Local Patching Roundup, May 2025.

A good month with regards to scarce and rare visitors to the local patch, with one new species for the list and a few others as additions to the local patch year list.

Sunday 4th 

A good look around the patch today, walking an enjoyable 12.84 miles, saw me covering Goxhill and East Halton.

The main highlight went to a new for the year species, Hobby, as a single bird was seen over North End in Goxhill. It is always a welcome species to see here, with at least a couple of records a year.

Some great numbers of waders were recorded on today's visit, with the count of 33 Whimbrel being a particular highlight. This consisted of 26 birds feeding between Goxhill Haven and the Dawson City area and 7 also feeding on East Halton Marshes, proving the patch to be an important area for the species on spring migration.

Another feature of today's wander included some decent numbers of Hirundines and Swifts, with 49 Swallow, 8 House Martin, 14 Sand Martin and 24 Common Swift entering the notes and becoming the best counts of the year so far. These species have unfortunately declined and the last few springs have seen lesser and lesser numbers being recorded.

A few species of wintering Wildfowl were still around and included a single Drake Wigeon at Winter's Pond, a Pintail at East Halton Skitter and finally 5 Teal were split between East Halton Skitter(3) and a pair on East Halton Marshes.

Herons were nicely represented today, with a booming Bittern, 4 Little Egret and 3 Grey Heron.

Friday 16th/Saturday 17th 

After hearing while away in Snowdonia, that a male Buff-breasted Sandpiper had been discovered on my patch at East Halton Marshes, you could say i was slightly concerned that i would miss out on this superb bird.

Fast forward to the morning of Friday 16th and i arrived for first light in the hope of catching up with this lovely species, but after a good look over the pool it had been found on there was no sign.....crap!. I then decided to walk north to check the rapidly drying pools further along the marshes, when a wader shot overhead and a quick view in flight confirmed it to be the BBS, thank god for that!. I then settled down to watch this cracking little Wader as it fed along the edges of the pool, giving some cracking views through the scope. It was also, occasionally, displaying to a female Little-ringed Plover and it would occasionally fly off with the LRP's and then return back to the pool.

This is the first sighting of the species i have had in Spring and one of the very few times the species has been seen to display in the UK, what a privilege!.

Saturday 17th saw me again visiting East Halton and enjoying more extended views of our lovely American visitor, with me achieving some excellent video clips, what a little beauty.

A lovely encounter while waiting for the Buff-breast to show more closely, saw me taking some lovely video of a Brown Hare, such lovely animals to watch.

A nice bonus while watching the Sandpiper, was a smart 1st summer Little Gull which dropped onto the same pool and gave some cracking views, a new species for the local patch year list.

Monday 26th 

A decent visit today to the patch, covering Goxhill and East Halton again, saw 61 species being recorded.

The best passage of Swifts for here so far for the year, saw at least 196 birds passing west along the estuary, with smaller numbers of Hirundines, which included 30 Swallow, 8 House Martins and 2 Sand Martin.

The marshes at East Halton were very quiet today, now our star American has left, with 3 Whimbrel and a single Little-ringed Plover being the highlights.

At Winter's Pond, the First Summer Little Gull was still present, now for its second week and it gave some nice views as it hawked for insects over the rear pond.

An unusual looking leucistic Black-headed Gull feeding along the Humber shoreline towards Killingholme had me taking a closer look incase it was something rarer and made for an interesting sighting.

The only other notable record, was at least 5 Bearded Tit seen along the Humber bankside reedbeds.

Some nice insects recorded on today's visit, included a lovely Clouded Silver Moth, a stunning Lackey Moth Caterpillar and my first local patch Golden-bloomed grey Longhorn Beetle.

All landscape photos and pics of the Little-ringed Plover/Buff-breasted Sandpiper/Brown Hare all taken with my Google Pixel 8 Pro phone through my Swarovski ATX85 telescope and a Swarovski VPA phone adapter.

Some Lovely Skies Over The Humber On The 4th.

Brown Hare, East Halton Marshes, 16th.

Female Little-ringed Plover, East Halton Marshes, 16th.

Male Buff-breasted Sandpiper, East Halton Marshes, 16th.

Dawson City, Goxhill, 26th.

Goxhill Marsh, 26th.

Clouded Silver, Goxhill Marsh, 26th.

Male Thick-thighed Flower Beetle, East Halton Marshes, 26th.

Lackey Moth Caterpillar, East Halton Marshes, 26th.

Hoverfly Species - Eristalis nemorum, East Halton Marshes.

Golden-bloomed grey Longhorn Beetle, Winter's Pond, 26th.

Whimbrel, East Halton, 26th.