last regular

a singing male Cuckoo this am completed the expected April migrant set and took the year list to 141; also around the patch today were 8+ Wheatears including a fine male Greenland and three other possibles, 3+ Grasshopper Warblers, a new female Ring Ouzel, a singing male Turtle Dove and 44+ Swifts with the first 13 over my garden this evening. The Great Grey Shrike was still present on the heath along with a pair of ouzels and a few wheatears in what was obviously  wheatear fall day; 161

140 up

after a rather bird poor early start to the day a Turtle Dove appeared from nowhere on Waters' Edge and the first three Swifts were scything over the sailing pit; five minutes later there were 5 and then an hour later 22------two singing Grasshopper Warblers gave some early spring views but then it stopped; several hours later in the hot sun another locale attracted my attention and produced 7 species of raptor; returning home via the Wolds it was just as well that it was hot and I had the car window down or else I might have missed the jingling Corn Bunting back on his 2007 oak tree taking the year list tally to 140; a late evening visit to one of the Coversands heaths logged a late Great Grey Shrike after an entire winter without a local bird; the Scunthorpe bird group area year list thus rose to 160; as far as I know no-one has ever recorded 200 species in the area in a year so maybe I should have made more effort for Hawfinch and Lesser Spotted Woodpecker; my best so far is 196 in 2001. Future posts will show the Scunny tally in Blue

slow slog continues

at present I seem to be walking about 4 miles for every year list addition and they are all commonplace species; at one time in the past I did find a few rare birds but that knack seems to have left me! Today produced two Wheatears on Waters' edge, at last, and two Common Sandpipers but things still seem slow--maybe tomorrow 137

missing terns

in spite of Arctic Terns being everywhere a full day around the pits produced just the resident Common tern and a fine but brief adult summer Little Gull; list additions came in the form of the first Whitethroats, a briefly burst of song from a Grasshopper Warbler and two early Sanderling on the foreshore with the Turnstone flock which still numbers 220 birds; 135

slow arrivals

two singing Lesser Whitethroats pre-dated the first Whitethroat today taking the tally to 132

21.4 ----131

A single Common tern was the only new bird in the fine and sunny weather but a good haul of waterfowl included female Goosander, female Smew, Velvet Scoter, drake Garganey on Waters' edge this morning and the Dark-bellied Brent Goose still present and alive after being attacked by a male Marsh Harrier! 131

slow build up

A Dark-bellied Brent Goose was a bit of an odd April list addition today but I dipped the Grey Plover and Cuckoo; the extremely cold east wind is really playing havoc with spring arrivals; the Night Heron showed again briefly today after not being seen for 13 days, the Ouzel was still present plus 4 Little Ringed Plovers and 3 Yellow Wags. Totals now 130; in the record holding 1996 year list I had 138 species at the end of April but the best end of April tally was 145 in 2002 when the year end list was 180 3rd all time highest total so early spring additions are not always a good omen

17.4

The day started out bright and sunny but with the cold easterly wind still prevalent; I decided on a walk around the patch am to try and add a few of the expected spring arrivals; 3 Sedge Warblers were singing along with the Reed Warbler from the 5th, two fly over Yellow Wagtails were also new and two Whimbrel flew east late am; the Ring Ouzel was still present along with 3+ House Martins and good numbers of Willow Warblers and Sand Martins; there was one Long-tailed Duck remaining on the sailing pit plus a few Goldeneye but otherwise it was a little quiet. Deciding to do some survey work in the afternoon the inevitable text arrived announcing the presence of three Garganey at Far Ings. Garganey is a funny species missed in some years and occurring in good numbers in others but as the rain set in I thought it best to check whether they were still present; on entering the hide they were slap bang in front of it but in the dull, grey light and rain I had left the camera in the car! a quick jog and some decent images were bagged along with year list addition number 129. 

extreme dedication

I received a text on Tuesday while swimming in the Med off Akrotiri to the effect that there was a Ring Ouzel at Barton so being the dedicated patch lister I am it was onto the plane and by 11:00hrs on the Wednesday the fine male was added to the year list all be it in freezing conditions after the 30C experienced the previous day! 125

patch tick--what a day

well I fell into the age old trap today and had a lie in after checking the patch just about every day this week and that of course meant that it was certain to be a visitor who found the goody which I did not expect given the dire winter returns forecast; 

answering the phone I was out of bed and down at Far Ings within about 10 minutes where a Night Heron had been seen dropping into a large area of scrub; Night Heron first for the patch and a new patch bird for me hopefully!!! it was a bit of a wait but then it was picked up and flew and landed right out in the open  in a group of sallows but where it was only visible through a thick hedge! so the photos at 60m through the hedge are less than striking but a record of number 250 on the Barton list and 244 on my patch list; the heron then showed on and off but was always partly hidden low in the sallows and virtually impossible to photograph; a first-summer bird it is a classical early spring vagrant-----

also today produced House Martin and the earliest ever Reed Warbler for the patch taking the overall tally to 124 for the year

Swallow

April 4th and I eventually add two Swallows to the list 121; it seems like they are late with all the reports but in the late 70's and early 80's my mean arrival date for Swallow on the patch was April 14th so they are certainly getting earlier up here

one more

it has been a very slow day---warm and sunny from mid afternoon with light winds but virtually no migrants the only new species being a singing male Blackcap on Waters' Edge; in spite of numerous reports I have yet to come across a Swallow but there were at least two more Willow Warblers today but the Chiffchaff passage has dropped off with territory holding birds remaining in the usual sites; 120 up

spring is round the corner

a singing Willow Warbler on Waters' Edge on the 31st ended March on 119 species for the year the second highest total at the end of March behind the 126 recorded in the record breaking year of 1996

slow additions

failed to see the Swallows reported yesterday but a Little Ringed Plover flew west today making the annual score 118; the Velvet Scoter showed well in the morning and allowed some record shots, a male Bittern was stalking around in the open this afternoon looking for a booming rival, up to 30 Chiffchaffs on the patch with 15 Sand Martins, the Red-throated Diver still hanging on and I actually saw the Cetti's this afternoon; a male Marsh Harrier came in from the Humber in the morning but there were no other spectacular fly overs!

