North Linc's goodies..........

Ness Lake,Far-Ings NNR,Barton Pits.

Male Adder,North Linc's.

Micro moth,Tortricodes alternella.

A full day out today with Chris,visiting a few local sites,resulted in some good sightings and the first proper signs of spring.We started off at Far ings and soon got bored of waiting for the Bitterns to appear in the freezing hide,but managed a couple of Siskin feeding in some waterside Alders and 1 female Smew on the Target Lake and also some interesting spring signs which included a Coot and Magpie collecting nest material,singing male Reed Bunting and displaying Goldeneye,Shoveler and Teal,making for great viewing.The most productive site today was visited next,the excellent Read's Island at South Ferriby.At last and after several visits the 45 'Tundra' Beans were present today and gave superb views on the front of the island,giving us a great chance to study this superb goose species and both Chris and myself's largest flock we have observed.Also the 1st winter Eurasian Whitefront was still with the Bean flock and gave a great chance to watch these two species side by side,excellent.Also here,a good selection of sightings included 1 Merlin,1 Peregrine,3 Marsh Harrier,the wintering Greenshank,81 Black-tailed Godwit,150 Pink-footed Geese(West) and a whopping flock of 392 Avocet which included a couple of colour ringed birds and gave great views when flushed by the Perg,swirling all over the place providing us with a superb aerobatic spectacle.The final site we visited was Laughton Forest,were highlights included our first Red-tailed Bumblebee's of the year with 2 being seen,1 Nuthatch,8 Lesser Redpoll,a couple of Siskin,Micro moth species Tortricodes alternella,2  Male Common Lizard and of course our target Adders.Today we managed a total of 7 animals,all males and they gave the usual stunning views,my favourite british animal by far and a great end to the day.An enjoyable day,particularly the Bean Geese and the Adders.

Far-Ings NNR.......

A trip over to Barton today for 5 hours while Trace was at work,resulted in an enjoyable,but very cold afternoons birding.The first notable sighting was the pair of Redhead Smew watched diving for food and loafing on the Target Lake,giving superb views through the scope and allowing me a great chance to study this neat Sawbill.Unfortunately they were getting some unwanted attention from a Great-crested Grebe and continually moved out of the grumpy grebes way,but eventually settled on the far side of the lake at a safe distance.The next goodie was a very brief affair,as a single Bittern jumped from one area of reed bed to another,providing me with my first sighting of the year of this reed bed dwelling heron.The most enjoyable sighting of the day was seen next and consisted of me watching 2 separate Water Rail,with one of the birds showing superbly in the cut infront of Ness hide,close enough to see the red iris,what a beautiful bird this species is.Other birds enjoyed around Ness included a single Marsh Harrier which crossed north over the river,37 Shoveler,9 Goldeneye and a pair of displaying Great-crested Grebe.A decent afternoon out today.

South Ferriby And Read's Island......

In a total contrast to yesterday,today was back to mist and gloom and Chris and myself found it hard to get any inspiration from the grotty weather and poor light.But a few good sightings were enjoyed,the best of which was a pair of Dark-bellied Brent Geese on the Humber with a mixed flock of Geese,giving fairly good views before flying to the inland fields.They were again seen later flying back towards the Island.A distant Merlin was watched chasing a Skylark over the same fields towards Winterton and my first Avocets,11 birds were watched feeding on the mudflats as the receding tide went down.Other species seen included the ever present Marsh Harriers,with 2 females and 1 male seen today and masses of Dunlin and Wigeon also on show,the Wigeon doing their best to brighten up the gloom and the males whistling calls could be heard from all directions as they tried their best to impress their female companions.Not a bad few hours,but wish we could have a prolonged spell of clear weather.

Messingham And Scawby Park. 11.02.12.

Messingham Sand Quarries LWTR.

Pheasant tracks through the snow,Messingham Sand Quarries LWTR.

Wintery shadows,Scawby Park.

Shining star,Scawby Park.

Wintery Parkland,Scawby Park.

A few hours to myself this afternoon saw me heading for a couple of local spots really to try and get some nice pics of the winter scenery.Very little was seen bird wise at Messingham as every area of water was frozen solid apart from 2 areas on the main lake and the woodland seemed very quiet apart from the odd Treecreeper or Coal Tit calling,but this didn't matter at all as the wintery landscape made up for a lack of birds.After visiting MSQ,i made the short journey over to Scawby Park,again to try and get some snowy pics.The only bird sighting of note here was a single Nuthatch close to the village entrance around the church,but again it was the snow and extensive haw frost which really made today special,a real pleasure to be out and about.

Larid Fest.....

3rd Calendar year Iceland Gull.

North Wall,Cleethorpes.

Well what a day today,after braving the arctic conditions Chris and myself headed for the Humber in search of the reported white wingers and we were not disappointed.First to be seen was Graham's 2nd calendar year Kumliens Gull and it gave stunning views as it fed on discarded fish scraps allowing us to study the birds salient features at very close range,what a cracker!.It came and went several times while we were on site and gave us a great chance to acquaint ourselves with this Canadian Arctic waif.Also seen from the same breeding area as the Kumliens, was the gorgeous 3rd calendar year Iceland Gull which has been present for at least a couple of weeks now.It also showed very well and gave equally stunning views,also coming down to fish scraps and was tamer than the Kumliens,being much bolder than its cousin,a beauty of a gull.One noticeable difference between the two birds,other than plumage differences was the fact that the Kumliens was far more aggressive,watched attacking and pecking every gull that came too close,a little brute,but survival is the key in the Gull world.To complete the list of 'White wingers' for the day,a single adult Med Gull was seen on a couple of occasions,also giving some nice views,but it kept its distance from the gull melee.A bonus species which did a quick flypast and back onto the Humber,was a smart 2nd calendar year Little Gull,my first record of this species for some years in winter and a nice surprise!.Also seen,were a couple of 2nd calendar year Common Gull with retarded moult,possibly indicating they may be one of the other races occurring in Europe as these birds moult later and a colour ringed adult,P7V8 which has been colour ringed in Estonia.The only other notable sightings were a flock of 22 Dark-bellied Brent Geese feeding off the North Wall along with 7 Goldeneye moving west.A superb days gull watching.