bat and gull

a decent afternoon on the patch; the two Twite still around although not very approachable, plus Grey Wag, Marsh Harrier, drake Smew, Long-tailed Duck and a large bat presumably a Noctule being mobbed by a Black-headed Gull; while trying to get some photos of the bat a first-winter Glaucous Gull flew through albeit in terrible light -- it takes the patch year list to 180 equalling the third highest ever total obtained in 2002; 

one more

waiting for the possible return of the White-rumped Sand at Alkborough I received a call from JH to the effect that there were two Twite on the bank at Chowder where I had spent 5 hours on Saturday with the Snow Buntings; I managed to get back in time to see them before the clouds merged into total blackness and the rain and hail reduced visibility to a few yards. 179 on the patch  list and 207 for the Scunny area; and the most ridiculous missing bird on the patch list Green Sandpiper - but then again there has only been one record this year and that was 9 days ago!

White-rumped Sand

doing a routine survey at Alkborough this afternoon I was amazed to come across a White-rumped Sandpiper with a small flock of Dunlin feeding on the snow and ice covered mudflats; the latest ever in Lincolnshire it showed well for about 40 minutes before disappearing into the fading light in the middle of the site; it takes the Scunny year tally to 206

205 scunny area

finding a Green-winged Teal this am was a bonus but not a year tick -- a Slavonian Grebe though was and it was followed by a Tundra Bean Goose with the Read's Island Pinks making the scunny area total 205 for the year

manflu gulls

with a particularly bad case of manflu I certainly did not feel like getting out of bed this morning but the northerly wind had been howling all night accompanied by heavy rain which must have produced something on the Humber? so at 07:30 I was in position and by 08:00 was certainly wishing I had stayed in bed with nothing to put in the notebook in spite of the conditions; Two Common Scoter tried to liven things up but it was still dire until a juvenile Kittiwake took the patch list to 177; an expected addition it was not accompanied by any auks, grebes or divers but a Bonxie then moved up and back out along with a passage of big gulls mainly GBB's -- and as can happen a totally unexpected bird appeared in front of us and duly landed on the Humber for about 30 minutes before flying around for another 15 minutes - a third winter Iceland Gull was most unusual on this date and a rare addition on the patch year lists so this one was most welcome --a flock of 27 Common Scoter a drake Goosander and another Bonxie added to the day tally before the flu forced an early retirement leaving the patch year list on 178 still a long way from the record 184 in 1996 but there must still be a chance of an arctic blow with a wad of auks and divers, Slav and Red-necked Grebes and some wild geese, Bewick's Swans or even a Spotted Redshank