October is always the month i always look forward to every year with the prospect of finding something 'Nice' on the local patch and this was certainly the case this year, as last year and the year before that.
The following is a summary of sightings through the month of what i recorded on the local patch between East Halton and Goxhill, with 2 new species added to my life list here and the yearlist now standing on a decent 159 species.
Friday 4th
The month began with an afternoon visit for a change, with not a great deal to report apart from a flock of 12 Common Scoter heading north along the Estuary from my watchpoint at Winter's Pond. This small flock consisted of 5 drakes and 7 females, always a species i enjoy seeing.
Also seen around Winter's were 5 Chiffchaff, 4 Tree Sparrow back in residence for the winter and on the Humber a single Ruff in amongst a flock of feeding Icelandic Black-tailed Godwits.
Friday 11th
Another Friday visit today saw a fairly quiet visit until i walked along Jericho Lane in East Halton village, when i heard a single 'Dudluee' call and picked up a Woodlark flying overhead and across the fields towards Thornton Abbey!!!!!.
This species is a proper rarity here and only the 2nd recorded on the patch after GPC had a spring bird several years ago.
The remainder of the visit saw a few other nice birds being seen, which included a single flyover Brambling at Winter's and 12 lovely Whooper Swans dropping into there also, with the bushes around the site providing my latest local Willow Warbler to date, a Goldcrest, 2 Chiffchaff and overhead 2 Swallow.
Sunday 13th
Some serious effort today walking all the way up to Dawson City and back saw a great days birding enjoyed.
I started off proceedings by listening for Owls between Redhouse Wood and East Halton Grange, with a single Little Owl and 3 calling male Tawny Owls heard, a great start.
When it got light, it soon became apparent that Pink-footed Geese were all over the place and an estimate of at least 15000 birds were in the East Halton/Immingham/Cherry Cobb area an amazing sight to see.
The 2 Barnacle Geese were still with the Greylag flock and 8 lovely Whooper Swans flew south overhead also.
Some great sightings around the East Halton Skitter area included the adult Greenshank still(I'm hoping this bird overwinters, as I've never had a winter record here), 2 Ruff, 2 Bearded Tit, 2 male Stonechat, 3 Redhead Goosander, 275 Teal and a Grey Wagtail overhead.
Best sightings on the marshes went to a single Peregrine, 5 Stonechat, the afore-mentioned Barnacle Geese and a hunting juvenile Marsh Harrier.
Goxhill Marsh held the biggest surprise of the day, with a Reed Warbler seen and heard calling at Ruins Pond, my latest personal record of the species.
Also along this area were 7 Bearded Tit, a Great-spotted Woodpecker, 3 Goldcrest and a female Marsh Harrier.
Winter's highlights today included 26 Shoveler, 9 Moorhen, 24 Coot and 21 Little Grebe.
Friday 18th/Saturday 19th
Friday 18th
Some great numbers of birds around Winter's on Friday saw 50 Shoveler, 34 Wigeon, 72 Mallard, a Drake Pintail, 20 Coot, Kingfisher and 14 Little Grebe on the ponds.
The bushes were fairly productive too, with a single Brambling overhead south, 14 Chaffinch, 3 Greenfinch, 2 Tree Sparrow, 3 Chiffchaff and 12 Song Thrush the best of it. A lovely Grey Wagtail was watched feeding along the Humber floodbank towards Killingholme, lovely birds.
East Halton Marshes was fairly productive today, with a Water Pipit the main highlight, but also 6 Stonechat, 31 Skylark, the 2 Barnacle Geese still, 2465 Pink-footed Geese and 49 Curlew.
At the Skitter the Greenshank was still present along with 2 Ruff, 71 Avocet and 3 Little Egret, with a record count of 11 Rock Pipits here exceptional.
Saturday 19th
Saturday saw a later arrival than usual due to heavy rain, as i walked around the small plantation at the car park, i heard a call I've been waiting to hear for so long down here, 'Tsoeest', 'Tsoeest' i couldn't stop grinning as i watched my first local patch Yellow-browed Warbler. The bird showed really nicely thankfully feeding in the plantation and adjacent Hawthorn hedgerow, what a lovely species these birds are, regardless of how much more common they are on the east coast these days in the autumn.
This is the commonest visiting Siberian passerine to the UK and usually winter's in South East Asia, and arrives here in varying numbers and this year it is shaping up to be a very good year for them.
It is a first for me here obviously and is the 228th species for my personal local patch list and the 171st species i have recorded at Winter's Pond.
The rest of the visit was immaterial now, but i still managed to see some other nice birds with Grey Wagtail, 20 Whooper Swans which flew south west, 16 Little Grebe, Kingfisher and Male Stonechat all being seen at Winter's.
On arrival back at Winter's after walking up to the Skitter, the Yellow-browed showed amazingly well feeding in a Oak Tree/Hawthorns/Privet hedge near the car park before dusk, what a great visit!.
Friday 25th
Pretty poor weather conditions in mizzle today saw me only staying until lunch time.
I walked up Marsh Lane and back around the fields from the village and back to Winter's. with the best bird being a cracking Woodcock watched flying from it's roost, what a beautiful species they are!.
Sunday 27th
A visit to Goxhill Haven first thing to see another species for the year list after birding buddy Chas Adland had found 2 Twite, saw me seeing these cracking little moorland Finches as they fed unconcernedly on grass seeds along the floodbank giving some superb views.
After enjoying the lovely Twite i headed over to East Halton.
A really good effort covering the areas between Winter's, Jericho Lane, Skitter Road and East Halton Skitter saw a really good 78 species being seen with no real surprises being recorded.
The best sightings went to the 2 Barnacle Geese still on the Marshes, a Green Sandpiper and Siskin at Winter's, and Ruff and Greenshank at the Skitter with 9 Stonechat also entering the notes.
A non bird sighting worth noting today, was a huge Conger Eel which was washed up dead on the shore opposite Winter's, even the Great black-backed Gulls were wary of eating it.
Well what a cracking month, i love this patch!
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| East Halton Sunset, 4th. |
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| Sunrise At Winter's, 13th. |
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| Solar Halo Over The Humber, 13th. |
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| Full Moon, 18th. |
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| Dawn At Winter's 18th. |
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| Modelling The Big Swaro's, 18th. |
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| East Halton Skitter, 18th. |
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| Grey Heron, Winter's Pond, 19th. |
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| In The Murk, East Halton, 25th. |
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| One Of The Twite, Goxhill Haven, 27th. |
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| A Huge Dead Conger Eel, East Halton, 27th. |
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| Skitter Road, 27th. |
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| East Halton Marshes, 27th. |
