Far Ings 28-8-11

Mandy & Myself decided to go and stake out the Kingfishers,With the alarm set for 4am It was a early start arriving at Ness Hide around 6am with Don Davis,Howard Booty,Dave Allen already set up and Clare Drewell not far behind us,The Grey Heron was sitting in front of the hide with a golden glow on him from the early morning sun.
With only a short time passing an adult female Kingfisher came and perched up on the dead bush and decided it was safer to perch on a new post due to the wind but only stayed around for a few minutes,passing the time away for the next performance other birds Gadwall,Teal,Cormorant,Lapwing,Sand Martin,Reed Warbler & Reed Bunting was noted.
A few hours passed when a juvenile female Kingfisher came in giving the best photo's and views as she sat on the closest perch holding on for her life as the wind had really picked up by now & I think Mandy had eaten all of her marmite on toast by now aswell YUK :).
We stayed until 13.00 adding a juvenile Water Rail to the list along with Common Darter & Migrant Hawker being the only Dragonflies.

Grey Heron

Common Darter

House Sparrow

Kingfisher 

Alkborough Flats 27-8-11

When Andy Sharp offered a lift to Alkborough we jumped at the chance with Spoonbill being the target bird another county and year tick for me.
Within seconds of getting out of the car a Hobby came across chasing the Martins high up and stayed in view for a few minutes and a female Kestrel hunting nearby a great start,with the rain coming down we rushed to the hide with plenty of Shelduck,Avocet & Black-tailed Godwit in front,looking around in a more detailed search we picked up a few Bar-tailed Godwit,Green Sandpiper & Greenshank.
With a break in the rain 9 Ringed Plover came in and 3 Knot and Mandy spotted a Marsh Harrier Hunting the Reed Bed on the far side,a few Little Egret dotted about and 4 Ruff on the far edge of the Reeds which I was scanning when Andy said hold on with a slight pause and said Spoonbill heading towards us in the distance which came and landed to the left of the hide great views but only managed a record shot of it coming in.
A great hour spent at this reserve and only my second time here.

Shelduck

Spoonbill

Crowle Moor 21-8-11

With a brilliant day had at the Birdfair meeting new & old faces,we returned back to North Lincs at 9am this morning,after a coffee and giving Dave a break from driving we set off for Crowle Moor for another go at photographing Black Darters with plenty on the wing getting them to sit for us proved difficult with the wind and they wasn't allowing us to get to close before they took to the air but with a few shots in the bag we gave up on the males but the females were letting Mandy approach up close,Dave came to the conclusion that it might have something to do with our tripods and movement.
Lizards were numerous along with Common & Ruddy Darter,Migrant,Common & Southern Hawkers also seen
with a few Emerald Damselflies which was the first time Mandy got a good look at one.
A big thanks to Dave for driving cheers mate catch up soon!!!!

Black Darter

Common Darter

Migrant Hawker

Southern Hawker

Waters Edge 15-8-11

With a day wasted waiting for a phone call I never got Mandy and myself set off for Waters Edge for her target bird the Little Grebes.
On arrival we both set off for our positions and within 30mins I was done and dusted got them in the bag,happy with my shots I returned to the picnic bench and Mandy joined me a while after with a very disappointed look about her and no shots of the grebes.After a short while she took up position in my spot with the sun behind her and managed a few shots but still wasn't happy with them and returned back to the picnic bench for a can of pop  and a sausage roll,we watched the grebes return to the top end of the pool and take the young back onto the nest and the male fishing close to the bank so I sent Mandy off to get her shots while I sat and watched what went by with 5 Yellow Wagtail,Bullfinch and around 200 Sand Martin returning to roost,finally Mandy returned more happy this time with her 300+ shots,We set off for home as the light was fading a good few hours out in the sun and fresh air.

Far Ings 14-8-11

With a Butterfly & Insect walk today Mandy & Myself decided to go a bit early and spend some time in Ness Hide first with only a brief flyby from the Kingfisher for our effort.
We started off at Ness Farm at midday and did a walk around the nature reserve to see what we could find,with high wind and not much in the way of sun not a lot was found a few Gate Keeper,1 Meadow Brown,1 Common Blue,Peacocks,Whites & Red Admiral.
On the Dragonfly side was 1 Brown Hawker,5 Migrant Hawker,1 Southern Hawker,3 Common Darter,a few Blue-tail Damselflies along with plenty of Common Blue Damselflies.
Moths included 2 Common Carpet,Agriphila Straminella & Udea Lutealis.
After 3 hours we arrived back at Ness Farm & we returned back to Ness hide for a second attempt at the Kingfisher but only gave a brief closer view other birds of note was
Water Rail,Redshank,Curlew,Yellow Wagtails in double figures,Dunlin,Marsh Harrier ( Adult Male & 1 Juvenile),Teal numbers building up along with a few Shoveler.

