Welcome To My Blog,This Will Be Mainly Used As A Diary For My Local Birding Patch At East Halton/Goxhill On The Banks Of The Humber Estuary,With Occasional Twitching And Visits Elsewhere Including Photos From Mine & Tracey's Walks And Holidays Around Our Beautiful Countryside.
A good forecast today,saw Tracey and myself heading for North Landing at Flamborough and walking up to Bempton Cliffs RSPB and back in some lovely weather.
Some great scenery was enjoyed as always and we had some superb views of the local seabirds as well as a few migrants which included 5 Stonechat.
Unfortunately Albert wasn't at Bempton when we arrived,but some fantastic views of the Gannets and Puffins on the way back to Flamborough made up for not seeing him this time,but I'm sure i will be back in the near future.
After returning to Flamborough for some lunch we spent a couple of hours around the lighthouse area,watching the superb sight of at least 156 Grey Seals as they were hauled out at High Stacks.It was really comical watching several of them scratching their backs on the fine pebbles.
A brilliant day out here again and the following are my favourite photos from our day.
A compilation of 3 visits to the local patch at East Halton/Goxhill,the following is what i saw in my little part of the Humber Estuary.
27th March
A very quiet visit today,with no new additions seen to add to the yearlist,with any new migrants very thin on the ground apart from a handfull of Chiffchaffs again.
Numbers of north bound breeding waders are also beginning to drop off,with no Dunlin seen for a few weeks now.A flock of 14 Islandica Black-tailed Godwit were feeding along the tideline towards Killingholme this morning though.
At the Skitter,8 Avocet and a flock of 95 Golden Plover were noted on their favourite field along with a single Grey Plover.
It was nice to see a pair of prospecting Common Buzzards along Goxhill Marsh and the only notable insect sighting was a single Comma(My first of the year) at Dawson City.
3rd April
A good forecast today,albeit a frosty start at Winter's first thing,saw a lovely hunting Barn Owl in the rough grass field next door,before it flew onto the mitigation area.
Other species seen on WP included the pair of Great-crested Grebes still,3 singing male Cetti's Warbler,2 singing male Chiffchaff and a single Little Egret and on the adjacent fields to the west,a good count of 57 Carrion Crow.
This latter species,always seems to gather in flocks on the patch in early spring,before dispersing to breed.I would love to know where they originate from.
Coverage of the mitigation area,saw 47 Wigeon being still present along with a pair of Avocet,99 Curlew and a single Common Buzzard and 35 Carrion Crow.
The Skitter are provided the first of 2 patch year ticks today,when a lovely pair of Grey Partridge were watched along one of the fields.These are a decidedly scarce species these days and are always a joy to see.
Other species seen around the Skitter included 41 more Carrion Crows,25 Redshank and 4 Small Tortoiseshell.
The Beck,Chapel Farm,Chapel Field Road and East Marsh Road were then covered and didn't reveal any surprises,but a nice male Great-spotted Woodpecker gave some nice views at Chapel Farm and 133+ Rook gave their usual brilliant views at the Rookery along East Marsh Road.
After arriving at Dawson City,a watch from here produced another year tick in the form of a Lesser Redpoll which flew north and at least 9 Common Buzzard were seen which included 8 birds flying west and 1 east.
On return to WP,another 3 Common Buzzard flew west.
9th April
Another cold day on the patch today,with a freezing north westerly,still produced a bit of migration and thankfully a sign of summer in the form of 2 Swallows at Winter's.
It was really great to see these lovely Hirundines as they hawked for insects over the lakes,cheering me up considerably,as i thought it was going to be another migrant-less visit.
Also at Winter's amongst a light passage of Linnets,Pied Wags and Mipits were 2 White Wagtails,which were nice to see.
I decided to walk along Marsh Lane and then along Skitter Road,with highlights including another pair of Grey Partridge,which was nice to see,so at least 2 pairs on the patch,lets hope they can breed successfully.
As i reached the Skitter,it was nice to see my first Green-veined White of the year and a look around the Blackthorn bushes on the edge of the plantation saw me seeing a new fly for myself and the patch in the form of the Tachinid species Gonia picea which is a parasite of Lepidoptera larvae.
