Winter visitors

Well we are nearly at another year end and a year that I personally will be pleased to see the back of having spent the whole of the year disabled with Sciatica.  However there is light finally at the end of the tunnel and it does seem to be getting better and who knows by the time I finally get an appointment for a steroid injection it may have repaired itself and I can tell the Nhs where to stick its appointment!  So back to birding, we have been to seen two nationally very rare species recently an Ivory Gull at Patrington Haven and a small flock of Two-Barred Crossbills at Broomhead Reservoir in S Yorks which came within feet to drink constantly giving their nasally trumpet call.  Exceptionally good views were had of both species but in our new spirit of methodically studying the birds and forgetting about instantly grabbing the camera putting our blood pressure up we have no photos!  I have been studying birders at twitches this autumn and there is only a small percent that actually look through their scopes/bins and look at the bird most of them just spend the whole time frantically trying to get a photo and it had to be said on far too many occasions the noise of the camera shutters does scare the bird and don't get me started on some photographer's behavior.

On the garden front we are getting some good birds on the feeders with Nuthatches daily and a good mixed tit flock including Goldcrest and Treecreeper regularly passing through but the star of the winter has to be the daily bath time ritual of a Mistle Thrush at the pond.  It is a stunning bird and always brings its mate which curiously never plucks up the courage to come down to the pond but watches from the Yew Tree.  We regularly have Buzzards over the paddock and our resident Sparrowhawk chases birds around the garden but I suppose our most exciting Normanby visitor would have to be a Muntjac Deer which we have now seen twice at the bottom of the paddock.  With bulbs already poking their heads up spring is  just around the corner and weather permitting our Newts could be back in the pond in 5 or 6 weeks time.  It is only about a month ago that we had a pair of Great Diving Beetles mating in the pond which was fabulous to see but the ferocious larvae will not be good news for the Newts - life is just one never ending battle!

Video of flooded Alkborough Flats 6th Dec 2013

 Yes I know that the purpose of the Flats was to flood but this is a little special, it looks more like a tsunami has come through (note the tree trunk is not usually there!)

http://youtu.be/IXbt-RJ6L_g

A few more of Humber tidal surge..

Tidal surge flooding at Alkborough Flats

A repeat event of 1953 saw Alkborough Flats completely submerged by the River Humber last night.  It even breached the new sea defences with the sewage works, car park and surrounding area under deep water and sadly a number of sheep succumbed to the deluge.







Further up the river shows South Ferriby surrounded by flood water.

Pied Wheatear and Glossy Ibis, Notts, 2013

Quite a while since my last post (still plagued with Sciatica!) but three first this weekend, firstly a new bird for my Scunthorpe list, a beautiful Marsh Tit frequenting the garden feeders in Alkborough around the Maze and then two new birds for my British list, Pied Wheatear and Glossy Ibis both just over the county border in Notts.  Have to say not sure why it's a Pied and not a Black-Eared!

And the Glossy Ibis
http://youtu.be/3C9EHJ-Qwsc

Siberian Stonechat at Scalby Mills, N Yorks, October 2013

 

A few more Gannets

Yes the Gannet fest continued on Saturday at the Humber Bridge with around another 500 birds flying up the Humber along with 18 Bonxie, 4 Arctic Skua's, 1 Arctic Tern, 1 Kittiwake, 1 Eider Duck and 60 Common Scoters.  With the winds continuing northerly and good reports from Flamborough we decided that was the place to be on Sunday and within 4 hours of arriving we had 1 Dusky Warbler, 2 Yellow-browed Warbler, 1 Pallas's Warbler, 1 Great-grey Shrike and literally hundreds of Thrushes and Robins.

Gannets galore and a Sooty!

