Cleethorpes 19-11-11

With the weather forecast to be overcast for today I decided on not going to Worlaby Carrs today as Mandy was there yesterday,so deciding on having a day at Cleethorpes instead so the alarm was set for 4.45 am for a early start and catch the 7.00 am train.
This took around 50 minutes so we kept an eye out for any Barn Owls on the way but no luck,well the weather forecast was wrong yet again with only whispery cloud at the start the day was wall to wall sunshine with a light wind.
On arrival we could straight away see hundreds of mixed waders on the beach mainly consisting of Knot & Redshank,Mandy & myself walked down onto the beach where we could see some nearer Godwits,Turnstone & Redshank,I photographed a Bar-tailed Godwit which had half a leg missing & a few Turnstones but the Redshank were a bit flighty before the dog walkers made an appearance which in turn flushed everything up and emptied the beach :(
We continued to walk down the beach towards the boating lake so I could do some bush beating to see if I could find a late Warbler or something whilst Mandy checked out the boating lake for any Goosander but no luck on either side with me only finding a few Bull & Greenfinch but plenty of Dunnock.
Mandy managed to locate a Pink-footed Goose on the lake so we went round to get a few shots of it along with Tufted Duck & a Common Gull.By this time it was mid morning and with McDonald's over the road we decided it was breakfast time :)
After this we decided on going onto the Salt Marsh & Beach with a flock of around 50+ Linnets flying around I had hoped for some Twite but again luck wasn't on our side,we made it through all the mud & slush onto the beach,which only had a few mixed gulls,Dunlin,Sanderling & Oystercatcher being the most dominating Wader present.The only birds on the Humber were Cormorant so we walked into the small sand dune area and within a few minutes 3 Snow Buntings came and landed just behind us but was unable to get any shots,we went over to the foreshore to photograph the Sanderling which Mandy had never photographed before so was good for her :)
We walked back to the dunes where I found a plank of timber so decided to make a bench for us to sit and have a coffee and watch what would come over with 3 Brent Geese flying south and Sky Larks flying over,
I then noticed another Finch flock of around 30-40 birds thinking it maybe the Linnets again but picked my bins up for a quick nose at them and realised it was a flock of Snow Buntings I thought great another species for Mandy to get better shots of,this proved harder than expected with them only landing for a short periods but we gave it a go which resulted in only distant shots after half hour or so a Sparrowhawk came in low through the dunes causing them to scatter and make off.We continued to search around the area adding Curlew & Little Egret to our day list.
With time pushing on we decided it would be good to walk back up the foreshore back to the pier so off we set but after a short walk,we stumbled across some more Snow Buntings feeding where the tide had come up leaving titbits behind so we moved round to get the sun behind us and moved closer but noticed they were walking towards us so we got down low and let them come to us rather than the other way round and got them reasonably close for a few photos,before flying behind us but light was fading so we made our way back to the town for a well deserved cuppa & food before the train back home.

Turnstone

Pink-footed Goose

Tufted Duck

Common Gull

Moorhen

Sanderling

Snow Bunting

Knot

Far Ings 6-11-11

With some nice light this morning Mandy & myself decided on a walk up to Far Ings to see what we could find,seeing as I decided on not going to Spurn due to being in some pain.
We arrived at Barton Reedbed around 10am with a few Goldcrest & Long-tailed Tit flitting around there wasn't much else around with only Coots at the Monolith,We carried on to Beardy corner as I call it and spent a short while here to see if any Bearded Tit would come but no sign of them,we headed for the visitor centre when I spotted some fungi and Mandy wanted to take some shots of them so I continued to the pond dipping area,here were a few Reed Buntings and more Long-tailed Tits,Mandy caught back up and we sat at the feeding station to see what was coming in on the feeders mainly Goldfinch,Greenfinch,House Sparrow & a few Tree Sparrows the first time I have seen them at this end of the reserve.
Other birds noted were
c700 Golden Plover
Great spotted Woodpecker
Kestrel
Ferruginous Duck
A large flock of waders went down onto Chowder Ness consisting of around 150-200 birds looked about the right size for Black-tail Godwit.

Far Ings 30-10-11

With the clocks going back meaning it would be lighter a little bit earlier this morning and with high tide at 8.19 we decided on setting the alarm and having a look for any Skuas on the Humber first.
Off we set with some nice light and light winds we arrived a bit later than we wanted as the tide had started turning,we gave it a hour but nothing moving apart from around 400 Golden Plover.

We decided on heading for Far Ings,so started to walk along the bank to Barton reedbed which we checked in to see if any Bearded Tits were about but no luck but did have 1 Marsh Harrier fly over.
With the cloud not breaking to allow the sunny spells through as per BBC forecast it started raining thanks for the precise forecast idiots.
We headed for the Western Approach pit to at least get the male Ferruginous Duck which I pointed out for a chap who couldn't find it and I also noticed the immature female Scaup on her own.A great a patch tick in the bag.
With more rain and cloud coming in at us we gave up due to rubbish light and not much in the way of birds

Normanby Hall CP 28-10-11

With a day off work today due to having to go to the Doctors and giving blood samples to be tested,Mandy & myself decided that the weather forecast was good and we would spend the day at Normanby Hall to try and photograph Red Deer rutting.After a hour on the bus we arrived at our destination a place that I have not visited before so was a bit excited about seeing some rutting deer.
We made our way for the deer park and we soon found 2 Stags this looks promising I thought,so we grabbed some shots of them but no other deer appeared so we took a walk down as far as we was allowed in search for more deer but no luck and returned to the original 2 stags that didn't even make a half hearted attempt at a rut.
with these being the only deer seen I was more than disappointed a deer park with only 2 deer :( Mandy assures me that there is a whole herd of Red & Fallow deer.
Birds noted
Tree Creeper,3 Tawny Owls (Heard),Nuthatch,Goldcrest,Jay and lots of Long-tailed tit.
A real nice day out with my beloved partner and a nice change from birds.

Waters Edge 24-10-11

With today starting off at work at 7am and being back home at 7.30am due to the first aider not being able to treat an open wound,so this morning was spent at the doctors and making other appointments for tests to be done on me,with that all done and not being able to return to work Mandy & myself decided on spending a few hours at Waters Edge.
On arriving at the Grebe pool the wind had picked up but was quite warm so we sat on the bank for a hour or so just to see what would come over and was pretty productive with Common Snipe,Redshank,Black-tailed Godwit,Kingfisher and the resident Kestrel being noted.
We then took a walk around looking on various pools with only the usual wildfowl present,we arrived on the Humber Bank where Mandy picked out more Redshank on the shoreline and a single Curlew,as we headed towards the visitor centre I noticed a bird high up next to the bridge which was soaring and after a look through the bins and to my excitement it was a Pomarine Skua and soon after I noticed a pale phase Arctic Skua but Mandy was photographing a darker bird making 2 Arctic's (poor heavy cropped record shots below of all 3 birds),also a single Dunlin & several more Redshank flew past.
With the cloud building and time pushing on we continued along the board walk in front of the centre with a few Common & Black-headed Gulls present,half way along the board walk a Redshank came in and landed for a few seconds before taking flight again.
A pleasant afternoon out with my partner :)
Back to work tomorrow :(

Pom Skua

Pom Skua

Pom Skua

Pom Skua

Arctic Skua (pale)