Other insects around the bushes included Buff-tailed and Common Carder Bees,Eristalis Pertinax,tenax and nemorum and a single Eristalinus aeneus,with 4 Small Tortoiseshell also recorded.
A pretty steady 3 visits,oh for some southerly winds and some summer migrants.
A free day today saw me setting off to one of my favourite local destinations,for a full day's birding,the following is what i saw.
I started as usual,by parking at the North Linc's Council car park,had a quick bite to eat and packed the gear for the long walk from Crowle and then onto Thorne Moors.
It was a tad cool first thing,so i had quite a few layers on to begin with and i walked west along the path from the car park heading for the bailey bridge onto Thorne Moors.
Along this first section a mixture of the commoner species and a few niceties included a drumming Great-spotted Woodpecker,4 singing male Chiffchaff,a lovely Common Buzzard and a flock of 17 north bound Fieldfare,chacked as they fed in a horse paddock.
A little further along and a patch of colour seen from the corner of my eye revealed a smart male Stonechat,quickly followed by his mate and i watched as they hunted from several perches and then a little further along near the new boardwalk another pair,so 2 pairs of Stonechat was a decent start to the day.
I walked on and eventually made it to the bailey bridge and i crossed into the home county.
A quick stop here for a drink and to take the first layer off saw me hearing the familiar nasal song of a male Brambling and i quickly found him in the top of a Silver Birch eating the newly sprouting buds.
As i got too near he flew and joined a further flock of 10 other birds,with at least 3 males wheezing away,such lovely birds at any time of year,but they are particularly striking in their lovely summer plumage.
I carried on,walking along side Will Pitts Scrape,to the sound of Chiffchaff's,Chaffinch,Wren's and Robins and i stopped to have a quick scan of the lake.
Nothing too exciting on here,apart from a flock of 20 Tufties,more Chiff's in the waterside Willow's and a chorus of Common Frog's nearby.
After shedding another layer i walked down the side of Will Pitts Wood,to the very precious sound of a singing male Willow Tit.These lovely little birds are still hanging on here in the wet woodland and long may it continue.
As i walked past the pumping station alongside the Warping Drain,a sudden blast of Cetti's song saw me seeing the culprit briefly and a little further along another as i turned to walk along Goole Moor Tram.
By now it was getting properly warm and i was down to my T shirt and Waistcoat and trousers obviously....those ticks!.
I then managed to find an Orange Underwing perched on some grass stems so i set the scope up and phonescoped it and took some video.
To put this into context i have never managed to get any video,let alone a decent photo of one,so i was pretty chuffed to say the least.
I carried on along Goole Moor Tram,seeing my first Dark-edged Bee Flies of the year,Small Tort's,another pair of Stonechat and i flushed 2 stunning Woodcock from the edge of the path.
After what seemed like ages,i eventually made it to the Limestone Road(I had forgotton how long Goole Moor Tram was) and began to head along the Paraffin Cuttings.
I just could not believe i had seen no one up to now,with cracking day's weather too,it was just bliss.
As i walked along the cuttings,first 1 pair,then 2 pairs and then a 3rd pair of Stonechat were seen,with the male of the final pair even singing.It was just lovely to watch these beautiful little Chats as they went about their business.
I then found another Orange Underwing,this time walking about on the ground,giving incredible views and i just crouched down and filmed it with my phone.It looked to be taking salt or minerals from the road,something i have never seen this species do before,an interesting piece of behaviour.
After heading along the Limestone Road and finally reaching Blue Bridge,i made a welcome stop at the picnic table for a sit down,some food and a drink.
Sat here in glorious sunshine daydreaming about what i was going to find on the local patch tomorrow,suddenly had me jumping into action as a Cetti's Warbler blasted away that song and on one of the pools nearby 8 gorgeous adult Whooper Swan fed and loafed....what a fantastic day i was having.
The remainder of the visit along the Limestone Road and back onto Crowle saw my first Green-tiger Beetles of the year being seen,a couple of Peacock Butterflies and a lovely male Brimstone really did make it feel like spring.
Another handfull of Chiffchaff's before i crossed back onto Crowle Moor,made it 33 singing males for the day,with 29 of them being on Thorne.