Well what a spectacle at the Humber Bridge today! I arrived around 9.30 full of hope with strong north easterlies howling up the Humber but after an initial scan thought hmm not a lot really infact not a bird in sight and then it began, slowly at first and then beyond belief.  In the middle of the river just out from the bridge view point suddenly appeared a flock of 11 Great Skuas quickly followed by 3 Gannets - this could be a good sign I thought and quickly scanned the river - 3 Goldeneye and a flock of around 100 Wigeon and then another group of Gannets all juveniles and 40 of them - I don't think I have seen a flock this big and then suddenly a continuous flow with the next flock comprising of 120 mostly juveniles but with some adults.  To cut a long story short from 9.30 until 3.00pm the whole of the Humber from the bridge to the mouth was a constant stream of Gannets and I would estimate between 700 and 1000 birds it was an incredible sight and then at around 2.00pm a single Sooty Shearwater appeared with two Manx Shearwaters and later a further 4 Manxies.  Only a handful of brave Gannets went over the bridge the rest would just circle a few minutes and then head back out an amazing sight, if only I had taken a camera!

Olive-backed Pipit at Spurn

Look carefully and use your imagination!

Still Easterlies

So on standby for lots of megas turning up on the coast but no such luck so up to the Humber Bridge instead!  After yesterday's Skuas there could still be some around today couldn't there, well no not one but we did have at least 7 juvenile Gannets, 2 Guillemots and 100+ Wigeon.  

The day started particularly well for Wayne as he had a Muntjac from the kitchen window this morning only the second record in 15 years!

Sea bird bonanza at Alkborough Flats!

A slight exaggeration but what a day, with deck chairs and rug for pain relief! we perched up on the hillside protected from the easterly wind and in full sunshine where we watched for 7 hours.  Thousands of Pink Footed Geese spent the day commuting between their feeding grounds and the roost site of Whitton Sands and whilst watching and listening to this spectacular sight along with the antics of a juvenile Peregrine we noticed a disturbed group of gulls and quickly picked up the culprit, a Bonxie.  The sighting of this and news of other seabirds at the Humber Bridge made us focus more on the river and several hours later we had logged a pale morph juvenile Long-tailed Skua and two dark morph juvenile Arctic Skuas, all three skuas seen together giving good comparison on structure and size of the two species.  To finish off two juvenile Gannets made their way up the Humber turned left down the Trent and disappeared from view over Blacktoft Sands.

After thoughts of summer

I'm writing this whilst led on the back seat of the car parked outside the Blue Bell cafe at Spurn Point and thinking to myself those painkillers didn't last long and I suppose that sums up my summer and indeed the last 10 months of life with sciatica.  However every cloud has a silver lining and my affliction has meant I have spent most of my time in the garden at home watching the bees and trying to identify them and this led me to discover a new species for the garden and indeed myself and that was the Tree Bumblebee.  I had two Tree Bumblebees which arrived when the Bistort started to flower and disappeared when the Bistort finished.  These wonderful little bees were new to the UK in 2001 and were it not for my sciatica I would probably never had noticed them. I wondered if my bees were the most northerly in Britain but I have just seen two more in the autumn sunshine next to the gas works at Easington!

Noticeable by their absence would have to be Hornets and Ladybirds but pond life had been prolific in the garden with the Newts being the star attraction and a drinking male Crossbill putting in a surprise visit.  In Normanby Park the greatest moment for me was when the Spotted Flycatchers rebuilt their nest having had the first destroyed and the second highlight was the huge numbers of Bumblebees feeding on the Lavender hedges and well done to the park in their last autumns clearing of leaves which to me seems to have had a good outcome in reducing the devastation caused by the Horsechestnut leaf miner this summer.  The park has also had a brilliant success with regards to its Bats with a total of 8 species recorded.

So what have we seen today - well not much considering easterly winds but even so we managed 2 Yellow-browsed Warblers, 2 Garden Warblers, 1 Whinchat, 1 Firecrest and our first Redwings but tomorrow with slightly stronger winds forecast who knows what will turn up ..... And finally one last photo of the summer which sums it up and I promise no more bee photos till next spring

Great Snipe's epic flights

An interesting article....

Great Snipe flight

Great Snipe at Kilnsea, Spurn Point

At long last a new blog post, having been grounded for so long with my sciatica I wasn’t going to let my first British Great Snipe succumb to my affliction so with painkillers at hand here it is, and what a bird showing down to four feet at one point…

National Moth Night

National Moth Night runs from 8th-10th August and last night proved to be a good night in our garden with some very beautiful moths being attracted to our trap…

Swallow Prominent

White Satin Moth

Pebble Prominent

We think this is a Common or Lesser Rustic

and another Rustic showing how variable some species are

Brown-line Bright-eye