My Year - 2010.....

Yellow-browed Warbler,Spurn,East Yorkshire.

Pebble Prominent larvae,Messingham Sand Quarries LWTR.

Female Short-winged Conehead,Gibralter Point,Lincolnshire.

Tissue,Chambers Farm Wood,Lincolnshire.

Marsh Helleborine,Lincolnshire.

Swallowtail,Strumpshaw Fen,Norfolk.

Female Diurnia fagella,Messingham Sand Quarries LWTR.

Male Adder,Lincolnshire.

Well here we are again on the eve of another year spent chasing wildlife and birds up and down the lengths of Lincolnshire and Yorkshire and this is a summary of what i got up to.Starting with our avian friends,i managed to see a further 8 new species through the year and added a previously unseen race,the new species were Black-throated Thrush at Newholm in North Yorkshire, the stunning Oriental Pratincole in Lincolnshire at Frampton Marsh,Savi's Warbler at Old Moor in West Yorkshire,Iberian Chiffie at Potteric Carr in South Yorkshire(The latter 2 on the same day),the distant Semi-palmated Sandpiper at Alkborough and cracking Sharp-tailed Sandpiper at Patrington Haven(Both the same day),Eastern-olivaceous Warbler at Flamborough and finally just up the coast the Brown Flycatcher at Bempton.The new race was the 'Taiga' Bean Geese at Cantley in Norfolk.Other events included the big influx of Waxwings and a small invasion of Rough-legged Buzzards of which i was lucky enough to find one on the patch at Worlaby.Also at Worlaby was the largest number of Short-eared Owl's for some years with at least 12 birds being seen,what a shame the future of this superb site is now uncertain!.The undoubted sighting for me of the whole year occurred at Messingham Sand Quarries back in early April when myself along with other visitors were treated to amazing views of at least 3 seperate Otters and i managed to see them on several occasions,usually an adult female and a well grown cub and also a single animal always seen on it's own,which i'm pretty sure was a dog.They continued to be seen on and off through the year,fantastic stuff,i was nearly in tears as this was an animal i had wanted to see for many years and only 8 miles from home!!.Onto insects,it was a bit of a mixed year for butterflies,with the rare species in the county doing well and it was a record year for Duke of Burgundy,which can only be good news for the future,but poor for numbers of the 'Vanessid' butterflies such as Painted Lady,with me only seeing a handfull of individuals through the year a stark contrast to last year!.There were also a few Fritillaries appearing in the summer months with Dark-green and Silver-washed popping up at a few sites and it would be great if both species established themselves in Lincolnshire again.For a summary of my sightings on dragonflies see my dragonfly blog.New species of Orchid logged this year included just one species,Man Orchid in the south of Lincolnshire with the lovely Star-of-Bethlehem also being a new species the same day.I also managed to see a stunning Fungi at Messingham Sand Quarries in Spring,the Scarlet-elf Cup and it really does live up to it's name being bright scarlet.So a very eventfull year,you can't really contain everything here as it would go on forever,but i have just included some highlights.Happy New Year to everyone and thanks for visiting!.

Scandi visitors abound.....

A day birding today with Dave around some local sites,resulted in the majority of sightings comprising of our winter visiting species from Fenno-Scandia and further east.Our first port of call was to pay the superb juvenile Rough-legged Buzzard a visit and today it showed slightly further away than on previous visits,but thankfully was seen to catch 2 voles while we watched it.Other goodies seen while watching this ghostly buteo included a couple of juv. Marsh Harrier hunting along the adjacent Read's Island,also here was a juv. Peregrine watched loafing on one of the floodbanks and after hearing that distinct bell-like trilling call,6 Waxwing were watched flying west overhead.After this excellent start we headed to Barton and walked around all the areas to the west of the Humber bridge and also around Water's edge,with the best birds being another 4 Waxwings which were watched eventually flying north over the river heading for the home county,after several changes in direction.Other interesting sightings here included an abundance of winter thrushes,with Redwing being commoner than Fieldfare,with at least 250 being counted and were really nice to see in such good numbers feasting on the large crop of hawthorn berries.Also seen were 2 Treecreeper,3 Goldcrest,8 Siskin and 50 Pink-footed Geese which were watched flying west.The final place we visited was the local patch at Worlaby and the best sightings here were the continued prescence of the wintering Short-eared Owls with 7 being seen today and they where flushed by a shooting party and all thankfully escaped unscathed,a little shaken no doubt.It was good to see that some of the S.e.O's are surviving after the harsh weather conditions we have been experiencing,but they are designed to withstand these conditions and are made of tough stuff!.A very enjoyable day out in some nice bright weather conditions.

Merry Christmas And A Happy New Year...

I would just like to wish all my reader's,birding friends and fellow naturalists a very merry christmas and prosperous new year and birding and wildlife watching for 2011!.

Webs Count..

Well it was that time of the month again when i visit the banks of the Humber Estuary to take part in the nationwide high tide count of waders and wildfowl.As i have previously mentioned,i have got a pretty productive section between Goxhill Haven and Barrow Haven,with today producing few surprises apart from a nice 1st winter Med. Gull which flew west up river and 5 of my favourite water birds,Whooper Swans on a Beet field between Goxhill Tilery and the Bulk terminal at New Holland.They were all adult birds and gave lovely views,constantly chuntering between themselves as i walked past.I also managed a superb count of 461 Goldeneye on the Humber,this is Lincolnshire's most important wintering site for the species and is a great chance to enjoy this stunning winter visitor.Other notable counts included 15 Black-tailed Godwit,356 Dunlin and 70 Tufted Duck.Also seen on the Humber,were a group of 19 Coot,looking a little out of place to say the least,the birds being frozen out of their freshwater homes.An enjoyable 4 hours out on the old patch.