Local Patching.....September Update.

As i have been really busy of late and not had chance to post weekly,here is a compilation of sightings from the local patch and obviously a selection of photos from each day visited.

8th September

Winter's Pond today,held the usual post breeding flock of Greylag's,with 500 birds present and a single Green Sandpiper fed around the edges of the main lake,with 4 Little Egret here also,a big number for the site.
 From the shore,2 Bar-tailed Godwit,130 Teal and 2 Pintail flew north along the estuary.
 Between WP and the Skitter,more Teal passed by north,with another 250 birds and also passing in the same direction were my first Pink-footed Geese of the autumn period with 10 being seen,a very welcome sighting!.
 Also along here a good count of 57 Redshank,13 Turnstone and the first Goldcrest of the autumn in the bushes,with a juvenile Marsh harrier hunting the mitigation site.Also on the site,were the female Roe Deer with her twins,what a lovely sight.
 The Skitter was alive with birds today and the best of which were 43 Knot,12 Avocet,12 Bar-tailed Godwit,3 Grey Heron,300 Golden Plover,another Marsh Harrier,this time an adult female and 42 Shelduck.A Great-spotted Woodpecker in the plantation was the first i have seen here this year.
 Between the Skitter and Dawson City 4 Common Buzzard,included 3 migrant birds which passed east over the estuary,a single Cetti's Warbler calling in the borrow pit near Ruins Pond and 52 Curlew entered the notebook.
 Nothing was noted on Dawson City itself,but on the shore a new bird species for the year was logged,Sanderling.Six birds were observed on the sandbank off here and are the 26th species of wader to be recorded on the patch this year.Other notables included 16 Bar-tailed Godwit and 9 Pintail.
 Along the salt marsh edge walking back towards Long Wood,9 Bearded Tit showed brilliantly and allowed some opportunities to try and get some photos.The males rank as one of our most stunning birds in my opinion,little beauties.
 After reaching the Skitter again,a walk along the edge of the mitigation site produced 2 Chat species,with both singles of Stonechat and Whinchat being recorded.This is the first time here,that i have recorded both species at the same time and was a great end to a decent patch visit today.

15th September

Plenty of activity on Winter's Pond at dawn today with Ruff,2 Knot,Green Sand Piper,622 Greylag and a Grey Wagtail flying north west.The latter was the first sighting of the year for the patch.
 Overhead passage continued in good form,with 2 immature Spoonbill heading north along the estuary,the 3rd record for the year of this increasing species,which is certainly becoming a welcome sight.
 The Skitter held the usual suspects,with 6 Little Egret,168 Golden Plover,44 Knot and 48 Shelduck,with a 'New' Marsh Harrier,a first adult male hunting the salt marsh here.
 Between the Skitter and Ruins Pond,3 Ruff with a flock of 238 Golden Plover was nice to see,a pair of Bearded Tit,61 Curlew and a single Whimbrel also entered the notebook.
 The Dawson City area produced only the 2nd record of the year of Willow Tit,with a single bird observed along the borrow pits here and 61 Pink-footed Geese flew south inland,with a single Treecreeper on the reserve itself.
 Back to the Skitter and a whopping count of 1104 Black-tailed Godwit was achieved and made for an impressive sight.Also along here were 2 juvenile Wheatear,7 Avocet and 34 Dunlin.

21st September

The usual start at Winter's Pond today,a little later than normal,after a quick sleep after my night shift,saw male Cetti's Warbler,34 Coot and 100 Pink-feet entering the notebook.
 Because it was high tide,i decided to cover the inland fields for a change first seeing a cracking old type adult male Marsh Harrier hunting the rough field next to Winter's,giving some lovely views.
 Nothing else was seen along Skitter Road until i passed Grange Farm and picked up a Hobby hawking dragonflies distantly over Langmere Wood,i continued to watch and amazingly another 2 joined it.This could mean local breeding,who knows,i was just pleased to add the species to my patch year list and enjoy watching them with their superb aerial prowess.
 The Skitter area provided me with plenty of sightings to add to the notebook on today's visit,with 128 Knot,juvenile Common Sandpiper,350 Golden Plover,3 Ruff,4 Avocet and a 'New' colour ringed Black-tailed Godwit with the combination of yellow ring over a white ring inscribed with a number 8 on the right leg and green over lime on the left leg.This bird is an adult female and was first ringed at Skagafjaroarsysla,Siglufjorour in Northern Iceland on 10.07.2012. and has subsequently been seen at Belfast RSPB in Northern Ireland,Castle Espie In Northern Ireland,the Tagus Estuary in Portugal and Killingholme and Immingham on the Humber,returning each year to Iceland to breed.What a superb insight into the birds life history.
 Between the Skitter and Winter's,2 cracking sighting's were seen and both new species for the year.The first was 2 cracking adult Arctic Skuas,a dark morph and pale morph bird watched moving north along the estuary,giving some lovely views through the new Swaro scope and the second sighting involved a Little Stint bombing past me with a flock of Knot.This becomes the 27th species of wader for the year.
 Considering the amount of time put in today,it was certainly a productive one,with 3 new species for the year.

