After agreeing to start doing a section of the humber as part of the high tide webs counts nationwide,i was given a part of my old local patch between Goxhill Haven and New Holland bulk terminal and a further short section between New Holland and Barrow Haven.The first section was pretty productive and a few goodies where recorded which included a single Dark-bellied Brent Goose,which flew east,a single female Smew on the humber with the large flock of 186 Goldeneye,the largest flock in Linc's,a pair of Goosander and finally a small flock of 3 Twite.The Twite gave brilliant views down to 40 feet and offered a great chance to watch this lovely species at close range through the scope,one spent most of the time i watched them singing his little head off,a little poser!.Other notable numbers along here were 93 Wigeon,201 Mallard and 8 Knot.Also seen was a cracking 'White headed' male 'Sinensis' Cormorant watched drying out his wings on a derelict boat wreck.Walking along this section brought back great memories of the old patch and iam going to enjoy recording here again.
The second section between New Holland and Barrow Haven didn't produce any surprises,but a few good counts included 108 Turnstone,2 Black-tailed Godwit,6 Knot and 77 Redshank,with an electric blue flash revealing a lovely Kingfisher fishing in an adjacent drainage dyke,my first of the year and nice to see that at least one has survived all the snow earlier in the month.So it looks like i have aquired quite a productive section and hopefully it will lead to more good finds and surprises!.
Another trip up to see the female Black-throated Thrush today at Newholm resulted in us getting much better views of the bird in 100% better weather conditions.Today,she seemed to be more engrossed in chasing the local Blackies out of her patch than spending time feeding and incessantly chased them!,we enjoyed some great views of her in flight also,showing just how much bigger than Blackbird she was.Also noticeable today,was the vocalisations of the bird,with her calling with a slight "chack" which was reminiscent of Redwing and i also noted a feature of which i hadn't observed on our last visit,the orange/rufous underwing coverts as the bird preened and a few other subtle characters such as the black lores,buff eye ring and pointed tips to the tail feathers.After enjoying this beauty for a second time,we made our way towards Scarborough,seeing a Peregrine en-route and then enjoyed superb views of the female of the pair of Peregrines at Scarborough.Also on the same area of cliff,where several pairs of Fulmar taking up residence on their breeding ledges,allowing superb views of this mini albatross!.Nearby a single Common Porpoise was watched briefly offshore.Our next stop was only a short distance away,Holbeck car park for the super Med Gulls,with 7 birds on this visit,5 adults and 2 2nd winter birds which put on a great show after Dave produced some of his sandwiches for them.The final place we visited was the excellent Filey Brigg,which i have always done well at,with today being no exception,with several good birds being seen which included a single female Velvet Scoter,3 Long-tailed Duck(1st w. male and 2 females) and a single Great-northern Diver,the Long-tails and Velv showing really well.Also here was a supporting cast of 27 Eider,with some fine drakes being seen,70 Common Scoter,15 Red-throated Diver and 12 Purple Sandpiper.There was also quite a lot of Gannet activity offshore and at least 30 Guillemot already in their summer plumage,bringing thoughts of spring to mind.Other none bird highlights included a single Ray's Bream carcase,check out the teeth on it in the above photo! and both Common and Grey Seals.A brilliant day out in the home county!.
After hearing from the bird information services and seeing Dave Mansell's excellent photographs,Chris,Dave,Nige and myself headed for North Yorkshire to see the reported first winter female Black-throated Thrush in its chosen garden in the village of Newholm,which was situated about 2 miles west of Whitby.When we left home it was cloudy,but by the time we reached Newholm it was pissing it down to say the least!.Thankfully the bird,was found within minutes of us arriving,in it's chosen garden,feeding on hand outs from the kind owners.She put on a great show,being observed down to 40 feet,what a way to see a lovely rarity like this,it was just a shame about the awful weather,but it can't always be sunny when we are out and when it is a new bird,like it was for me,you have to make the effort!.
After watching this cracker,the rain was just too much and i headed back to the car to write some notes on my first new bird of the year.After watching the B.t.Thrush we made the descision to bird from the car as much as possible for the remainder of the day,visiting firstly,Hackness lake to look for the resident Mandarins,but sadly we couldn't locate any and had to make do with 2 female Goosander,next it was onto Forge valley feeding station,where we enjoyed views of Marsh Tit and the superb Nuthatche's.After this,it was then onto Scarborough,stopping at post 54 on marine drive to say hello to the resident pair of Perg's which were huddled on the cliff trying to shelter out of the incessant rain!,also observed here was a single Fulmar.After this,our last stop was Holbeck car park for the wintering Med Gull's which put on a great show as usual,with 5 birds being seen today,3 adults and 2 2nd winter's,2 of the adults being ringed,also here passing by over the sea,where 8 White-fronted Geese,which flew south,a good record. After all this rain,enough was enough and we began our journey home a little sodden,but an enjoyable day all the same with some great company.
