Weekend review…

Another weekend at Alkborough with a new patchwork challenge tick – a Hawfinch, only second site record!
One of many Curlew!



Meadow Pipit large numbers currently arriving

One of two Redstarts at the weekend

Video of  Grey Heron devouring Eel at Alkborough, click link below

http://youtu.be/NFEvZwI74VA

Digi-videoing through Canon S120

Two videos here both taken at Alkborough under different conditions, firstly this Grey Heron was filmed late yesterday evening with only half an hour of day light left so result seems very good particularly when not compressed for the blog!

The second is of the Great White Egret on Saturday, result not so good but getting correct exposure from a white bird against white sky and contrasting background is difficult for any camera.

The beautiful Lincolnshire Landscape

Yes come to Alkborough for beautiful stunning scenery - power stations, the national grid and at least 60 wind turbines!

Montagu's Harrier, Alkborough

I’m reposting this as the earlier one looks so bad, not sure what happened but I’m blaming Youtube!

A few more test shots with Canon S120

Ruff

Little Egret

A couple more of this weeks Pectoral Sandpiper

And Little Gulls

Alkborough Great White surprise!

So after a productive week at Alkborough, (Pectoral Sandpiper, Temminck's Stint, Little Stint, Curlew Sandpiper and Tree Pipit) was it realistic to expect another new bird? On the way there at 7ish this morning Wayne predicted a Great White Egret as there seemed to be a few in the country so our usual policy came into play of going straight to the hillside to look over the reserve and see roughly where everything is and the first bird we see in front of the main hide is a stunning Great White Egret. Wayne frantically gets some record shots and we decide to shoot down to the hide to get closer views and predictably as we are driving down the hill the bird is flying high south! So we think roughly the bird was on site from 7-8 am. We decide to stay down in the main hide to look for the Pec which we didn't see but we were entertained with 5 Spoonbills, Hobby and Peregrine and a few Ruff and then at 12.20 Wayne thinks he got a glimpse of the Egret flying west up the Humber towards Trent Falls but as usual at Alkborough reeds get in the way and it doesn't reappear so off we trek down to the Trent bank and yes there it was on the rocks at Trent Falls with 2 Spoonbills, a Grey Heron and Little Egret. Again Wayne tries frantically to get more record shots when after 5 or so minutes it's off again this time along the Trent and back down in the flashes at Alkborough where it spent another couple of minutes before once again flying off high s/sw. Now unbeknown to us a Great White a Egret flew west past Far Ings at 10.55 which means potentially we had two separate birds or did our first bird do a big loop and come back to where it started - if we had some good images it may be possible to tell but judge for yourself.

Video at Trent Falls http://youtu.be/X1PiiwEjLbg

The two images below were taken on main lagoon at Alkborough, the one above at Trent Falls, are they the same bird?

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Alkborough this evening

Pec Sand still around but distant, new waders included 4 Little Stint and Curlew Sandpiper. Also 3 Whinchat on the reserve - Wayne still testing his new camera set up and it seems to be excellent for videoing with hardly any light it's just a pity that YouTube compresses the file to the extent that the final quality is so bad. This video looks fantastic in its original state but terrible here ....

View video here http://youtu.be/f8iwk9LdGDY

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Pectoral Sandpiper at Alkborough Flats

How’s this for a bit of luck, Wayne’s new camera came this morning so with only an hour or so of daylight left this evening he decides to take it down to Alkborough for a quick test and the first bird he sees is a Pec Sand! The camera by the way is for digiscoping and is a Canon S120 attached to a Swarovski ATS80HD telescope.
Thursday morning update, Pec and Temmincks Stint both in front of hide!

Birding at Alkborough Flats

Birding at Alkborough is not easy, as you can see from image below to get any idea of where birds are you have to bird at a distance (the flats are in the background) and then you have inquisitive visitors to contend with!

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Juvenile Wheatear, Alkborough

So autumn is well underway and bringing with it a trickle of waders, over the past 10 or so days there has been plenty to see including 2 Whinchats, up to 12 Spoonbills, 48 roosting Little Egrets, Bittern, 4 Wood sandpipers, 8 Spotted Redshank, 20+ Ruff, 1000+Avocet, 500+ Black-tailed Godwits, juvenile Cuckoo, juvenile Peregrine, Hobby, 20+ Snipe, 6 Green Sandpipers, 11 Common Sandpipers, 2 Knot, 2 Whimbrel, 4 Greenshank, 25+ Redshank and 1 Temminck Stint. Also seen were 8 Noctule Bats and a Mink!
Wayne's patchwork challenge hit a rough patch in July with no new species added but a few added for this month. Oh and nearly forgot this very tame juv Wheatear which was outside the main hide last night.

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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.