28th September

On today's visit,it was a tale of two halves,as the weather put a bit of a spanner in the works.
 Things started well at Winter's with the usual juv/female Goldeneye,14 Wigeon and a pair of Pochard being the notables,with an adult female Marsh Harrier passing along the estuary,south
 As in recent years,Pink-footed Geese have been roosting on Paul Holme Strays and passing over the river to feed on recently harvested cereal fields and this morning,the very impressive sight and sound of at least 2100 birds fed on fields next to Winter's.These are one of my favourite bird species and i look forward to every autumn when our little Icelandic friends return.
 After watching the Pinks,the weather began to take a turn for the worse and i quickly headed to the car.
 The rest of my visit today was spent sheltering in the car,parked at the Skitter watching the river and haven,which was pretty productive to be fair.Highlights went to a mixed flock of 20 Terns,which contained 18 Common and 2 Arctic which passed north along the estuary,the first returning Rock Pipit of the autumn/winter period,6 Avocet,50 Dunlin and a juvenile Common Sandpiper,no doubt the bird from my last visit.
 Other notables when the sun eventually came out again,included a juvenile Hobby which arrived from the north bank and began to hawk dragonflies along the Humber flood bank before disappearing inland and a pair of Stonechat watched along the sea wall.
 Another productive visit bringing a good September to a close.

Juvenile Common Buzzard,8th September.

Buck Roe Deer Attempting To Hide,8th September.

Female Bearded Tit,Near Dawson City,8th September.

Female Bearded Tit,Showing How Agile The Species Is,8th September.

Male Bearded Tit,8th September.

Male Bearded Tits,8th September.

Male Bearded Tit,8th September.

juvenile Whinchat,8th September.

Winter's Pond,15th September.

Immature Spoonbills Heading North,15th September.

Juvenile Knot,East Halton Skitter,15th September.

Pink-footed Geese Over Winter's Pond,15th September.

Pink-footed Geese Arriving From The North Bank,28th September.

Pink-footed Geese,28th September.

Stormy Skies Over East Halton Skitter,28th September.

Impressive Sky,East Halton Skitter.

Scarborough Birders Pelagic Take 2,Sunday 1st September 2019.

Another organised trip out on the ocean waves with the Scarborough lads today was on the cards and i set off nice and early travelling through the wolds as it began to get light.
 I arrived at at a very sunny,but breezy Scarborough,paid for my parking for the day and headed over to the harbour side to meet the lads.
 After loading the very smelly vats of fermenting fish scraps onto the boat,we were off.
 Today's efforts were really hard work,with no seabirds coming into the food until the return journey back to the harbour,when a hand full of Gannets followed the boat,most passed us by at distance and included 3 Manx Shearwater and a single Bonxie.On the water several Guillemot and a few Razorbill were also seen and a single 'Puffling',with it's dusky face.But it was on the return journey,when things certainly hotted up.
 Micky had saved the majority of the fish scraps for the journey back in along the coastline,as further out we hadn't encountered anything as mentioned above.This at first drew in the usual Herring,Greater and Lesser black-backed Gulls,but then Micky,to his credit called a Caspian Gull.Sure enough a cracking 1st calendar year bird showed brilliantly and then i was pretty sure i had seen another and yes,after looking at shots taken on the camera there were 2.The second bird wasn't as quite as strikingly plumaged as the first and had some tail feathers missing,but it certainly was one!.This was brilliant and gave all on board a chance to capture some images of the 2 birds and a great oppertunity to study this eastern species at close quarters.This was certainly just reward for all the hard work put in on these trips and was a cracking end to what would have been a disappointing trip.
 After docking,i said my good byes to the lads and wandered back to the car and i then decided to head over to Wykeham for a couple of hours,as it is always a great place to sit and watch.
 After arriving at the fantastic vista at the viewpoint and meeting Kieth and his friends from Teesmouth,we settled down to scan the forest and moorland for any raptors.
 It wasn't long before we were watching the first of at least 4 different Goshawk,one juvenile bird which took a disliking to one of the local Buzzards,mobbing it right overhead,with the other birds consisting of 2 immatures and a single adult female.Other birds noted included at least 6 Common Buzzard,a Crossbill and a few Siskins.
 The promised for rain eventually materialised and i my made my way back to the car and home after enjoying another brilliant visit to this cracking area for the hobby.

