This morning I was following up a couple of recent Twitter reports down by the R. Humber, within ten minutes or so from home. The first, at Melton related to sightings of Glaucous Gulls and a Hooded Crow in the same field, adjacent to the estuary. The field held a fair number of resting gulls of various species, including a couple of Great Black-backed Gulls. It was not immediately obvious that a Glaucous Gull was among them, so I spent some time exploring the area along the riverbank. More gulls were on the river, drifting upstream with the tide and a few Redshank were along the shoreline. Along the bank, Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps were calling, my first Whitethroat of the year uttered a few notes as it attempted to get into song. Both Green Woodpecker and Great Spotted Woodpecker were seen flying over the fields. It was while scanning the fields, I saw the Hooded Crow flying in from the West, appearing to drop in the gull field. I walked back and found it feeding with a number of Carrion Crows, not far from the gulls. There was still no sign of the Glaucous Gulls. Hooded Crow - my second this week, having seen one at Easington on Monday. My visit to Welton Waters related to sightings of Garganey and, walking to the lakeside, I didn't realise the female was under a near submerged tree and it was away in seconds. The male was even more elusive, hiding in the far reeds where both birds soon disappeared and failed to show again. It has been a couple of years since I last walked the path to the river and I was pleased the surrounding bushes and trees were still as I remembered, despite the ever increasing housing development in this area. The hedgerow contained some excellent species including two Cetti's Warblers, Bullfinches, Tree Sparrows and a cracking Yellowhammer. I was surprised not to hear a Willow Warbler along here by now but there were four Chiffchaffs in a small distance. The Bullfinches were feeding in the hawthorns, The female showed very well but the male, rather like the Garganey, wasn't obliging at all! The Cetti's was also in the hawthorns, singing frequently. Several Song Thrushes and Tree Sparrows made up a good number of species on a very pleasant couple of hours along the estuary.
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