Well what a fantastic day today,in beautiful weather,made for another brilliant visit to this brilliant area for birds and wildlife....and i only scratch the surface of what can be seen here.
A good forecast today saw the gang heading to one of our favourite areas to walk between White Lodge Car Park and Miller's Dale Station taking in Monsal Dale,Cressbrook Dale,Litton Mill and Miller's Dale Station and back again.
As previous readers to my blog know,this area is a personal fave and takes in some lovely scenery and is great for wildlife and birds.
Today's highlights from the avian world included at least 4 pairs of Dippers,just lovely to see and the most we have encountered along here,at least 15 singing male Chiffchaff and a lovely Raven overhead at White Lodge/Monsal Dale.
But it wasn't just about the birds as we saw several Bumble Bees and also my first Brimstone Butterflies of the year,with one,a male at Miller's Dale station and another.a female near Litton Mill.
As always it was a real pleasure to visit here again and the following are my favourite photos from our day.
Monsal Head Weir,In Full Flow Today.
The Iconic Monsal Head Viaduct.
A View Along Cressbrook Dale.
A Sign Of Spring,Greater Celandines.
A Female Common Toad Found In Water-Cum-Jolly Dale.
Cressbrook Tunnel.
Cressbrook Dale.
Cressbrook Mill.
Monsal Head Weir,Home To Dippers And Grey Wagtails.
After a dreaded dose of Covid(Thankfully i wasn't too bad),it was back to the beloved local patch at East Halton/Goxhill.
The following is what i saw on my 3 visits re-counted here:
6th March
An early start as per at Winter's Pond,saw Jon and myself having a pretty decent visit today,with a great start seeing 3 adult Whooper Swans trumpeting their way west,our first sighting of this lovely species for the year.
Other species on and around Winter's included a single Little Egret,a singing male Cetti's Warbler and later in the day the interesting Gull(God knows what it is)was still present,coming in for it's daily feed of bread from one of the locals.
We then walked up Marsh Lane and along Skitter road for a change,with nothing major seen,it was just nice to see and hear several Skylark's singing and displayng as well as a drumming male Great-spotted Woodpecker in Red House Wood as we passed by.
We eventually made it to the Skitter and a few nice bits were seen in the general area and included a single Water Pipit,flushed from the bankside pool towards Ruins Pond,a male Ruff on the wet field behind the pig farm and a nice surprise in the form of a Woodcock flushed and seen really well as it flew along the adjacent hedgerow and shot back into cover.
Not many sightings of this species during the year usually,so 2 this year so far are most welcome.
The rest of Goxhill Marsh and Dawson City held the usual suspects,with a cracking count of 426 Curlew and a few singing male Cetti's Warblers kept the interest going.
The mitigation area today,held the White-tailed Lapwing still,with a few visitors to see it and it has also changed its habits,which may mean it's going to depart.It has certainly entertained us in it's time here and is a most welcome visitor to my humble local patch.
Finally,a pair of adult Peregrines put on a fantastic display over the mitigation area as they chased a Black-tailed Godwit unsuccessfully and then carried on to basically scare every bird present.They really are a superb species and most sightings here usually involve an adrenaline filled bout of hunting,fantastic to watch.
12th March
An early morning visit again,saw a nice start involving a lovely Barn Owl along Marsh Lane as i got the kit ready for the day,what a great way to start proceedings i thought.
The best bird of the day was seen next as i was stood on the floodbank infront of Jean's cottage in a shower of quite heavy rain,but it was so worth it,as a male Hen Harrier flew across the Humber from Yorkshire,over the main lake at Winter's and inland.This is my first spring record of the species,as all my encounters in the past have been in autumn or winter,it is also my first adult male....what a bird!.
Other species seen on here included a female Goldeneye with the Tuftie flock,the 2 Oyster's,now 2 Great-crested Grebe and 10 Black-tailed Godwit.
Some good coverage of the mitigation area saw some decent numbers of Wildfowl present today,but the White-tailed Lapwing has finally left us and has now taken up residence at Frampton Marsh RSPB reserve in the Wash.
I really hope it doesn't hang around too long there,as it won't get accepted by BBRC if it carries on over here for much longer.
