Grimley and Holt (1 Viewer)

[Ian Byrnes]

Busy morning again....
Dan N filmed the G W Egret.
Snipe, Jack Snipe x 1, Pied Wag, Meadow (or Tree) Pipit, Shoveler, L Egrets, Stonechat, Dunlin, Kestrel, Teal, Widgeon, Common Gull, Herons etc..a few pics from this morning.

 

[Isaac2]

Sunday morning started cool and overcast, CLP,s started with fairly close views of 2 kingfisher of which I took a few photo's

 

[Isaac2]

and a few more

 

[Isaac2]

Sunday continued , Great White Egret still but again distant and awkward to view from South end .
Reed and sedge warblers still and perhaps a group of 50 upwards of House Martins also South end .
At around 11:00 am 2 pintail East shore and a hopeful Peregrine trying its luck on a group of Lapwing . Unsuccessful. Stonechat Arc garden fence line. 41 species seen

 

[Isaac2]

From Saturday evening , thought I'd found a Little Stint on the East shore CLP's but when I went to tell another birder of my find turns out it had been there all day.

 

[Isaac2]

Tuesday evening , a Wheatear was near to the North gate of CLP but was not very cooperative , and stayed in the available cover.

 

[Isaac2]

From Thursday evening Wheatear still N.end , Fox over East side in cut meadow,a few swallows passing through and a little Owl.

 

[Isaac2]

Sunday morning , wet , clearing as day progressed, Wheatear still N. end as was Swallow ,House Martin and a Sedge Warbler. Common Scoter Juv/female main pit.
A Sparrowhawk was seen 4 times at different locations as i did a circuit trip which included the river . Grey wagtail feeding little egrets and a Hare , river bank. Back at main pit a Pintail dropped in with 10 Widgeon but the former left almost immediately.
2 Common Sandpipers and 2 Stonechats Church Farm meadows

 

[Isaac2]

Tuesday evening , the Great White Egret was present at the South end of CLP main pit, and left towards Top Barn Farm at 7:0m. Widgeon numbers have risen to around 60 and approx 250 Starlings came into roost .
Swallows and House Martins still present . A Fox hunted through the Ruscus on the West shore and put up 4 Snipe .

 

[Isaac2]

Thursday evening , with my current Grimley year total of 121 and the nights drawing in fast now may be a good opportunity to get my last common resident Tawny Owl which although I.ve seen plenty this year non have been at Grimley or Holt, and late Autumn early Winter winter normally the best time to hear them .
All the ducks have now almost finished moulting and are starting to look very smart. Great White Egret still, but didn't put in an appearence till 6:55 .

 

[Isaac2]

Sunday morning ,not much in the way of change but plenty of stonechats around grimley 4 seen sitting on the barbed wire together. Great White Egret still mostly at South end , but while at Wagon Wheel did see it flying over the wood to the left.
Green Sandpiper racetrack pool.
Did venture down to see if the outlet to Camp Lane Pits was blocked , but it was running and almost level with bottom of pipe so the water level at the pits will only drop now through evaporation . So all people who said it was high , unfortunately its at its lowest level .

 

[Patch67]

Forgive my ignorance Jim but where is Racetrack Pool?

 

[Isaac2]

By the racetrack ,don’t know it formal name but racetrack is the best clue I could give. Seems reading the twitter feeds this morning didn’t to look up to see redwing flying over.

 

[Isaac2]

There were 2 common gulls on CLP as the light was fading both washing as is usually normal with the rarer gulls ,i.e all my sightings of GBB gulls have all been washing and preening .

 

[Isaac2]

Sunday morning, 83 widgeon dropped into CLP c11:00am , Great White Egret still S. end, Lapwing flock has increased. 3 Bullfinch at Top Barn Farm also several flocks of Redwing over with a few grounded birds around the fishing pools Church Farm.

 

[Ian Byrnes]

Hi Jim...there were 40-50 Wigeon at Ripple yesterday....could be moving around. Also got these 2 beauties early this morning SH next to Hippo pool and Kestrel on Top Barn sign !!

 

[Isaac2]

Nice photo shots had they still got the jesses on .

 

[Ian Byrnes]

I had my wife hold them while I took the photos..

 

[Isaac2]

From Thursday. nothing in the way of change , starling coming into roost south end [500] , duck species numbers, this year seem low compared to same time other years. Probably the last midweek evening visit of the year and ill leave you with a few shots of a tranquil but darkening CLP.

 

[Steve Newland]

The usual suspects, minus a few, at CLP this afternoon, so I took a detour up to the scrubby fields behind Church Farm. A mixed flock of pied wags and mipits boosted the trip (and month!) list, then a falcon alighted on a fence post.

Kestrel, I thought, but got the scope on to it anyway. A boldly streaked breast had me thinking otherwise. Indeed the moustache was only defined enough to delineate a pale cheek. I willed the bird to fly but all it did was flutter down once and back again but revealed a heavily barred tail in the process. I've never seen a kestrel hunt like this, unless from high wires, and had to believe I was watching a merlin.