The Lincolnshire Coast in Late Autumn

A trip to the Lincolnshire Coast in late autumn is the right time to see Grey Seals at Donna Nook. There's also the chance of one or two good birds in the surrounding area and Saturday 16th November 2013 was no exception. We first of all visited the inland reservoir at Covenham. This is a cracking site and often good birds can be found. We soon located the Long-tailed Duck which has been here for some time, along with a Red-necked Grebe. Amongst the numbers of Tufted Duck was a female Scaup and I also discovered a Purple Sandpiper amongst the 20 or so Redshank and 2 Dunlin. The sight of 120 or so Cormorant was quite impressive. We then moved on to the coastal area of Theddlethorpe St.Helen, a huge area of salt marsh, looking for Snow Bunting and Shorelark. After some searching we soon discovered a small flock of 9 or so Shorelark, 40 Snow Bunting and two flocks of 60 Twite. Finishing off the day at the Lincolnshire Reserve of Donna Nook to view the huge Rookery of Grey Seals. The Seal Pups are born at this time of the year and this reserve is one of the best places in England to view Grey Seals close up and personal and I mean close-up.. Lots of walking, (about 6 miles all told today) a couple of year ticks and an excellent variety of birds, all made for a great day. Thanks to Glyn & Richard for their company and to ACDC who kept me awake on our Highway to Hell journey home !!! Great Stuff… Year List now on 255

    

Above four images – Shorelark – Saltfleetby – Theddlethorpe St.Helen, Lincolnshire – these two birds were the most approachable out the nine we saw – Tony Davison©

Above three images – Snow Bunting – Saltfleetby – Theddlethorpe St.Helen, Lincolnshire – these two birds were on their own and very confiding – Tony Davison©

Snow Bunting – Saltfleetby – Theddlethorpe St.Helen, Lincolnshire – Tony Davison©

 

THE GREY SEAL ENCOUNTER AT DONNA NOOK, LINCOLNSHIRE – Tony Davison©

Above four images – two different Bull Grey Seals.