Looking back at last year's efforts in the birding world,i managed to get myself a total of 4 lifer's and also 4 additions to the ever growing Linc's list.My lifer's were in the form of the superb Glaucous-winged Gull in Teeside,with Black Grouse nearby,a long trek to the south east for the Crested Lark at Dunge and finally the Collared Pratincole at Frampton Marsh.In Linc's it all started with the stonking Alpine Swift at Barton,then the Terek Sandpiper at Gib,with the aforementioned Collared Prat at Frampton and finally the icing on the cake,the drake King Eider at the Witham Mouth.The best find for myself was very early in the year and came in the form of a superb juv. Rough-legged Buzzard on the local patch,sadly only being seen on the one day.The autumn migration never really got going,unlike the previous year,but i still managed another gorgeous Red-flanked Bluetail,this time at Spurn.On the insect front,it was again a very good year for Hairy D at Messingham,with good numbers of Damselfly's also,with the Variable's still breeding in good numbers at their northern outpost in the county at Susworth.Later in the season a personal record count of 32 Common Hawker at Crowle was impressive!.There was a small influx of migrant species,which didn't penetrate the north of the county sadly.On the butterfly front,the best record for me personally,was my finding of a single male Dark-green Fritillary which was holding territory along a drainage ditch at Worlaby and was watched chasing away the local species.He was far from at his best,but still managed to fly ok,no doubt wandering from strong populations in Derbyshire or Yorkshire.Also a big feature of the year,was the large spring invasion of Painted Ladies,which seemed to go on forever and where encountered at every site i visited,with the species hanging on into November and also a good breeding season for 2 of the County's special species namely Large Heath and Grayling.So,all in all not a bad year,lets see how species fair this year and see what the winds bring!.Note the above selection of photos from the year featuring Duke of Burgundy,Hairy Dragonfly,Common Hawker,Ruddy Darter,Dark-green Fritillary and last but not least Common Lizard.
A visit to the old patch at Barton again today in the grotty weather resulted in some excellent sightings and included at least 6 Bittern at Far-Ings,with 4 birds around the perimeter of the Target lake which gave fantastic views and a great chance to watch them fishing with even a bit of Bittern aggro between 2 individuals thrown in aswell!,these were the best views i have enjoyed of this superb heron for a long time,with one being seen down to a range of 30 metres as it sheltered under a hawthorn bush from the cold easterly and sleet showers!.Also on and around Target lake were the cracking male Smew,a single male Marsh Harrier which flew east and a female Peregrine,with one seen near to the Humber bridge also.
Earlier a small family group of Bewick's Swan flew east down river and comprised of 5 adults and 2 juv's,an excellent record of this fairly rare swan,my first local ones for some years.A great days birding despite the freezing conditions.
A further continuation of yesterdays efforts to try and get some more year ticks under the belt,saw Dave and myself heading for Covenham and then onto the coast at Donna Nook.A good selection of birds were recorded through the day,with several highlights,the best of which were the 2 juvenile Great-northern Divers and female Velvet Scoter at Covenham,with a supporting cast of Peregrine,2 drake Scaup and 7 Goosander and at Donna Nook,Peregrine,2 Merlin and a superb adult female Hen Harrier.Also at Donna,were large numbers of Fieldfare with at least 1000 birds recorded!,830 Dark-bellied Brent Geese and 8 Pale-bellied birds.Also here at Donna were some great encounters with the resident Grey Seals,with a couple of grumpy pups posing for photo's.An excellent day out again!!.
A trip around several sites today to try and get a decent species count together,failed miserably in my aim to get to the 100 mark,but i enjoyed some excellent sightings all the same.The main highlight was the amazing count of 5 differant individual Bittern's at Far-Ings,with possibly more on site!!,they showed very well,with at least 4 birds walking about in the open on the edge of the ice,giving the observers present an excellent chance to study this fantastic heron.Other birds here included the super drake Smew and a young adult male Marsh Harrier,with the tamest Robin i have ever seen trying to get food out of my packup box!!Other highlights enjoyed over the 8 hrs i was out where Merlin and a pair of Stonechat at Alkborough,5 Marsh Harrier and Peregrine at Read's Island and to round the day off in great fashion a cracking female Hen Harrier,2 Barn Owl and 4 Stonechat on the patch.An excellent start to the new birding calendar.