at last a migrant

today has seen the first big push of Chiffchaffs and Sand Martins into the patch taking the year list up by one to 117 before the rain set in again

March 17th +2

I was up at 05:30 for a Barn owl session but by 06:30 there was 100% cloud cover and no sign of  a respite so I decided on a walk around the patch before starting surveys; no sign of the Firecrest on Waters' Edge but the Mealy Redpoll was showing again and at the Pasture Road entrance a wheezing female Brambling was number 115 for the year; I had heard a brief Brambling like note in the same spot the previous day so it was good to get confirmation; the sailing pit was covered in diving duck but the first sh*t machine walker flushed several birds including amazingly the first-summer drake Velvet Scoter which flew to the other end of the pit and had a bathe before returning to the Humber so 116 for the year and two hard to get species in as many days but still no Sand Martin, probably not surprising given that today felt as cold as any day in the winter with the freezing north-easterly

Firecrest and swan

Today provided links to all of the old bird finding cliches and proverbs;  

first: it doesn't matter how many times you check your local patch if there is something good lurking it will be found by someone who a) has never been there before or b) only visits the site about twice a year; 

Second; ---good birds show themselves to visitors but skulk like hell when you are looking for them

Third-----You don't find birds while you are stood talking ----

Fourth ---it always pays to be in the right place at the right time

hence it was today that I was stood nattering with Simon and Karen on Waters' Edge, still not having completed the usual circuit when occasional, very occasional, visitors Pete and colleague appeared to announce the presence of a Firecrest just 50m around the corner where I would have been if I had not stopped talking for 20 minutes----had I not stopped I may have self found the crest, had I been elsewhere I may well have missed the bird altogether so all scenarios were well covered; the bird was quite showy although in dense blackthorn and in terrible light to start with and then it became really elusive and only showed a couple of times in 3 hours this afternoon

Past records from the local patch are as follows:

male in song Far Ings March 24th 1982, 

male Far Ings March 30th -April 1st 1994, 

one in next door neighbour's garden, heard while washing the car (very sad) flew over garden Nov 4th 1995 

Viewing area November 10th - 13th 2000

Barton Reedbed April 3rd 2001

Viewing area October 14th 2004

Then as I was about to leave WE tonight at 17:20hrs a flock of 7 Whoopers flew west calling to complete a two tick day and take the tally to 114 and the self found list to 111

a couple of poor record shots of the crest and an artful image of the departing Whoopers are shown above---more of the Firecrest are on Pewit

near misses

in the last 10 days there have been rather too many near misses which seem to offer bad omens for the patch list; just up the estuary a Glaucous Gull has been roosting on Read's Island and heading off south-west to feed; an Iceland Gull on the same tip may also have been roosting within sight of the patch on RI; I managed to miss the short staying Mandarin which was photod two weeks back and on Sunday a Kittiwake flew west at Alkborough no doubt having passed through the Barton territorial zone; also in the last two days there have been some odd March waders in the area with 23 Grey Plovers at Alkborough and 2 flying west towards my patch while I was at Goxhill yesterday along with 16 Bar-tailed Godwits; the number of Goldeneye on the patch ponds has increased to 115 as the New Holland flock starts to disperse but the Velvet Scoter which has been with them all winter has so far failed to be attracted to the patch as have the 14 Whoopers which have also spent the winter within scope range just down the Humber at New Holland. 

With some Firecrests on the coast I checked all the singing Goldcrests yesterday but to no avail so my only recent addition has been to put Mediterranean Gull on the self found year list with a first summer on Waters' Edge on Sunday and presumably the same bird on the foreshore yesterday--photo above;

So the year list sticks on 112 and the self found list rises to 110----

first migrants--a tick and a half

things are certainly on the move; last week there were 7 Stonechats west of the bridge with a further 5 on Waters' Edge; today the WE flock held 6 birds with a further pair on the foreshore; of the two Rock Pipits that appeared today one was a stunning littoralis (surely worth at least half a tick) while the other looks as if it may have been (pic above); the Mealy Redpoll on WEdge was showing rather well (shots on Pewit) and the site also produced the first Chiffchaff of the year, an expected March list addition taking the annual tally to 112

Other local goodies still present are the two Long-tailed Ducks (above) plus the Red-throated Diver

Mealy still a species 111

Although I seem to recall frequent stories that Mealy Redpoll is to be lumped again with Lesser, according to my latest BOU British birds list it is still a tick so today's elusive individual on Waters' Edge must take me up to 111 for the year. This bird was with 4-5 Lessers and looked stocky and very grey on the upperparts with a very worn greater covert bar but well streaked whitish underparts and a pretty thick streak on the undertail coverts; although I saw it about five times during the morning it was brilliant at disappearing and always seemed to appear where I was looking into the light; I took a few record pics against the light and looking up so they are not great but as it took off it revealed a bit of its rump pattern;

I have recorded Mealy Redpoll in five of the 15 years from 1993-2007 with the last 1 or 2 birds occurring in Feb-March 2006 when a fine Arctic Redpoll was also present--here's hoping!