A pretty decent month saw some great sightings from the local patch at East Halton/Goxhill, with a couple of year list additions putting it on 163, a fairly decent effort.
The following is my summary of sightings:
Friday 1st
A good start to the month saw me covering Goxhill and East Halton.
I have designed a loop trail at Goxhill that takes me from the Haven, west along the Humber bank, down past Quebec Cottages, then along past the Tilery, then along West Marsh Lane(Syke's Lane as i always knew it) and then back along Ferry Road and back to the car.
It covers some decent habitat and today's highlights went to a lovely Peregrine hunting along Ferry Road, 4 Knot near Goxhill Haven and the fantastic sight of 10,000 Starlings heading east over the fields.
After lunch i travelled over to East Halton and spent the rest of the day around Winter's and East Halton Marshes, with the best sightings going to 4 Whooper Swans, 2 Barnacle Geese and a Great-white Egret on the marshes and a Green Sand on Winter's, making for an enjoyable day out.
Saturday 2nd
An all day visit to the Winter's area saw a quieter day than yesterday, but i still managed a good count of 71 species.
Highlights went to the long staying Greenshank still in residence at the Skitter and a Corn Bunting with the Bunting/Finch flock near East Halton Grange, the latter being the first sighting for the patch for the year.
Other bits and bobs included 7 Common Scoter which flew north along the Humber, the 2 Barnacle Geese still with the Greylag flock on the marshes and 2 Goldeneye on Winter's.
Saturday 9th
An early start at Winter's today saw a few nice birds being seen, which included 2 Red-throated Diver together, which flew out south along the Humber and 5 Common Scoter which flew north and then drifted out south later.
On the ponds, 3 Pochard were nice, a pretty scarce bird here and the marshes held 3 Barnacle Geese now, along with at least 450 Wigeon and 2500 Pinks flew north west.
The lovely sight of 121 Avocet was witnessed as they fed along the Humber mud towards the Skitter.
The unfortunate sight of a freshly killed Water Rail at Winter's in the afternoon, goes to show how vulnerable some birds are to predators, which of course, have to survive also.
Non bird sightings today went to 2 Grey Seal on the Humber and a lovely Fox at East Halton.
Sunday 10th
I carried out the Goxhill loop again this morning, seeing a few nice birds which included a single Whooper Swan with a curious kinked neck, which flew east at Goxhill Haven, A Redhead Goosander which flew by in the same direction.
Two Peregrines over the fields towards New Holland were great to see and hear, with 42 Redwing, 34 Fieldfare and a good count for these days of 30 Yellowhammer, all entered the notes.
An afternoon visit to the Winter's area, saw 3 Pintail being the best sighting on the marshes, with a Great-crested Grebe on Winter's itself.
Saturday 16th
A good day again around the East Halton area, saw highlights going to a Short-eared Owl which crossed the Humber from Yorkshire, a lovely Kingfisher along East Halton Beck, Ruff and Greenshank at the Skitter and 4 female Common Scoter which flew north along the Humber.
On the ponds 21 Little Grebe was a good count and in the bushes, 30 Blackbird, 49 Fieldfare and 57 Redwing saw Thrush numbers building.
Sunday 17th
A cracking days birding today, saw me covering Goxhill first in the morning in a north westerly airflow, which i was convinced would turn up some Snow Buntings as they often do at this time of year.
The above was proved correct, with a flock of 10 birds between Goxhill Haven and Dawson City which showed nicely with patience, but they were very jumpy.
Other nice sightings around this area went to 64 Goldeneye off Goxhill Haven, 50 Ringed Plover, 27 Grey Plover and a cracking Merlin which flew close overhead as i was re-locating the Snow Buntings.
In the afternoon i made my way over to the Winter's area, which proved a good move, as i found 2 Purple Sandpipers as they flew past me and began feeding along the shore between Winter's and the Skitter.
With a little patience they showed really nicely and i managed to get some decent video and phone-scoped pics. These are the first Purple Sands here for me since May 1990, so a monster find locally!.
Also along this area were 2 more Snow Buntings, so 12 for the day was excellent.
Other good sightings in the area included a lovely adult Med Gull sat on the Humber with a mixed Gull flock and 105 Avocet feeding along the shore towards the Skitter.
Friday 22nd
Some proper winter weather today, with freezing temperatures and a light covering of snow, saw a spectacular sunrise at Winter's, with a great chance to take some photos.
Onto the birds, the Barnacle Geese had now risen to 5 birds with the Greylag flock, with 5 Whooper Swan also being seen, which included 2 adults and a juvenile which flew north over East Halton Marshes and a further 2 juveniles which spent some time with the Mute Swans on Winter's before flying off.
Also on Winter's were a Kingfisher, 77 Gadwall, 675 Wigeon, 465 Greylags, 20 Shoveler and 16 Tufted Duck, with 3 Pintail also flying north along the Humber.
Thrush numbers were also good here, with 156 Redwing, 18 Fieldfare, 3 Song Thrush and 16 Blackbirds.
Sunday 24th
A really good visit today regarding the commoner species, with some pleasing counts, with the marshes coming into Its own now.
As mentioned above, some good counts were had on the marshes today, with 600 Wigeon, 473 Teal, 2555 Lapwing, 17 Black-tailed Godwit, 14 Redshank, 3 Ruff and 8 Dunlin being present making for some enjoyable viewing.
On Winter's the Kingfisher was seen again and 11 Moorhen, 2 Pochard and 14 Little Grebe were also present.
In the Winter's/Marshes/Skitter area, there were 3000 Starlings, 4 Stonechat, 282 Redwing, 18 Blackbirds and 510 Fieldfare with 2 Knot also at the Skitter.
Saturday 30th
The final day of the month saw me visiting the Winter's area again, walking the square and recording a good 71 species.
This seems to be around the average number recorded on most visits, which is pretty decent to be fair.
The best sightings on today's visit went to 7 Barnacle Geese on the marshes with the Lags, 550 Wigeon, 287 Teal, 18 Tufties and a whopping count for Winter's of 21 Pochard. The latter is a record count for the site and was really great to see.
Away from wildfowl, 2 Woodcock was a good day count for the daylight hours, with 1 in East Halton village and another bird at the Skitter. Other waders seen included 3 Ruff on the marshes again, 62 Curlew and 565 Lapwing.
A superb count of 25,000 Starlings was made as they left their roost at dawn from Killingholme Haven and 7 Stonechat, 32 Fieldfare, 26 Blackbird, 13 Yellowhammer and another Corn Bunting.
The latter sighting was a new bird for the Winter's list and a very welcome sighting.
Well that's another month over and what an enjoyable one, what a great patch!
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| Grey Heron, Winter's Pond. |
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| Spectacular Skies |
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| One Of The Two Purple Sandpipers. |
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| Snow Bunting, Goxhill Haven. |
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| Snow Buntings, Goxhill Haven. |
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| Water Rail Remains, After A Sparrowhawk Had Caught & Eaten It. |
