Novartis Ings sightings

This morning's very high tide had pushed hundreds of waders - curlews, bl-t godwits, avocets, knot and redshank - on to the Novartis Ings mitigation site on the outskirts of Grimsby from nearby Pyewipe.  There was also one common sandpiper.

There were c 100 black-tailed godwits and c 50 knot at Novartis Ings mitigation site on the outskirts of Grimsby at noon today - plus plentiful Canada and Grey Lag Geese (and a few shelduck and teal and one curlew). 

There may have also  been a few more  waders elsewhere on the site but some of the lagoons currently cannot be viewed because access is closed during continuing works to strengthen the nearby  estuary wall.

Good to meet up with two other birders, Graham Taylor and Chris Gomersall.

Graham said the site had mostly been relatively wader-quiet this summer, possibly because there was too little water in August and now perhaps because there is too much  water.

However, he noted that as many as 100 Avocets had sometimes been present, and there had been recent sightings of both Hobby and Merlin.

Chris, meanwhile, is a longtime RSPB photographer who now lives in Cambridgeshire but returns to his Grimsby roots every month or so to see family.

Earlier in the week, he had been at Huttoft Bank watching a passage of Arctic Skuas (fairly close in) and Black Terns.