A single 'Littoralis' Rock Pipit was seen along the shoreline up to the Skitter,moulting nicely into it's summer plumage,giving the usual tantalising views before disappearing.
The Skitter area today provided a few nice sightings and included another Barn Owl,which showed nicely and also a singing male Chiffchaff in the plantation,with 1 Water Pipit again in the usual spot.
The Chiff is my first local singing bird of the year after the bird near Goxhill Haven back in February.
After returning to Winter's Pond,the rest of the visit was spent watching THE Gull as it arrived for it's afternoon feed.
18th March
WEBS count weekend has arrived again and because it was such a nice days weather i decided to walk the whole patch taking in the mitigation area,East Halton beck,Chapel Farm,Chapel Field Road,East Marsh Road,Goxhill Haven and then back along the Humber bank to Winter's Pond,approx.15 miles walked.
No big surprises were encountered for my WEBS count,but a lovely pair of Pintail were on the rear pit at Winter's,before relocating to the MIT site.
For the first time this year,i had 2 singing male Cetti's Warbler's at WP,the first i saw was singing near the car park and showed incredibly well,singing at the top of a Hawthorn on a couple of occasions,what a cracking little bird they are and I'm so glad they are doing so well and spreading north,with those lovely chestnut and grey tones and explosive song.
Between Winter's and the Skitter,the Rock Pipit was agian present and a lovely surprise in the form of my first Kingfisher of the year,as a single flew along the Humber shore towards the Skitter.
As i walked along the beck,a very welcome message from Simon at Paull telling me there was a Red Kite heading my way,saw me retracing my footsteps and then seeing the bird thankfully as it flew south and then slightly inland before heading south again towards Killingholme.
This is my first sighting of the species for the year on the local patch,an annual event i know these days,but still great to see them here.
The walk along the beck was fairly quiet,apart from 4 Roe Deer and a Small Tortoiseshell and as i reached Chapel Farm,the best bird went to a couple of Jays,alarm calling as they often do when humans are spotted.
As i walked along Chapel Field Road,de-ja vu struck,as i picked up another Red Kite,this time heading west towards Goxhill village,so two in a day was brilliant.
The walk along East Marsh Road was similar as my previous visit along here,but today the Rookery was in full swing with birds being very vocal as they went about their business of nest building and pair bonding,i just love their call,the archytypical call of the countryside,just great.
From Goxhill Haven to Winter's more of the usual sightings were logged,which included 2 more singing male Chiffchaff,making it 4 for the day.
Another look on Winter's before heading home,saw the Gull arriving for its bread feed,hopefully we will soon find out what it is,now a DNA sample has been collected,fingers crossed it is something good,as it has the world's experts baffled to its identity.
Three enjoyable visits to my little part of Lincolnshire,I'm looking forward to finding something good on my next visit,so fingers crossed!.
After visiting the local patch on Saturday and having a spare day i decided to visit Messingham Sand Quarries and the surrounding area,the following is what i saw during the day.
After hearing the Cattle Egret was still around i went to look for this bird first and it wasn't long before i was watching this confiding individual as it fed in amongst it's adopted herd of horses.
It seemed to be finding plenty of food and was even watched eating a couple of Common Toads,at times coming incredibly close,too close to phonescope.
Also in the area where displaying Peewits,Oystercatcher's,Common Snipe and a couple of singing Chiffchaff,it really fealt like spring proper.
A look on the adjacent 'New Workings' where the local aggregate company are excavating,saw a cracking leucistic adult Black-headed Gull being seen in amongst the local Gulls and an interesting hybrid Caspian x Herring Gull.
After enjoying looking around this area,i drove the short journey over to Messingham Sand Quarries nature reserve.
An enjoyable couple of hours looking around this gem of a reserve didn't reveal any surprises,but i did have at least another 8 singing male Chiffchaff,making the day even more spring like.
A nice day out visiting one of my fave local areas again.
After shaking off a bout of Corona Virus,it was great to get out and i headed over into gods own country and paid the wintering 2nd calendar year Drake Baikal Teal a visit.
The bird had been found at Swinemoor,an area of floods on the banks of the River Hull between Beverley and Tickton and i had played it cool in not visiting,due to the fact i had already seen a spanking Drake at Flamborough on the 15th April 2013.