2nd Calendar Year Gannet.

2nd Calendar Year Gannet.

1st Calendar Year Caspian Gull(1st Individual)

1st Calendar Year Caspian Gull(2nd Individual)

Patch Wader's etc.....Saturday August 31st 2019.

With another decent forecast on the cards today,albeit a breezy one,i headed for the local patch at East Halton.On today's visit,i just covered the area between Winter's and the Skitter along the edge of the mitigation site and then returned along the Humber bank back to Winter's again in a square.
 After picking Mrs R up from work and dropping her at home after her night shift,i made my way over to my parking spot at Winter's Pond.I knew it would be high tide,so i expected a few waders to be roosting on Winter's, i wonder what today would bring.
 After getting the gear together,the first bird i saw was a juvenile Little-ringed Plover feeding on the piece of mud directly opposite the car,a nice start i thought.As i walked around the small copse and began to scan the pit,it became apparent that there were 3 not 1 LRP's present and all were juveniles.These lovely little,clock work waders are always a joy to watch with their stop start feeding action and it would be great to think these 3 are locally bred birds.
 More scanning saw only a relatively small number of Black-tailed Godwits present today,with 140 present,but also 2 Knot and a juvenile Greenshank added a bit of variety.
 There was a huge flock of Greylag's loafing on the pit and eventually i counted a whopping 852 with the regular 14 Canada's also present.Other bits of Wildfowl included the 2 resident Mute Swans,the 4 Tufties that have been here for months now and 25 Coot,but it looks like the Goldeneye has left now.
 I then decided to walk the edge of the mitigation site up to the Skitter,with some lovely big,sunny skies on show giving me a chance to take a few landscape pics.
 Bird wise along here,it was pretty good,with a single Ruff,3 Curlew and 2 Green Sandpiper on the pools,with a distant Marsh Harrier hunting the pasture field at the Skitter.The best bird went to a passerine,with another juv. Whinchat being recorded,after the birds on the 24th.It gave pretty brief views,before disappearing into the sea of thistles,but was nice to see all the same.
 The only other notables along here,were a good sized flock of 135 Goldfinch and 4 Roe Deer,with 2 Doe's and 2 fawns,1 female had twins,which was nice to see and i managed to grab a record shot of one of them.
 A quick search around the Skitter plantation and hedgerows revealed no interesting Warbler's or Flycatcher's unfortunately,but the Skitter area looked like it had decent numbers of waders and wildfowl.
 A quick scan through,saw the unseasonal sight of Dark-bellied Brent Goose browsing on seaweed and i wondered if it could be one of the birds i saw on 30th July here.Other sighting's here today consisted of 3 Ruff,the juv. Spotted Redshank again,as on my last visit,3 Avocet,6 Common Sandpiper,7 Knot,1 Whimbrel and at least 650 Black-tailed Godwit.A good look through the latter revealed another colour-ringed bird with white over a black flag on it's left leg and white over red on it's right leg and I'm waiting for details back on the bird.
 After covering the Skitter area,i slowly headed back to Winter's and the car seeing a flock of 10 Wigeon heading south along the estuary,a sure sign Winter is on it's way.
 Another decent visit today and i look forward to my next here.

Roe Deer Fawn On The Mitigation Site.

Dark-bellied Brent Goose At The Skitter.

Whimbrel Flyby At The Skitter

Local Patching Update......17th,24th & 26th August 2019.

Another compilation here of the latest visits to my local birding patch at East Halton and Goxhill,a pretty good few visits adding another three species to the patch watching year list,including Whinchat,Spotted Redshank and Curlew Sandpiper,putting it at a respectable 139 species,1 species off last years total.

