Another monthly roundup of sightings here from my local patch at Goxhill & East Halton.
Saturday 1st
A visit to Goxhill first this morning proved a good choice when i found a lovely Purple Sandpiper in the company of a single Dunlin, Turnstone and Redshank. The bird gave some lovely views and i left it after getting some nice pics, albeit phonescoped in poor light.
A superb count of 352 Curlew along the fields between Goxhill Haven and Marsh was really great to see.
After enjoying the birds at Goxhill, i moved up to East Halton and bumped into birding mate Darren Wozencroft. We wandered up to the Skitter seeing some nice birds, which included the cracking male Hen Harrier i had seen a few weeks before. This time he was seen very briefly as a Marsh Harrier flushed him, before he settled back down again.
Other bits along here included 3 Pintail, a male and a pair which were a new species for the patch year list, a nice flock of 68 Avocet, a new for the year Oystercatcher, 650 Lapwings and 3 Drake Pochard on Winter's Pond.
Saturday 8th
An abandoned visit to East Halton today, after hearing some bad news about Winter's Pond, saw me totally dismayed as to what is potentially going to happen with the site.
I have learnt that the Winter's family have decided to sell their property to Able UK, this potentially could mean the development and destruction of this very important site for birds and wildlife. After having a few conversations with our local MP and several others, it may not be as bad as initially thought, so I'm sat here with everything crossed in the hope it is saved.
Back to the birding, after hearing the bad news, i travelled over to Goxhill and parked at the haven,deciding to walk up along the floodbank to East Halton Skitter, then inland along the beck and up to Chapel Field Road and back up to the haven along East Marsh Road.
The best of the highlights went to 2 Water Pipit around the Skitter pools, with a lovely mixed flock of Buntings and Finches nearby which contained 55 Chaffinches and 30 Yellowhammers, with the only other goodie being a Jay along the beck.
Sunday 23rd
After the previous weekends illness, it was really great to get out and about again today, with one cracking find at Goxhill, when a Richard's Pipit flew over my head while covering a different area on the patch for a change.
The bird was seen flying from a field along Chapel Field Road and then over my head and onto the aerodrome. In flight it gave some superb views in good light, large size, finely streaked upper breast, gleaming white underparts and long tail with distinct white sides. Subsequent searching after the initial sighting drew a blank unfortunately. This was a new species for my personal patch list and a species i have looked for, for many years, it was just a big surprise to find one in February of all months!.
Other nice sightings included a new for year species in the form of a Treecreeper seen with a Tit flock near Goxhill Tilery, a welcome addition to the years sightings, 2 Bearded Tit along Goxhill Marsh and the regular Jay along East Halton beck again.
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| Remains Of An Invasive Species, Chinese Mitten Crab Found Along Goxhill Marsh. |
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| Stunning Skies Near Goxhill Haven. |
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| Purple Sandpiper, Goxhill Haven. |
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| Purple Sandpiper, Goxhill Haven. |
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