A Birding Walk at Cleethorpes and The Fitties.

 Another bright and sunny day. We decided on a change of scene today a parked at Buck Beck in Cleethorpes. It was a beautiful morning with plenty of birds about. We followed the usual route towards the yacht club and on to Tetney Marsh RSPB reserve. We stopped for our picnic overlooking the beach and the Haille Sand Fort with views across to Spurn. Today we had remebered the cheese and hula hoops. Our lunch had added excitement (for us) of watching two people being rescued by the coastguard. They had crossed the creek to the aid of their dog which had got stuck in the mud. One of the part had sung up to the top of his thighs in the mud. It must have been frightening. A salutory lesson to us all. We logged 32 bird species today and finished with a drink in the Rose and Crown on the way home.

Fitties Birding

 Having had a good birding session a couple days earlier, Brian and I decided to begin our regular day out at the Humber Mouth Yacht Club on the Fitties and time it for hight tide. It was again a beautiful warm and sunny day, although with a strong breeze blowing. Surprisingly, despite having more time, we saw fewer birds. We walked down as far as the boating lake before retracing our tracks. We enjoyed sitting on one of the benches at the back of the Fitties cam watching the receding tide. We picked up a few more birds here but not as many as I expected. Looking, through the 'scope, though, there were many thousands way out on Tetney High Sands just off Northcoates Point.

Redshank

Humberston Fitties beach

The Haille Sand Fort

Bar-Tailed Godwit, Humberston Fitties.

A Windy Walk from Buck Beck to Tetney Marsh.

 It was a poor start to the day but by the time Brian and I arrived at Buck Beck car park it had stopped raining and the sun was beginning to make an appearance, although there was a brisk SW wind. Despite this it was quite mild at 13C. We had arranged our visit for high tide but it was not as high as I expected. There were none of the hoped for wheeling flocks of waders; perhaps most have already moved north to breed. Disappointingly there were no bar-tailed godwits to be found. We saw 30 species in total and I was pleased to find my first coltsfoot flowers out.

Coltsfoot

Coltsfoot

Cleethorpes and Humberston Birding

 As Brian and I pulled into the car park at Buck Beck, overlooking Cleethorpes Dunes, the tide was just on the turn.  At 6.45m it wasn't the biggest tide but it was enough to bring the birds close enough for good birding.  Our route took us along the promenade and then onto Anthony's Bank with views out over the estuary across to Spurn Point and the sea forts.  At this point the tide was still too far in for birds to be able to feed but as it receded it freed up beach and mud for feeding once more.  We walked beyond the yacht club to check for birds on Tetney Marsh and on the lagoons where we were delighted to find the local black swan.  As we turned to head the sun came out and we were treated to some glorious light.  Apart from the black swan, it was good to catch up with some species not seen yet this year: bar-tailed godwit, sanderling and little egret.

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A Perfect Morning of Birds at Cleethorpes

 On 30th I treated myself to a morning with nature at Cleethorpes/Fitties.  On a mild (15C) overcast morning I parked the car at Buck Beck and set out along Anthony's Bank towards the Fitties with a few spits of rain in the air.  Being a Sunday morning the sea front was busy with people but things became more quiet once I reached the sea bank running past the Fitties.  The harsh calls of gulls were a constant companion along with the bubbling song of curlew.  Oystercatchers were continually piping and in the background the more bass notes of brent geese.  I had caught the tide right: just on the ebb with birds withing good viewing range. It made a change to visit this section of our local coastline and the birds were differnet.  Further upriver black-tailed godwit are more common but here there are mor bar-tails.  Sanderling were present feeding frantically on the tide line and good numbers of turnstone were present among the vast numbers of knot, dunlin and oystercatcher.  I was pleased to see a single ringed plover, while out on Tetney Marsh I thrilled to the unusual call of a whimbrel.

Looking out over the estuary from Tetney Marsh.

