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Waders & Raptors - Estuary Birding Days 29th & 30th November 2024
Sun 1st Dec, 2024
The Humber Estuary never lets us down. Every time I visit either leading a group or birding on my own, I always leave on a high having seen thousands of birds.
On the 29th and 30th November I led two small groups of birders at Outstrays the new reserve south of Patrington in East Yorkshire. With good clear weather on both days and the vast estuary in our view we were blessed with some fabulous birding.
Pintail (male) © Richard Baines
We started at Weeton and within minutes of arriving we found several Marsh Harriers hunting over the marshes. Hundreds of wildfowl on the flood water; Eurasian Wigeon, Eurasian Teal, Northern Shoveler and at least 200 Northern Pintail, one of the most elegant ducks in Europe especially at this time of year.
Lapland Bunting - Outstrays 29 November 2024 © Richard Baines
The biggest surprise of the two days arrived on Friday morning. I was busy getting my group onto Meadow Pipits which were showing well perched on the wire fences. I looked through my scope at one small bird on the fence and was excited to see a Lapland Bunting. We saw it both days on the track near the hide or feeding in the saltmarsh below the sea wall. Later in the day on the 29th a flock of six Snow Buntings flew over us.
Songbirds were in abundance both days with large numbers of Meadow Pipits and Reed Buntings. At Welwick we found a flock of 30 Eurasian Tree Sparrows along with Yellowhammers and large flock of Chaffinches. A flock of 25 Twite flew past us on the 30th but didn’t hang around.
Hen Harrier over Humber Saltmarsh at Stone Creek © Richard Baines
Peregrine Falcons showed well on both days hunting over the marshes. A male and female gave great views as they chased each other above the wildfowl which didn’t look too worried. The Peregrines were more interested in each other on this occasion. On both days we had really good views of a female Hen Harrier, on the first day in the company of the two Peregrines and a Marsh Harrier! Harriers were nearly always in view over both days as they concentrated on hunting the saltmarsh in search of prey.
Grey Heron, Little Egret & Great Egret - Outstrays 30 November 2024 © Richard Baines
At Welwick a fine Great Egret showed well on both days in the company of a Grey Heron and Little Egrets. A nice opportunity to see all three together.
Waders over Outstrays 29 November 2024 © Richard Baines
The high tide on both days was late afternoon. This was a fabulous opportunity to see the wader spectacle as thousands of birds moved onto the saltmarsh to roost. On the 29th over 5,000 European Golden Plover put on a great show. No two days are the same however, on the 30th Golden Plover were in far lower numbers but there were thousands of Red Knot, Grey Plover and Dunlin. At Skeffling the large flock of over 400 Dark-bellied Brent Geese added a different dimension to the wader spectacular.
Waders over Outstrays 30 November 2024 © Richard Baines
Another change on the 30th was the arrival of 2000 Black-tailed Godwits into the roost. I normally see far more Black-tailed Godwits on the south bank of the Humber so this was a great sight to see.
Two fantastic birding days. Lovely guests, great raptors, surprise sightings and waders in their thousands. To see our January and February Estuary Birding Day tours CLICK HERE.
YCN Director and Wildlife Guide