Shoveler

Water Rail

Waters Edge CP 11/12-8-11

With 2 visits to one of my local patches over 2 days produced 4 patch ticks,with the most interesting being a
Bittern which flew from the main pit near Pasture road and came onto the small dipping pond which I took for a Grey Heron without looking properly until Mandy shouted up Bittern,We rushed round from the Grebe pool to have a look when I spotted movement in the reeds and the positive shape of a Bittern moving back into the reeds.Whilst scanning around some more a Kingfisher flew by.
The second visit saw Mandy trying to get shots of the Little Grebes with their young and myself heading straight for the dipping pond after a hour or so an adult Hobby came over only to get mobbed by the resident Common Tern.With no sign of Bittern I headed back to Mandy just as I did the Kingfisher came through again.
With the light getting no better Mandy got 200+ shots of Little Grebe and Myself none only of a Female Common Darter about 8 shots in total.
We decided to walk back through the wood and along the pits just as we got near the end of the last pit Eagle eyed Mandy spotted a Little Egret fishing cool 4 ticks in 2 days not bad going.
Arriving home we sat in the garden just finished coffee and a New Garden tick 5 Whimbrel heading south over Barton.( Did you see them Catley over your house )

Common Darter (Female)

Little Egret

Far Ings Moth & Bat night 6-8-11

With trapping my own garden the previous night Mandy and myself decided to attend the local Moth & Bat night .We headed off for Far Ings early to spend a couple of hours in Ness Hide and wait for the Kingfisher but it didn't show but the young Water Rail did,with the un-forecast heavy rain showers we thought the moth night might of been cancelled but the rain cleared.With Matt Blisset running the show by starting off with the Bat walk Mandy went off with them to see what they could find and I stayed behind to help Alf with starting up the Moth traps.
With 3 species of bat detected/seen included Pipistrelle,Noctule & Daubenton's
Main moths of the night included
Bulrush,Brown-veined & Southern Wainscot & Bordered Pug.

Reed Warbler

Water Rail

Southern Wainscot

Crescent

Crescent

Yellow-tail

Lesser Treble-bar

Stenoptilia Pterodactyla

Yellow-tail

Humberston & Cleethorpes 3-8-11

With a nice hot & sunny day forecast for today we decided to catch the first train at 7.00 and have a day at Cleethorpes and Humberston to see what birds we could find.
Arriving at Cleethorpes just before 8.00 we set off for a leisurely walk down to Humberston while it was still high tide plenty of Common Terns were noted on the sand bars along with Oystercatcher and small waders presumed to be Sanderling but too far off just with binoculars.A quick call into Mcdonalds for a welcomed  breakfast.
A dog walker on the sand bar flushed a large flock of Black-tailed Godwit which was nice of them seems no dogs are allowed on the beach but nobody seemed to care as many dog walkers done the same throughout the day.
We reached Buck beck outfall where we noticed a large gathering of martins and stopped to take advantage of some flight shots and perched birds also noted here were Peregrine Falcon flushing everything,Little Egret and a female Sparrowhawk also a few Yellow Wagtail flying overhead and 11 Whimbrel was noted with their bubbly call after about a hour we continued on our way with a quick stop off to get a cold drink,on reaching Humberstone the confiding Ruff wasn't present but we sat and waited for a while with only a couple of Ringed Plover dropping in and a few more flyover Yellow Wagtails,Kids were around the edges of the pool so probably the reason for no Ruff (get back to school) :)
On our return back to Cleethorpes we stopped off and had a look arount the boating lake where some feral Barnacle Geese have set up home but we found a Pink-footed Goose in with the Greylags,one that didn't want to go home for the summer.With time pushing on we made our way to Ocean fish bar in Cleethorpes for our well deserved tea.
A great and enjoyable day out.

Barnacle Goose

House Martin

Pink-footed Goose

Sand Martin

Song Thrush

Swallow