Catch up time
Working for the last three months plus the Canadian holiday put the patch photo challenge very much on the back burner but with autumn in a very steady swing I had added a few species none of them particularly well!
Never got round to adding this juvenile Little Ringed Plover on Waters Edge July 8th - 111 on the patch challenge
This drake Pintail starting to come out of eclipse was on the pits this week with the first Wigeon and Pink-feet also arriving - 112 on the challenge list
Whinchat 113 an increasingly difficult species to see on the patch as the population crash continues
Great White Egret - this bird has been around for a while something we now take for granted but its change in status has been very rapid from real rarity to almost commonplace
Really pushing it with these two juvenile Sanderling today for 114 but waders are hard to come by locally - looks like I will not get Greenshank and Wood Sandpiper while even Green Sandpiper has been absent this year such is the dire condition of the pits for waders - reed, reed and more reed for Bitterns and nothing for anything else
A rather more acceptable 115 with this juvenile Black Tern - came across it on Monday and it stayed around for four days but was never very close
Pristine juvenile Black Terns are always a treat
A few juvenile Bar-tailed Godwits have arrived on the local mudflats 116 for the challenge
117 Bearded Tit but this was back in June and got side tracked
Another one from back in June Grey Partridge 118
Apart from odd ones the Swifts have gone for another summer but back in July I took a lot of images trying to capture the species in a different light - need to go through them all !
119 Avocets back in July
120 dispersing Great Spotted Woodpecker
Almost black and white with a little red
121 what a treat a patch year tick with these two Egyptian Geese that flew west and fortunately kept going!
122 Lapwing not sure why I had not put one of these up before
Still awaiting a patch image of Jay though there have been quite a few about this year and of later I have seen a few parties moving high so there may be an autumn movement in the offing
A very fast moving Cl;ouded Yellow on 13th in Saxby Carrs where there were up to five on a legume field - at least six the day before in another two legume fields in the valley as well with a lot of Common Blues
Moon and geese
123 Two juvenile Icelandic Black-tailed Godwits flanking an adult on Waters Edge - I’m running out of daft species I have sene but not photographed on the patch this year with the total list on a rather lowly 142 due to missing waders and things like Garganey and Garden Warbler - still hope for some late autumn easterly gales but seabirds on the Humber are a real rarity nowadays compared to the 80’s and 90’s
Common Blues and a hoverfly
Willow Emerald damselfly - from mega rare to everywhere in a very short space of time -even had pairs in my garden this summer
Not seen a Hobby since 14th - need some more views before they depart!
An autumnal Avocet gathering on the Humber
The local mudflats have been hosting the usual gangs of juvenile Bar-tailed and Black-tailed Godwits but angles and light are seldom conducive to good images - the late evening light on the 23rd though combined with a rising spring tide produced some decent stuff
spot the Black-tail
juvenile waders tend to be beautifully patterned - Bar-tailed Godwits here
Bearded Tits on the Waters’ Edge embankment 27th - away from their usual reeds
A Bittern hiding behind two reed stems
When a flock of five Great White Egrets flies by it is no longer even remarkable such has been the change in status of this species - these were heading west on 25th
Green Woodpecker still hiding well
Black-headed Gull on the spring tide as the Harvest Moon arose
Harvest Moon on 26th - how out of sync is this name nowadays
as the moon rose on 26th a gull flew through but the 12000 Pink-footed Geese remained stubbornly out of view - they would have made a nice shot
Little Egrets and Black-headed Gulls in Barton Haven - one day something mega will join them!
Not taken many Marsh harrier shots of late - a moulting male nearing the end of his post-breeding moult
Terrible angle on this juvenile Ringed Plover but love the subtle pattern of the juvenile feathers
A stunning juvenile pale morph Common Buzzard located last week in an area with 15 feeding Buzzards
These birds get mistaken for Rough-legged Buzzards and Ospreys on a regular basis as people are unfamiliar with them in Britain
With some attendant Jackdaws
Back on the patch photo challenge some pretty dogy Snipe images - 124
High key!
Sunset September 26th
125 on the challenge list was this unexpected juvenile Merlin: Passing the time talking on the phone and sitting on the Humber bank on 21st when this juvenile Merlin flew past carrying a prey item; it flew around a corner and appeared to land so I stood up at which point of course being a skittish British Merlin it flew up and out over the Humber and headed north-west pausing to eat some of its prey in flight before heading to the centre of the bridge where it flew up and over - birds hardly ever fly under the bridge probably due to the noise and movement of vehicles; Looking at my pics it was carrying a Migrant Hawker and although I have heard of them catching dragons of course I had never seen one with this prey item, many of which were along the foreshore on a sunny day. It was the first Merlin on my patch for five years!! Formerly a regular wintering bird on the Wolds Merlins have declined massively around the Humber in recent years yet another species we are sadly loosing
Images of birds flying away are never great but I was pleased to get anything on a species that is generally very tricky
Looking back at me although I was quite a way off by then - in Canada Merlins are typiclaly rather tame and nest in sub-urban areas amongst houses even a far cry from the habits of British birds
eating its dragonfly prey as it flew off over the Humber
126 on the local challenge - two of five Gannets that ventured up to the bridge September 27th
Suddenly we are into October and 127 on the challenge list Turnstone not one but a flock of 16 juveniles on the Waters’ Edge frontage this morning the largest local flock for several years - pre 2013 the surge tide we used to get up to 250 Turnstones feeding on the rocky areas of the shore between Barton and Barrow Haven but the surge covered them in mud and numbers plummeted and have never come back since with just odd birds now seen in spring and autumn
juvenile Grey Heron on the Wedge tern raft - testing a new camera - it has been a while since i changed and in a moment of weakness I gave in to a couple of offers! more to come soon this was day one
Jackdaw over the garden - getting in practice ready for the Nutcracker
Juvenile Little Grebe
Curlew calling as it lands to see off a rival