green Sands still, 5 Snipe, 20 Little Grebe, 24 Coot, 6 Willow Warbler and 180 Sand Martins.
18 Common Terns and a single Common Scoter on the Humber provided some interest away from the ponds and marshes.
Elsewhere was pretty quiet also as we walked the Lanes, but a look along the Beck paid dividends, when i spotted a blue reflection on the water, 10 minutes later i was adding Kingfisher at last to my patch yearlist.
The latter sighting really showing how good these new 10 x 52 Swaros really are!, with normal binos i would never of picked the Kingfisher up.
The Skitter held 5 Common Sands, a nice sighting to finish a wet day.
Saturday 31st
The last day of the month saw a good days birding with lots of activity on and around Winter's.
The best highlights here included my first flock of Spoonbills on the ground for the site, with 5 juveniles being seen. They moved next door to the marshes after being flushed by the local Cows and proceeded to go to sleep.
Also on Winter's, the first Great-white Egret of the autumn here along with 2 Pintail, 7 Wigeon, 625 Greylag, 44 Canada Geese, 16 Coot, 10 Moorhen, 1 juvenile Little-ringed Plover, 5 Green and 1 Common Sandpiper.
A walk up to the Skitter saw a juvenile Yellow-legged Gull flying north, and 2 Ruff, Greenshank, Common Sand, Whimbrel and 5 Avocet.
A wander along the marshes back towards Winter's saw me potentially finding one of the rarest birds of the year down here as i found what I'm sure was a juvenile Red-backed Shrike on the western fields at the side of the marshes. But after seeing it briefly and walking around to the brash pile it had been seen perched on, it was nowhere to be seen. I searched high and low for it, but no sign, talk about bloody frustrating!.
This would have been the first i have seen on my patch since i found a juvenile along Marsh Lane at East Halton in September 1988.
On a positive note though, i ended the day on a very good 87 species and the yearlist now sits on a decent 150 species for the patch year list with all the autumn proper to come.
 |
| Hoverfly Species, Syritta pipiens, Winter's Pond, 1st. |
 |
| Dingy Footman, Winter's Pond, 1st. |
 |
| Bonus Flyby At Winter's Pond, Was This Catalina Flyingboat, 1st. |
 |
| Sunrise Over The Humber, 10th. |
 |
| Record Shot Of One Of The Whinchat's In The Heat Haze, 1st. |
 |
| Phone-scoped Photo Of This Buck Roe Deer, East Halton, 31st. |
 |
| Skitter Road, 31st. |
 |
| Final Instar Female Long-winged Conehead, East Halton Skitter, 31st. |
 |
| Juvenile Spoonbills, East Halton Marshes, 31st. |
 |
| Adult Great-white Egret, Winter's Pond, 31st. |
