Friday 13 September 2024

Winter's, The Humber Bank and Killingholme Haven.

 An earlyish start today and Brian and I were at Winter's by about 9.30. As we were driving down the lane we rain into a birding friend, Steve Routledge who had been there about 4 hours by then. We ran into him again later and we had a good catch up. It was a cool but beautiful early morning and the colours are just beginning to develop; hips and haws are looking wonderful.. We took some time have a close examination of the pond to make sure that we recorded everyting that was present. We then wandered up on the the sea wall and continued to East Halton Skitter. Things are really grown up now that we are at the end of summer and most of the scrapes on the marsh are now dried out. Having had a good look at the mudflats at Skitter Beck we retraced our steps but not before picking up marsh harrier, sparrowhawk and hobby over the marsh beyond the skitter. Back at the car we got the chairs out and enjoyed Christmas cake, cheese and tomato soup, our regular autumn/winter birding lunch.

Before we finished for the day we drove round to Killingholme Haven Pits where we had an hour in the hide. There was nothing spectacular, although we did see a couple of roe deer on the island in the lagoon. The usual large flock of black-tailed godwits were on the far side of the pit with avocet mixed in with them. A good day was had.

Black-Tailed Godwit, Winter's Pit
Black-Tailed Godwit, Winter's Pit
Little Egret, Killingholme Haven.
Little Egret, Killingholme Haven.
Little Egret, Killingholme Haven.
Redshank, Killingholme Haven.
Roe Deer, Killingholme Haven

Saturday 7 September 2024

Velobiking With The Historian and The Ladies

 It was a beautiful morning as Heather and I loaded the bikes onto the car and drove over the Wolds to Cadney. I had never been to Cadney and enjoyed the ride. Brian and Heather had just arrived and we soon had the bikes off the car and were riding along the delightful back roads the short distance into Brigg. Here we had the obligatory coffee stop to top up The Historian's caffeine levels; the scones were excellent. From the Angel we cycled through the town to the banks of the River Ancholme. The route finding was easy from here: follow the river as far as Saxby Bridge and then return. As we left Brigg and the noisy M180 behind it became more and more isolated and peaceful. Things were fairly quiet on the bird front but we managed over 20 species, the highlights being buzzard, sparrowhawk, marsh harrier and Kestrel. There were large numbers of dragonflies on the wing, the most common being migrant hawkers, many in tandem as they mated on the wing. Brown hawkers were also numerous and there were a few common darters. There were still a few plants in flower and we recorded 17.

 Once back in Brigg, it was time for an excellent lunch sitting outside the Pantry in the sun. All that was left to complete an excellent day was a potter through the lanes back to Cadney where we had time to explore the attractive church. I was taken by the 13th Century green man in the sanctuary.












Wednesday 4 September 2024

A New Piece of Kit

 As I had taken delivery of a smartphone adapter for my birding'scope, I was keen to get out and play with it. I was twarted somewhat by the very dull weather with some drizzle so I went to Killingholme Have pits where there is a hide. I was very pleased with the result using the scope despite the poor conditions giving poor colour. I think that, given some decent sun the results could be quite good. Although the variety of birds was small the total numbers were good. The highlight, though, was the roe deer that appeared right infront of the hide. As last time, however, I didn't have a camera so I didn't get any photos. It was too close for the scope and as soon as I moved to get my phone it rapidly melted away.

Curlew