Whiteholme ...

 The birds kept coming up until early November  , Little Egret , male Pintail , Merlin , Starlings  , Woodpigeon , Peregrine , Whooper Swans and many flocks of Pink footed Geese, Today the 20th of November the winds had turned to the north , a bitterly cold wind that cut you in half on the exposed dam wall..only 8 species , Reed Bunts x 2 , Carrion Crow  x5 , Red Grouse x 4 , Herring Gull x 1 , BH Gull x 17 and Common Gull x 5 , Starling x 33(30 +3) and 1 Raven...... but a brilliant autumn at Whiteholme.

Barn Owl

 

Late Wader for Whiteholme

 A fantastic couple of mornings at Whiteholme , 

 Wedneasday Pinks 650 + in 9 skeins , Starlings 850 + in 7 tight flocks , 3 Woodpigeon , 3 Herring Gulls , 1 GBBGull and 4 Black - headed Gulls all moving west .The highlight a very distant Grey Plover (honest).....

Thursday ..Pinks 310 , Starlings 1098 , Lapwing 3 , Herring Gull 5 , Skylark , Merlin , Woodpigeon 234 , and another or the same Grey Plover the one today looked la lot darker ...

Snow Bunting

 

Woodcock and Snow Bunting

Snow Bunting

Woodcock

 Thought this was a rabbit at first as it ran through the grass !! ,  not often you see them on the ground and during the day..!!!!!! in Mablethorpe ,and then nearly tripped over this Snow Bunting at last light on the coastal path...
 

Gulls

 

                                                                           

                                                      

Whiteholme Wader Week

 A calm and still week at White holme with an average of 10 species  per visit. It has been another interesting week , ending with the star bird being a winter plumage Knot today. Earlier in the week Redshank , Dunlin , Snipe , Golden Plover and Lapwing. There  was very little vis - mig going on this week except  6 Fieldfare and 2 Redwings south.........7 Widgeon , 2 Mallard and 4 Widgeon   on the water .....No Rock Pipit or Snow Bunting but maybe next week.....and perhaps the most unusual sighting involved a Dunnock amongst the rocks on the far shoreline( a Dunnock at 1250feet above sea level in October  ??)

Ringstone Ducks

 Last few days at Ringstone , 12 Common Scoter all female types , 6 Gadwall , 2 Widgeon , 1 Goldeneye, 1 Pochard , Mallards and 1 common sand still....

European Doormouse Glis glis

 What a surprise this was .............

The world has officially gone mad............Eastern Stonechat (maurus) /Siberian Stonechat @ Walshaw Dean

 

Italy and Slovenia

A fantastic trip to Slovenia via Italy , highlights were Wallcreeper , Alpine Chough , Alpine Accentor , Nutcracker , Pygmy Owl , Three toed Woodpecker , Ural Owl , Eurasian Door mouse , Fire Salamander , Grey Headed , Black and Middle Spotted  Woodpecker  , Golden Eagle , Firecrest, PendulineTit plenty Gulls to sift through and a lot of laughs , cheers Nick Carter and Andy Huyton...

                                                Ural Owl

Three toed Woodpecker

                                                                         Pygmy Cormorant        

Bald Ibis in Italy

Bald Ibis

Bald Ibis

                                                           Cattle Egret

Mount Nanos

 

We spent most of the morning looking for White-backed Woodpecker in the forest slopes of Mount Nanos with very little reward. So we headed up the high road to the top , we got to 3500 feet and had a good look round , good numbers of migrating butterfly's included Clouded Yellow , Red Admiral and Brimstones and around the tracks and boulders we found Wall Brown , Queen of Spain Fritillary and Small Heath. There was a fine assortment of calling grasshoppers and crickets , and a couple of Griffon Vultures drifted west. The view was extraordinary with Croatia , Italy , Venice the Alps including Mount Blanc and the Matterhorn , Julian Alps and the coast of Slovenia

  More Griffon Vulture headed west with 15 individuals seen , 3 Sparrowhawks , 2 Buzzards , 27 Raven, 1 Peregrine  , 1 Golden Eagle , 1 Marsh Harrier  and a surprise Black Woodpecker over high west, 100's of finches headed north mainly Chaffinch and 20 Meadow Pipits were also present with 4 Black Redstarts......

Slovenia...

                                                                   Wallcreeper
 

Ural Owl

Alpine Accentor

                                                                     Alpine Chough

Whiteholme in the fog

 Thick fog hung onto the moor tops all morning at Whiteholme today , but it was still interesting with 2 migrant 2 Song Thrush , 1 Goldfinch , Merlin , Peregrine , Wheatear and 3 Teal

 Dropped down to Withens Clough in the sun for 5 Widgeon , 1 female Pintail and a flyby Red Kite..

Whiteholme Reservoir

 Arctic Skua over at 17.10 today , also Short eared Owl , Merlin and  a couple of Greylags...