Tetney Marsh panorama

The Fitties Beach

The Fitties Beach

The Fitties Beach

Haille Sand Fort

The Fitties Beach

Tetney Marshes Birding Bimble

 It was a very cold and foggy start to the day with temperatures around freezing.  At first it seemed as though it was going to clear for us but then the fog came in again and, on the coast, stayed for the day.  This made for very cold birding and Brian and I were well ready for our tomato soup and Christmas cake by one of the pill boxes which made a convenient table.  Our route was basically an out and back with a short loop from the lock gates.  We had parked by the boating lake at the Fitties Yacht Club where there was a great deal of activity, mainly from black-headed gulls and mallards but there were one or two mute swans, a few little grebes, wigeon and teal.  Having checked out the lagoon we then headed along the sea wall towards the sea lock at Tetney.  Here, the main interest was on the fields behind the sea wall: quite a few lapwing and a smattering of pheasants and gulls.  The two highlights, however, were the large flock of 300+ brent geese and two fields each with about 30 curlew feeding on them.  We were hoping for short-eared owl as 3 had been seen the day before but we were out of luck. The noisy alarm calls of redshank rang out over the salt marsh and we could see several little egret feeding in the creeks.  At the sea lock we walked alongside the haven (the point where the Louth Canal flows out to sea) for a short distance.  Here we could see more redshank and a small flock of teal as well as a few pied wagtails.  Following our soup and cake we quickly made our way back to the car park where we made a sweep of the beach finding shelduck and large numbers of oystercatcher as well as the bigger gulls:herring and common.  There were a few dunlin and knot in with the redshank and it was useful to be able to compare sizes.  Back on the lagoon we found some more teal amongst the wigeon and a solitary sleeping black-tailed godwit.  Although we didn't find stonechat today we were pleased with the snipe which zipped noisily away from under our feet.

All in all another good day.

To view large, please click on an image.  Photographs from the archives.

Brent Geese

Curlew

Black-tailed godwit

Black-tailed godwit

Little grebe

Dunlin

Brent geese

Birding on Cleethorpes Beach and Tetney Marshes.

 As I turned the focus adjustment on the 'scope the distant wader out on the beach at The Fitties sprang into sharp focus and revealed itself to be a bar-tailed godwit.  It was good to compare the details with those of the black-tailed that I had seen a week ago while they were fresh in my mind.  Brian and I had started our day in Buck Beck car park where we made our way across the salt marsh, through the dunes and onto the outer beach.  We hoped to find the small group of snow bunting that had been seen out here but our luck was not in.  The tide was only just going out, though, and so groups of waders were very close to us, among them turnstones and sanderling.  These are always confiding and easy to get close to, but, especially the sanderling, they move very quickly and so are challenging to photograph.  They run in and out of the tide like tiny clock work toys as they search for tasty morsels of food.  There were plenty of other waders about, particularly large numbers of oystercatchers, but they are more wary and difficult to get close to.  Back on the saltmarsh, redshank called insistently and several little egret searched the pools for small fish and shrimps.  Large numbers of gulls were out too, black-headed already coming into breeding plumage being the most numerous, but also herring, great black-backed and common present as well.

Giving up on our search for snow bunting we headed for the yacht club at the end of the Humberston Fitties adjacent to Tetney Marshes RSPB reserve.  Here a sweep of the beach revealed the godwit and a couple of curlew as well as large numbers of shelduck.  I had expected to find the usual flock of brent geese out towards the haven and the dunes of Horseshoe Point and was surprised not to see them.  As we made our way along the line of dunes, however, suddenly I heard the familiar guttural calls and we looked up to see a flock of at least 200 fly up from the arable fields behind the sea wall, over the marsh and settle down out on the mud flats.  Later another large flock flew up but then quickly settled down again.  The lagoons on the salt marsh held large numbers of mallard and black-headed gulls as well as a few mute swans and egrets and, tucked away in the vegetation, some teal and wigeon.  We had been searching the large clumps of sea buckthorn, which often hold stonechats, without success when a female popped up just as we returned to the car park.  A good morning with 32 species found, increasing my count for the year to 49.

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Cleethorpes Beach

Cleethorpes Beach

Black-headed gull

Sanderling

Sanderling

Sanderling

Sanderling

Turnstone

Turnstone

A Travelling Around Sort of a Day

 It was very pleasant drifting around the Wolds looking for spring hares but I was out of luck so headed to Scallows for my sandwiches and a wander around the wood.  It was beautiful just to be in the wood good to see dog's mercury carpeting the bottom end of the wood.  The ramsons is still looking fresh but I resisted picking any more; we still have pesto and frozen soup and more frozen leaves.  The buzzard pair drifted over the wood and were very vocal; hopefully I shall find where they are nesting, I think in the tall larches in front of the hide.

Eventually I decided to head for The Fitties to see if there were any dabchicks on the lagoons.  As I approached the coast it was evident that there had been a shower and more or less as I parked up it clouded over, began to rain, then sleet, snow and finally hail.  The squall quickly passed over and the sun came out again providing fantastic light and dramatic skies.  Unfortunately there were no dabchicks but I had good views of a couple of teal and an egret.

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Pheasant.

Pheasant.

Pheasant.

The Wolds

Dogs Mercury

Dogs Mercury

The Wood

The Wood

The Wood

The Wood still has a winter look

The Wood still has a winter look

The Wood

The path to the hide

Signs of spring

After to storm, Tetney Marshes

Wood pigeon

Herring Gulls

Receding storm over Tetney Marsh