Lesser Yellow Legs in the Scunthorpe Reporting Area

Found today by Wayne and Neil this North American wader is a first for the Scunthorpe Reporting Area - very distant so poor shots I’m afraid.

 

Note size comparison when compared to Redshank - Lesser Yellow Legs on the left.

Autumn Roundup

The Shadoxhurst Garden mob are up so the pressure was on to find some good birds and it started with one of my favourite birds of all time sitting on our aerial - the Mistle Thrush, not rare or scarce but a good bird never the less.  We set off for the Humber and east of Read’s Island we had a good flock of 984 Avocets being chased around by a Peregrine and a couple of Marsh Harriers over the Island.  Further on up at Far Ings we then had good (but not good enough for photos) of the Ferruginous Duck which seems to have settled in for the autumn and also a nice fly by Bittern.

On Ness Pit the Alkborough Chiloe Widgeon was showing well - not a wild bird but nice to see

and whilst looking for a Jack Snipe could only find a Common Snipe.

In Normanby Park at the moment we have plenty of Goldfinch and Siskins plus a small flock of Crossbills commuting to and from Little Normanby.

Late Hornet activity

Still having Hornet activity both in the Park and the garden but it can only be a matter of time before the cold kills them off - not that it’s cold we are still experiencing a slight Indian summer but I saw my first Redwings on Monday and the Jays in the Park are frantically gathering up Acorns and Sweet Chestnuts.  We seem to have had a small influx of Goldcrests overnight with one in the garden and a smattering throughout the Park.

Autumn in Normanby Park contd.

Nothing to do with nature but definitely autumn colours! 

Autumn in the Park

Finally we have some proper rain - it was pouring down this morning so I, my camera and my binoculars all got drenched but I saw something I have never seen before - a Stoat at least 3 metres up a Beech tree being mobbed by Nuthatches, Great Tits/Blue Tits, Blackbirds and a Song thrush.  It was too dark to get any photos but the colours of the Stoat and the Nuthatches looked spectacular against the autumn leaves.  Quite what the Stoat was doing up the tree is a mystery to me and as I say I have never seen this behaviour before.

Grey Phalarope - Alkborough Flats

A call from Neil this afternoon to say he had found this brilliant Grey Phalarope - tricky to photograph as it never stayed still and it was blowing a gale as usual.

 

Ferruginous Duck - Far Ings, Barton

After missing out on White Rumped Sandpiper and Buff Breasted Sandpiper shots at Alkborough recently the Nikon P6000 is back in action with a £20 screen off Ebay and a DIY video on Youtube.   A call from Graham alerted us to this male Ferruginous Duck in moult and despite dull rainy weather the photos aren’t too bad and as an added bonus two Water Rails were on show in front of the hide.

 

 

Red Deer Rutting Season

Well it’s that time of year again when the battle of the stags gets underway in the Park.  Already the battle seems to be have won by one contender and he seems to have won a large group of females with no real fight on his hand.  The remaining stags seem to be  haggling over a small group of females and were fighting this afternoon - most images are heavily cropped as the deer are very easily spooked (a large lens is required!) All the videos are taken with a Panasonic FZ100 at 24x optical zoom (600mm in old terms).

This Stag is scent marking and indeed the whole area smells heavily musk….

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