September 2025 where did August go?
A nice couple of mornings to start the month with a few images I have been quite pleased with - nothing added to the challenge list as yet with all local wetlands bone dry the chances of passage waders will require travel
Black-headed Gull proving how little water is left in one of the main lakes on Waters’ Edge - surely it must get a decent wader at some point!
trying to be a bit nore creative with the seemingly mundane locals - Little Egret Waters Edge
shot through a very small gap in the reeds early am against the rising sun
Autumnal butterflies in their habitats - Speckled Wood
Red Admiral basking in the early morning sun
and a Red Admiral showing its perfect camouflage on some dead leaves at Wild Wrendale
A September Common Blue -
This juvenile Little Grebe still begging for food from its parent
Spotted Flycatcher in Waters Edge this morning my second of the autumn locally - maybe a Pied next?
Spotted Flycatcher almost being taken out by a Woodpigeon
Red Admiral on sloes
a few challenge additions starting with Barn Owl 168
169 a bit of a stretch on a small image of one of two adult pale Arctic Skuas over the Humber at Barton on Sunday during a little influx of seabirds
while watching the Humber this Otter was fishing in the edge of the tide in the middle of the day catching three flatties while we were there
170 Whinchat one of three at Wild Wrendale on Monday
juvenile Lesser Black-backed Gull on the Humber
171 Northern Wheatear - long overdue but rapidly becoming a scarce migrant another sad decline
juvenile Common Sandpiper at Covenham
172 juvenile Little Stint at Covenham Res - as usual terrible shooting angle as the birds were down the bank but at least the light was decent
actually better feather detail in dull light
my first decent views of the year of another species in serious decline that gets harder to see year on year
photo highlight of the day was this beautiful little Redstart - more images later
first calendar year Redstart Donna Nook September 9th 2025 but could it be a male?
The Lincolnshire coast buckthorn forests undoubtedly hide more vagrants than they reveal
I sat down on the edge of the buckthorn and just waited and eventually it came towards me perching up on this nice dead twig between bouts of insect hunting on the track
a flock of juvenile Black-tailed Godwits by the Humber Bridge on the highest tide of the series
The bridge is a major barrier to migrating birds which can take minutes to hours attempting to negociate their way over or round it
We watched this bota being loaded at Hull from our side at the weekend and then it passed Spurn Point while I was at Donna Nook - human impacts are everywhere
this juvenile Hobby made my day as it appeared very briefly in a gap between trees and bushes as it fed on mixtas over a local quarry tree canopy - the first shots I overexposed by three stops but retrieved — I have not had a nest locally this year so no regular photography which has been a disappointment but seem to be seeing birds almost daily for the last ten days
the autofocus managed to stay on the small bit of the bird even when it went behind the bushes
little stunner maybe tomorrow will offer more chances
Covenham reservoir September 16th 2025 - certainly not the most scenic of locations but a real Grey Phalarope magnet in fact I have seen 12 there since my first in 1972 - yes that was 1972 a mere 53 years ago - a bird the size of a phalarope in the middle with waves is not an easy bird to find
Having visited the type of Arctic habitats where these birds breed in June linked by clicking image above, it is clear that they are very tough little birds but leaving the relative calm of the Arctic in summer to meet Atlantic gales and monstrous seas must be a deadly combination for so many of the young reared - hopefuilly these two will survive the winter
Another trip to Covenham Res in rather variable weather but with strong westerlies and some heavy showers passing though interspersed with sunny spells - the two first-winter Grey Phalaropes spent a lot of time out in the middle of the very big res but occasionally came in closer to the bank though of course angle is not great but both nicely marked birds and 173 on the challenge list
one of the easier small waders to ID in flight
the water colour at Covenham is never very pleasant or scenic
in cloudy conditions
Having failed to visit an Arctic Tern colony in the summer it was a species missing from my photo challenge list so the presence of this beautiful juvenile at Covenham was a fortuitous 174
There were also four juvenile Black terns but they never came close so these were big crops but 175 and a mini milestone in the push to 200 on the photo challenge list
juvenile Black Tern Covenham Res September 16th - a rather dark and contrasty bird that demanded decent views
Good numbers of House Martins around the pits and town of late after a pretty poor summer
juvenile House Martin
Blackcap in the autumnal foliage
Maybe my last Willow Warbler of the autumn
juvenile Dotterely 176 on the challenge list - lots more images in the blog post above
177 juvenile Bar-tailed Godwit which has taken some time to add - up to eight juveniles have been on the local foreshore this week but this one provided soem photo opps as the local Curlew decided it was not welcome on its patch
juvenile Bar-tailed Godwit
the forecast for the 21st looked good for a Lincs seawatch and the epic waves and early morning seascape were promising but as so often happens in Lincs the seabirds thought otherwise
An Arctic Skua heads north over a golden sea as the sun came up
big gulls bigger waves
A Northern Wheatear dropped in on the beach - precious few on passage in recent years so nice to see any one
Called in at Covenham on return trip with more Grey Phalarope images to delete
a shame the Kittiwake was not a Sabine’s Gull
Close encounter with a Roe Deer
Assume these pristine Brown Argus and Common Blue butterflies are 3rd generation taken on 22nd
178 Goldcrest - a small arrival of 4 on Wedge on 24th where this one was taken and about 10 at Donna Nook 25th - all continental or are Barton birds British?
a pretty dismal day for migrants at Donna Nook, what on earth has happened to migrant bird populations, I think we know - one of only a couple of Chiffchaffs seen but where was it last week? somewhere in Scandinavia?
certainly a different feel to it than most of the local birds seen in the last week
searching the outer marsh for newly arriived locustella warblers, we can only dream, and walked into this juvenile Purple Sandpiper feeding in the tide wrack on the saltmarsh not a typical habitat
a big brute of a juvenile female Peregrine was one of two marauding the foreshore
A grand day out at Flamborough, nice fish and chips added three birds to the photo challenge list
Shag over the froth 179
Brambling 180 the only one we saw and we saw one thrush a Song Thrush!
A rather distant first-winter Red-breasted Flycatcher - since my last visit to Flamborough paths seem to have been closed and move way back from hedges making seeing birds let along photographing them a real problem- why?
181 on the list
My first Whooper Swans of the autumn at Barton 30th
Clouded Yellow North Lincs September 30th 2025 - came across this fine example today in a clover field with about 20 whites
Not having the pre-capture on the R6II getting flight shots is a matter of rapid reactions and a lot of rubbish but I was peased to get anything useful today with the 100-500
Big crops as it was a small in frame image obviously
Plenty of Common Buzzard action in this warm weather - juvenile above and below
and two adults
Not what you expect to see on a cloudless, sunny and calm day while scanning for raptors but at least it was heading in the general direction of the Humber - juvenile Gannet
having a fracas with a Carrion Crow
