Donna Nook And Wolds Surprises...

A trip out with Dave today,visiting several sites,got us some great birds through the day and some nice surprise finds also.

Bull Grey Seal,Donna Nook NNR.

Farforth,Lincolnshire Wolds.

En-route to the coast we had been talking about finding some Waxwings while we were out and i managed to spot 2 sat in a roadside Ash tree as we were driving through Waltham,a nice start to proceedings!.On arrival at Stonebridge car park,it was apparent it was already busy with people visiting the Seal colony,so we walked back to where the Cattle Egret resides in it's favourite fields and enjoyed more nice views of this lovely bird as it associated with a mixed flock of Black-headed and Common Gulls,being more mobile than on my previous visit.Also while watching the Egret a flock of 7 Whooper Swans flew over heading south west,a nice bonus.Other birds seen here after walking down to Pye's Hall and back included a typically flighty Water Pipit,Merlin and a single Lap Bunting and we paid a visit to the seals to look for the previous days Hooded Crow but couldn't find it.After visiting Donna,Dave suggested we take a look for the reported Rough-legged Buzzard on the Wolds at Farforth,but unfortunately we didn't see it,but managed a nice couple of surprises in the form of a Raven and another flock of Waxwings,this time of 50 birds!.The Raven,was heard calling with it's 'Cronk cronk' call before we saw it and it proceeded to fly past us calling again,the shaggy throat and huge size being visible as it headed towards Stenigot.The Waxwings were watched heading west at a rapid rate of knots,the most i have seen personally.This area looks superb for raptors and i saw a RlB here in October 2008.The last place we visited was Covenham and we managed to see 1 of the reported female Long-tailed Ducks from previous weeks and she showed nicely,diving for food close to the yacht club buildings.Other birds seen here included 25 Pink-footed Geese,11 Goldeneye and a good count of 61 Great-crested Grebe.A great day out today with some nice sightings logged.