On arrival the bird was seen more or less straight away,being watched sleeping,as it often does,after talking to the local birders,but after being flushed it did actually swim about for a while and gave some nice views,before it slipped back to the inevitable sleep mode.
The bird is a second calendar year male,with it showing some brown feathering along the flanks still,but the head pattern is nearly fully coloured up,what a cracking little duck and a great local find for Garry Taylor on his local patch.
After getting my fill of views and after it was flushed again by dog walkers,i headed home after seeing this lovely bird.
After having the previous week off and already visiting the local patch 3 times,i decided to give the new motor a run out and headed for beautiful Troutsdale,stopping briefly at Hackness Lake before travelling on up into the forest at Wykeham.
After a nice drive over through the sleepy Yorkshire Wolds,i headed for a pretty frosty and cold Hilla Green which is situated in the lovely Troutsdale Valley(The valley below Wykeham Forest Raptor Viewpoint).
After getting several layers on and the birding kit together i began to explore,with the first bird i clapped eyes on being target number one for the day,Dipper.
The bird was only seen briefly and as i know these birds are sensitive to disturbance here,i didn't pursue it any further,but it was great to see my first for the year.
I then walked up the road past the small ox-bow lake,seeing another target for the day,Mandarin Duck.
Birds are not easy to see on here and they can be jumpy,but i did manage to count at least 18 birds the most i have seen at this site.
Also on here were at least 8 Teal.
I gave the surrounding woodland a good scan,but it was far too cold and early for any raptor action,but passerines kept the interest going with some lovely views of a pair of Marsh Tit and as i watched a lovely Mistle Thrush serenaded me as i passed by.
The sun was just breaking now over the top of the forest,what a fantastic morning to be out i thought to myself,i'm so lucky to be able to get out to places like this and it still is one of my favourite areas in North Yorkshire.
After a good hour or so,i walked back towards Hilla and had a wander along the bubbling River Derwent seeing a lovely Roe Deer having it's morning drink in the river,before it bolted after seeing me,giving that harsh,dog like bark,as it scolded me for disturbing him!.
Obviously the latter isn't true,this alarm call is just a warning to the other Deer in the area there is a threat,what beautiful animals they are.
After enjoying my wander around Hilla and Troutsdale i drove the short journey over to Hackness lake.
On arrival,a scan of the lake revealed at least 12 more Mandarins and also 5 Little Grebe,but not much else,so i got back in the car and headed up to the forest.
After driving up through North Moor and up to the viewpoint car park,i couldn't believe how many cars were here,the most I've seen in a long time.
As i got the gear together,a couple of Crossbills chipped by,a nice start to proceedings here,but expected really.
I quickly got settled in at the viewpoint bumping into fellow birder and twitter pal,Rob Robertson on a trip down from County Durham and also Leeds birder Bob Eckersley.
It wasn't long before we were watching our first Gos.as patrolling female flew along the woodland on the opposite side of the valley before she perched up in full view.
A bit distant in the haze,but i did manage to take some phonescoped video of her for posterity,filming her in flight was another matter,but i did manage to get some stuff of her,slowing the clip down so it was in slow motion for full affect,showing the flight of this big female.
We did get more views of her and her mate,plus at least one other pair and another single bird,but none were displaying due to the still conditions.It was still a privilege to see these magnificent birds of prey in this fantastic setting,just brilliant!.
Other birds seen from our viewpoint included a handfull of Crossbills,at least 7 Common Buzzards.
Before long it was time to travel home,but i had really enjoyed my visit to this stunning area of the home county and i will be back again soon,as i have promised Mrs R we will have a walk along Troutsdale.
A couple of visits to the local patch mid-week for a change saw 5 more species being added to the local patch year list,which now stands at 101 species.
Tuesday 8th
I started the visit today,in usual fashion,by parking at Winter's Pondand got my pack up and kit together for my day on the patch.
A cursory scan of the main lake,saw nothing too exciting to start with,so i wandered up to see if you know who was on it's favourite pool and sure enough it was,huddled out of the breeze behind a clump of sedges,it's usual habits when it is windy.
