A day trip to Scarborough is a must to see the over wintering Mediterranean Gulls and often there are divers and grebes sheltering in the fishing harbour.
On 4th February we made a day trip to Scarborough and managed some superb views of a juvenile Great Northern Diver and of course the “Med” Gulls. A loaf of bread always comes in handy.
A Yellow-legged Gull was a nice find on my patch at Staunton Harold Reservoir on 3rd Jan, along with an early Kingfisher. 4 Brambling and a drake Gadwall on 10th Jan, Treecreeper on 17th Jan, with Brambling increasing to 10. During my January WEBS count highlights were, 114 Great Crested Grebe, 111 Teal, 6 Little Egret, 215 Lapwing, 18 Gadwall, 144 Tufted Duck and a Water Rail of all things, the first since 2009. A juvenile Peregrine and first returning Oystercatcher on 29th January, and 4 red-legged Partridge on 31st Jan.
A visit to Calke Park and the feeding station on 17th January produced 2 Brambling and the usual common birds.
A Red-necked Grebe was discovered at Carsington Water, Derbyshire in January 2022 and was joined later in the month by a second bird.
Always a good grebe species to connect with inland during the winter months. They often linger well into early spring, by which time they have usually moulted into their summer plumage, when they are then pretty impressive.
Also at the site was the returning Great Northern Diver, another good inland find. I managed to find one at my local patch at Staunton Harold Reservoir in December 2020, that hung around into 2021.
Guaranteed to boost the year list, is an early new year trip to the north Norfolk coast. Bristling with waders, ducks and geese and one or two special wintering birds. It’s difficult to pull in all the sites on a day trip but we managed, Titchwell, Holkham, Cley, Stiffkey, Wells and Hunstanton.
During the day we managed 79 species including the following highlights – Spotted Redshank, c3000 Common Scoter, Red-throated Diver, Great Northern Diver, Red-breasted Merganser, Water Pipit, Snow Bunting, Chiffchaff, Eider Duck, Great White Egret, Red Kite, a 1st winter Waxwing at Cley, Merlin, Cattle Egret and Fulmar at Hunstanton Cliffs.
My year list kicked off at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust Reserve at Welney in Norfolk. Always a great place to visit for the wildfowl spectacle, including Whooper Swans and various species of dabbling duck. It’s also an ideal place for some photography.
During our time there I tallied 52 species including, Whooper Swan, Great White Egret, Pochard, Pintail, Golden Plover, Black-tailed Godwit, Ruff, Red Kite, Marsh Harrier and Tree Sparrow. A steady start to my birding year 2022.