Saturday 17th

Some nice weather conditions today,saw Trace and myself walking the square encompassing Winter's Pond,the Mitigation Site,Grange Farm and Skitter Road.
 The best sighting on Winter's was the superb sight of 12 juvenile Knot roosting with the Black-tailed Godwits at high tide,a new species for me for the site.Other species here included singles of Green Sandpiper and Little Egret.
 A few nice bits along the Humber floodbank between Winter's and the Skitter included 2 pristine juv. Wheatear feeding in the newly cut grass field at the Skitter,with 4 Common Sandpiper,2 Whimbrel & Greenshank along the shore.
 The Skitter itself was pretty much covered by the tide,but still held 106 Black-tailed Godwit,6 Little Egret and a single Ruff,with 60 Sand Martin and 3 Swift overhead.

Saturday 24th

With the continuation of the previous weeks south/south easterly airflow,plenty of anticipation was in the air for today's visit with dreams of Red-backed Shrike or even an inland Icterine Warbler,but lots of effort put in revealed only 8 Whinchat on the Mitigation Site,a single Wheatear and a good smattering of juvenile Warblers,including 9 Lesser Whitethroat.
 A certain surprise on Winter's today,was a juvenile Goldeneye,certainly an early record for the patch,but could conceivably be a scottish reared bird wandering.
 Other wildfowl and waders included a Greenshank,Green Sand,27 Teal and 35 Black-tailed Godwit on the Mitigation site,with a nice variety at the Skitter including another Greenshank,7 Turnstone,2 Whimbrel,3 Common Sandpiper and 3 Little Egret.
 A nice surprise amongst the large numbers of Black-headed Gulls moving south along the Estuary,was a cracking juv. Little Gull,only the second record for the patch this year,after the birds in the spring.

Monday 26th

Some serious effort put in today,covering the whole patch and walking over 14 miles in 30 plus degrees,really warranted something good to be found,but 2 wader editions to the patch list for the year had to suffice.
 Winter's was very busy first thing with the juvvie Goldeneye still being present along with a Green Sand,275 Greylag,1 Little Egret a singing male Cetti's and the first Wigeon of the autumn period,with 12 being seen.
 Waders featured heavily on today's visit,with 6 Avocet,52 Knot,5 Common Sand,Whimbrel & 8 Turnstone between Winter's and the Skitter,with a further 3 Avocet,Grey Plover & Bar-tailed Godwit being seen near Goxhill Haven.But it was the star birds which i was happy to add to the year list today,with a single juvenile Spotted Redshank watched distantly on the shore at the Skitter and a flyby Curlew Sandpiper near Dawson City,both species i did not record last year.
 Also at the Skitter first thing were 8 Common Tern which flew along the estuary to the south and at least 196 Teal flying in the opposite direction.
 Non bird sightings today,consisted of a buck Roe Deer near Winter's at first light and 2 bucks and a doe near Dawson City.A single Grey Seal was seen near the Skitter early a.m.
 As a general observation while walking around,it looks like this year has been a great year for breeding passerines,with lots of juv. Goldfinches,Linnets and Swallows being particularly noticeable,really nice to see.

Another nice series of visits,now autumn proper is on the horizon,i wander what this year will turn up on my local patch.

Knot Roosting With Black-tailed Godwits At Winter's Pond On The 17th.

Record Shot Of The Juvvie Goldeneye At Winter's Pond.

Juvenile Willow Warbler,Near Winter's Pond,24th.

Juvenile Willow Warbler,Near Winter's Pond,24th.

Juvenile Willow Warbler,Near Winter's Pond,24th.

One Of The 8 Whinchat On The Mitigation Site On The 24th.

One Of The 8 Whinchat On The Mitigation Site On The 24th.

Juvenile Little Gull,East Halton Skitter On The 24th.

Adult Summer Plumaged Turnstone,East Halton Skitter,24th.

Adult Summer Plumaged Turnstone,East Halton Skitter,24th.

Whimbrel Flypast,East Halton Skitter,24th.

Reed Warbler,Looking Rare In One Of The Hedgerows At The Skitter,26th.

Massive Crop Of The Juvenile Spotted Redshank At East Halton Skitter,26th.

Huge Crop Of The Curlew Sandpiper Near Goxhill Haven On The 26th.

Golden Plovers,Goxhill Haven,26th.

Big Bird...An RAF Airbus A-400M Over The Patch On The 26th.