North Lincolnshire

Dropped into Cleethorpes country park on the way to Covenham reservoir to see a Red Necked Grebe which I have not seen for a few years. It showed very well and  as I was a bit short of time I headed off after taking in all the id points. To my surprise there were also  2 Slavonian grebes on the same lake ,so I gave them a good looking at and headed off.
    Covenham was covered in boats so all the birds kept on being flushed and this made viewing difficult. Great Crested Grebe and Little Grebe showed well making 4 grebes in a day but the Black necked reported earlier on in the week was not showing,  the highlight was 23 male Goldeneye calling and displaying in the south east corner. A couple of Little Egrets flew in front of the car as I headed on. A large flock of Yellowhammer (30+) caught  my eye and after a few minutes looking through them a couple of Corn Buntings popped into view, A juv female Peregrine was watched chasing crows and a large flock of lapwing (400+)was about it...................

 

Northowram today

Plenty of Common Gulls about today along with 10 Mallards  and 25 Starlings. 12 Goldfinch , plenty of |Blackbirds along the tall hedge but the highlights were a Common Buzzard and a Woodcock flushed from the field edge.
 A walk round Fly Flatts produced 2 Red Grouse , 4 Carrion Crow and 20 Mallard.....and a male Peregrine over Pellon Lane.

Hodbarrow RSPB Cumbria

Not one of the RSPB'S best looked after reserves in fact its well run down ,but between the concrete pillars and old iron works is an unsung gem......nestled at the head of the Duddon estuary a massive sea wall protects the reserve from the sea .
  The car park is a bit like Fairburn with loads of Coots , Mute Swan ,Mallards and BH Gulls as you take the path to the sea wall ,Song Thrush seem pretty  common. A flock of 52 Twite was very obliging with close views beautiful orange breasts and the occasional flash of  pink rumps, 100's of noisy Pinks overhead heading north.
  The  main lake was busy and a  Slavonian Grebe in winter plumage was the first decent bird closely followed by a Great Northern Diver flapping its wings and standing upright in the water. Small groups of Goldeneye , 100's of Teal and a few Widgeon. Red breasted Merganser and Goosander added to the winter spectacle.200 Lapwing ,Curlew ,Golden Plover , Shelduck , Redshank, Dunlin , Knot , Ringed Plover busily feeding on the estuary side. A lone Red- throated Diver was feeding out at sea. Another look through the masses of common ducks and Coots produced 3 female / juv Scaup all diving at the same time beautiful. All this with the back drop of The Lake District National Park..........

The Year so far...............

Been bloody hard going to be honest...Green Sandpiper was good at Jay house lane along with Dipper ,  Tree Sparrows, Nuthatch , Goldcrest   and Reed Buntings close by . Snipe , Lapwings , little  Owl , Siskin , lots of Goldeneye around and a singing Mistle Thrush is all I can muster this week  locally.

Askam in Furness Cumbria

It was a wet start with the ground underfoot saturated with overnight rain. The calls of Pink footed geese , Oystercatcher , Widgeon and Curlew were ringing in my ears, a great way to start any day.
A couple of Bar tailed Godwits flew up the estuary and soon followed by a flock of Dunlin one Sanderling was hidden in with them.
  A flock of 500 + Pintail was drifting in the turning tide with the same amount of Shelduck just behind them..A flock of dark geese turned out to be Barnacle Geese 62 in total.In with these was a Blue Morph Snow Goose its white head and orange/ pink bill sticking out in the crowd. Was it from
across the pond or from the local farm.??? It was great to find and observe whatever.
   Soon after this a Juvenile female Peregrine was seen powering down the estuary and  'wack'  straight into a male Goldeneye , the Goldeneye fell in to the water..Then the Peregrine landed on top of the Goldeneye and held it underwater till it was dead. At this point all  the commotion caused the attention of 3 GBBgulls to move in on the juv.Then out of nowhere an adult male Peregrine started bombing the Gulls again and again till they moved on.The juv then took the  Goldeneye to the sand bank and started to pluck it.........
    

Slow Start

Went for the Green Sand this morning but no show, Tree Sparrows showing well and a singing Dipper at Wellhome park was very vocal. Song and Mistle Thrush in good voice and a herring Gull over west. 3 Goldeneye . Little Owl , Red Grouse and Fieldfare at Cold edge this afternoon with NCD and his new Zeiss Bins..( very bright and excellent field of view)...