Great Northern Diver 30-12-12

With the Juvenile Great Northern Diver still present and showing well at Ashby Ville Lake,Jacqui and myself decided on taking a short drive over.
We was soon on site with birders already present but a short wait was needed for the diver to show itself,so some banter was needed with Simon and Karen Spavin and Steve (the flusher) Routledge.Soon the diver started to show very well,a really well marked bird was simply stunning and a great lifer for Jacqui to see at close range,after a couple of hours we decided on heading off but our car had other ideas a big thanks to Steve and Simon for the push start,p.s it's in the garage now a great morning with great company.

Far Ings 25-12-12

Far Ings 8-12-12

With the first chance of getting out birding in 2 weeks,Jacqui and myself set off for Far Ing in nice warm sunshine,we walked the Humber bank cutting down into Barton reedbed we could see hundreds of Redwing and Fieldfare flocks striping the hawthorn berries,with the sun in our faces we walked along Far ings road towards Reeds Hotel giving us a better chance of some photo's.We reach hotel road but I was soon distracted by the trill of Waxwings feeding on the berries but even better was that they were coming down to the puddles of water in the road to drink but each time they did they was disturbed either by joggers or cars.
With time pushing on and we had to rush back to receive our car back,but with out wasting time we took it out for a drive and were soon back at the Waxwings,where we was met by Mandy,Darren,Tony & Carol.
We offered Mandy and Darren a lift up to Chowder Ness but didn't stay long a good job to because along Far Ings road thousands of Starlings had gathered in the Hawthorns and we stopped the car to see ourselves in the middle of a massive murmuration and what a brilliant experience it was.

A stroll turns into a mad rush 4-11-12

With going to Far Ings yesterday,so today Jacqui and myself thought we would wander down Barton pits for a look around to see if we could pick up any Waxwing or Firecrest,with a leisurely stroll down to the sailing club pit we watched a few Goldcrest making sure no Fires were in with them,we reached the pit where a lot of winter duck including Gadwall,Goldeneye,Shoveler,Wigeon were present but I picked out a female Red crested Pochard this to be the second female in Barton as the one being present on new pit 4 at Far Ings so we was happy to find our own bird,quite a few Little Grebe on this pit we walked along the road towards the Humber bank intending to head for pit 25 but Mandy & Darren soon put a stop to that by texting us that 2 confiding Twite were present along the Humber bank at Far Ings,on that note we hurried up there not before picking out a lone Knot in with the Common Redshank on the foreshore.
After a 20 minute rush we finally reached Chowder Ness but as I looked through my bins to see Darren and Mandy not taking any photos my instinct told me that they had gone,but I was told wrong and that we had walked right passed them so being guided to them which was a relief due to Jacqui about to get another lifer on her list and has been a few years since I last saw them at Frampton Marsh

R.C.Pochard (F.I)

R.C.Pochard (Barton pits)

Twite

Waters Edge and Barton Pits 20-10-12

With the sun shinning Jacqui and myself decided on taking a break from Far Ings and having a change for the east side of the Humber bridge.
We started of at Waters Edge visitor center and made our way through to Pasture road with only a few duck on the pools,we continued down to the sailing club lake where we knew there would be more winter duck with plenty of Shoveler and Wigeon present and a single female Goldeneye,a few Great crested Grebes on the lake and at least 6 Little Grebes we continued toward pit 25 where there was at least 40 Mute Swans present on this pit and a vast amount of coots along with Tufted Duck and Pochard,The gull flock contained mainly Black-headed with a few Common Gulls mixed in,with not much else about we continued to walk back along the Humber bank where we picked up on some waders,which included 10 Dunlin,4 Turnstone,a few Curlew,Bar-tailed Godwit and Common Redshank on the foreshore.
I stopped at the private garden to watch some Tree Sparrows that had come back to their winter ground which was nice,with the light fading fast we continued back home Winter now closing in fast.

Bits n Bobs

Here is some photo's from the past few weeks