The Lincolnshire Bird Club

1 merlin and 2 hen harriers ( both brown) hunting over frozen saltmarsh
16 goldeneye north along tide edge and 5 bewick swans in west bound from a long way out,nothing seen on the sea.
c1200 pink foots and 16 barnacles feeding on local oilseed rape.
even the intertidal pools were refrozen at 1200 hrs in the cold crisp sunshine reflecting off the lying snow,( but no snowy owl , gyrfalcon or ivory gull to be seen) . christmas greetings to all John.

The Ivory Gull will be at Donna John,feasting on a Seal carcass;)



Steve.

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No Ivory Gull at Donna Nook. Spent 4 hours there this morning, just a few snow buntings, a merlin and sparrowhawk on the saltmarsh.
Also very few seals, they seem to have departed earlier this year.

Geoff

Merry christmas to you too. Just on note on the ice, we had ice flows in the centre of the Humber today to the west of the Bridge, very unusual.

http://pewit.blogspot.com/2010/12/waders-and-ice.html
http://pewit.blogspot.com/2010/12/freeze-goes-on.html
http://pewit.blogspot.com/2010/12/froze ... er-on.html

AS the tide drops in the Humber it leaves a layer of solid ice on top of the mudflats so waders cannot even feed on the falling tide ; on a rising tide as shown above it washes an increasing depth of ice onto the upper inter-tidal and this packs and freezes making a thick layer that it totally impenetrable -- a very serious time for waders and wildfowl alike; I watched a single drake Wigeon off Chowder Ness trying to feed on a bit of grass that was tanged in a floating bush floating down the estuary; yesterday the sight at Read's Island was amazing with a massive hoar frost on all vegetation and a thick layer of ice across Redcliffe Middle Sand -- a small flock of Pink-feet was feeding on an adjacent field but otherwise wildfowl and wader numbers are negligible -- hopefully many of these birds have gone south and west but many would already be in a poor condition after such a long spell of hard weather

Yes Graham it was the same here mon tues with compacted layers of ice and snow piled up by the tide at least the 6.8m tide this morning has cleared a larger area and with a f3 4 easterly and +2.0oc feeling balmy
in comparison with recent days so hopefully a slow thaw over the next few days, alas too late for many birds i fear. John.