Also on view from my position was a gorgeous Barn Owl hunting along the reedy dyke which runs parallell to the mitigation area.A couple of interactions with the regular female Kestrel,saw it become more and more distant towards the Skitter,what a lovely start to the day.
I wandered back towards Winter's and just as i reached the small copse near to the car park,i could have sworn i heard a snippet of a Treecreeper calling.A quick burst of Treecreeper song from my sound library on the phone had the desired affect,as a Treecreeper showed nicely before disappearing further into the copse.
This is the first Treecreeper i have seen for the patch this year and the second record in consecutive years on here.
Some decent numbers of birds were now present on the main lake and included the adult Great-crested Grebe which is almost in full summer plumage now,56 Tufted Duck,67 Wigeon,female Goldeneye,82 Mallard and the 5 Pochard still.
I then decided to walk up towards the Skitter along the floodbank,with some pretty good numbers of birds taking advantage of the excellent feeding on the mitigation area.
Highlights and numbers of species included 118 Wigeon,87 Curlew,24 Islandica Black-tailed Godwit(A record count for the site),18 Shoveler,17 Redshank,550+ Starling,the Drake Pintail still,763 Lapwing and a singing male Cetti's Warbler.
The latter was singing in the borrow pit bordering the mitigation area,as you walk towards the Skitter.
The Skitter was quite productive today,despite it being high tide,with a small roost of waders on the side of the Haven.A quick scan through them revealed 4 Ruff with the Redshank,another welcome addition to the year list and great to see.
Other species included 2 Marsh Harrier hunting the pools,an adult female and a 2nd calendar year male,at least 2 Bearded Tit in the reedbeds and 2 Water Pipit together as i walked towards Ruins Pond.
The latter were flushed from a flooded pool along the side of the floodbank,a favourite with the species over the years.
As i headed towards Firecrest corner and passed by Ruins Pond,a sure sign of spring was a single Coot and Little Grebe on the pond and overhead the welcome sound of singing Skylarks was fantastic to hear,it really did feel like spring today!.
The very welcome 'Kleep' call of an Oystercatcher was heard next,as a single bird flew south along the Humber towards the Skitter,patch tick number 3 for the day.
The traditional Pink pasture had a decent flock on it today and i stopped to count them,with a respectable 1510 birds being present and i thought to myself it won't be long before these beauties are heading back to Iceland.
A look on the Humber from near to Dawson City saw 66 Goldeneye,50 Teal and 30 Wigeon drifting along on the outgoing tide.
While scanning,unbelievably,a Peacock Butterfly bombed past me and onto the reserve and shortly afterwards i saw a Buff-tailed Bumble Bee and i wondered what these poor insects are going to find to feed on at this time of year.
The only other notable sighting here was a Barn Owl which was unfortunately flushed from it's day time roosting site,a welcome sighting all the same.
Wednesday 9th
Today i decided to cover an area of the local patch i don't really get to visit that often,but one i have decided to try and cover more this year and it proved to be fairly productive with regards to common species,with some nice records.
I began by parking near to Goxhill Tilery,i then got all the gear together and headed along Syke's Lane,then up to Ferry Road,all the way along Ferry Road to Goxhill Haven,back along the floodbank to the Tilery and the car.
Sighting's mainly consisted of commoner species as mentioned before,but i did manage to find one species which was new for the patch year,a Chiffchaff.
It was observed around bushes which border the small ponds at the old boatyard between Goxhill Haven and the Tilery and gave some cracking views,calling quite often,a lovely sighting for the time of the year and quite unexpected.
Other niceities included more signs of spring,with a singing male Mistle Thrush showing really nicely,allowing me to obtain some nice video of him.
Before heading for home,i dropped in at Winter's to see the White-tailed Lapwing still in residence on it's favourite pool and also a welcome addition to the patch year list on the main lake at Winter's in the form of a pair of Goosander.
The Goosander pair put on a great show,as they preened and dozed on the grassland near the car park,just lovely to see and a great end to the day.
A couple of productive visits,with the exotic Peewit still in residence and great to see.
A Distant Storm Passing Over Hull Thankfully,Taken From The Floodbank Beside The Mitigation Site At East Halton,8th.
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