Blustery Barton and Bohemian beauties......

Coot,Far-Ings NNR,Barton.

1st winter Waxwing,Burton-Upon-Stather.

Adult male Waxwing,Burton-Upon-Stather.

Adult male Waxwing,Burton-Upon-Stather.

Sunset,Outdoor pursuit Pit,Barton.

Sunset,Outdoor pursuit pit,Barton.

Full moon,Barton.

At last,after a long four days at work,the chance of a full day out saw me heading for Barton,then a nice diversion to Burton-Upon-Stather and then a return visit to Barton for the remainder of the day.Seeing the forecast and the prospect of a few wind blown seabirds,i started the day looking at the Humber at Barton Haven.Highlights here over an hour and half included 4 Kittiwake(3 adult and 1 juv.) moving west and a nice flock of 204 Common Scoter,which on the third attempt,we managed to get the numbers correct!.The 'Kits' are often a feature of these later blows in the autumn and were a nice sight to see,the Scoter more expected and all female/juv's as is often the case.Other birds of note seen included a Peregrine battling its way up river,70+ Black-tailed Godwit moving the same way,1 Grey Wagtail over to the east and 6 smart Knot,feeding with the local 'Shanks' at the haven mouth.After all this action and the need for some warmth,i moved up to Far-Ings to see what was on offer.And today to be fair,Ness lake was a hive of activity,with a good count of 92 Shoveler present,with smaller numbers of Gadwall and a single Goldeneye.Shoveler being one of my favourite species of duck and they showed brilliantly as they sieved the water for food.While looking at my phone,i noticed a message to say the Waxwings were still present at Burton-Upon-Stather,so i made the effort to go and have a look.On arrival,there were only a handfull of birds present,but more and more birds arrived from the direction of the village until a maximum count of at least 180 were present,a beautiful sight and sound.This is my largest flock of this stunning Scandinavian visitor and what a privilege to see,some birds being only twenty feet away as they gorged themselves on Hawthorn berries,fantastic!.Unfortunately,the light conditions were pretty poor,with occasional showers,but i managed a few nice shots.With me enjoying my fill of these Bohemian beauties,i travelled back to Barton for the hoped for Starling roost,which iam afraid didn't materialise today,with only about 1500 birds coming in.I don't know if this was weather related or just the fact they have moved on to pastures new,but i managed some nice shots of the full moon and sunset as compensation for my return visit.A great day out despite the continuation of the poor weather conditions.