Killingholme Haven Pits revisited

On September 13th we made a decision to go over to the UK to spend time with Mum and enjoy all that an English October has to offer in the way of birds. Having returned to the UK after an absence of twenty two years last year it would not be quite as overwhelming this year, because we had the European birds fresh in our heads once again! Mum walks daily and is very familiar with the birds in the surrounding area both through observation and by following various websites and is an excellent birding companion! We flew from Broome to Manchester on September 28th via Perth and arrived to rain early on September 29th, but we were soon on the train to Habrough and over those two and a half hours we soon had a list started of UK birds! It is incredible that you can actually see quite a selection of birds on that train trip across the country and the time flies by. We were soon at home and after hot soup headed for Killingholme Haven, which is only a short drive or a walk across the fields along a public right of way. It is a place that Mum visits on a very regular basis and somewhere that we visited very regularly during our month with Mum. Killingholme Haven offers excellent birding opportunities and this year we experienced both familiar birds from last year, but also new birds and every visit offered a birding surprise! Although I wrote of the birding at Killingholme Haven Pits last year it is definitely worthy of a mention once again this year.

On our first visit to Killingholme Haven on September 29th we were not to be disappointed by the selection of birds in the pits, which are easily visible from both the hide and the sea wall. We had our first glimpse of seven Common Snipe, but we never got as close to them this year as we had last year. We were to encounter over seventy Common Snipe at one reserve a few days later! There were thousands of Black-tailed Godwit roosting in the pits that afternoon and several Little Egret. Northern Lapwings, Eurasian Curlew, Common Redshank, Ruff and Avocet use both the pits and the bank of the River Humber to feed and roost and the River Humber has excellent access year round due to the presence of concrete path along a sea wall. The bushes along the edge of the pits were a reliable area for a small flock of seven Long-tailed Tits on all of our visits and we would often observe European Goldfinch, European Robins, Great Tits, Eurasian Blue Tits and Eurasian Wrens. Eurasian Teal are found both in the pits and along the muddy edges of the river, but the Common Shelduck is found more often on the mud at the river.

Common Snipe against the island

Eurasian Curlew in front of the hide

We were delighted to get a glimpse of a Kingfisher at Killingholme Haven Pits that first afternoon in the UK after not seeing one for our first few weeks in the UK last year. Last year we were only able to capture the Kingfisher at a distance and in the rain at North Cave Wetlands and this year on October 3rd we were very fortunate to have a Kingfisher sit for several minutes right near the hide at Killingholme Haven Pits!

Common Kingfisher

On October 14th we were walking the sea wall and we noticed a familiar bird from last year. There were several thousand Black-tailed Godwits feeding rapidly as the tide dropped back and among them was a colour banded bird. I took several photographs to report it to Professor Jennifer Gill  and once again she responded very promptly with the history of this individually marked Black-tailed Godwit. This individual Black-tailed Godwit was the colour banded bird that we had seen last year on our first day in the UK on September 29th in the Killingholme Haven Pits and once again here it was feeding along the edge of the River Humber. It was the oldest individually marked Black-tailed Godwit that we saw last year, so it was delightful to observe it once again more than a year later.

Black-tailed Godwits feeding along the edge of the River Humber

Black-tailed Godwit white/lime-yellow/white

This list below is the banding information and resighting history of this one Black-tailed Godwit white/lime-yellow/white.

WL-YW
11.08.98 Terrington, the Wash estuary, Norfolk, E England
10.02.99 Nene Washes, Cambridgeshire, E England
05.04.00 Welney, Ouse Washes, Norfolk, E England
17.04.00 Nene Washes, Cambridgeshire, E England
18.04.01 Swavesey, Cambridgeshire, E England
04.05.02 Álftafjörður, E Iceland
23.09.02 Snettisham, the Wash estuary, Norfolk, E England
16.07.03 Breydon Water, Norfolk, E England
07.08.04 Snettisham, the Wash estuary, Norfolk, E England
03.09.04 Snettisham, the Wash estuary, Norfolk, E England
05.09.04 Snettisham, the Wash estuary, Norfolk, E England
20.08.05 Humber estuary, Lincolnshire, E England
31.09.05 Humber estuary, Lincolnshire, E England
19.02.06 Welney, Ouse Washes, Norfolk, E England
25.02.06 Welney, Ouse Washes, Norfolk, E England
05.03.06 Welney, Ouse Washes, Norfolk, E England
10.08.06 Humber estuary, Lincolnshire, E England
12.08.06 Humber estuary, Lincolnshire, E England
03.09.06 Humber estuary, Lincolnshire, E England
11.10.06 Humber estuary, Lincolnshire, E England
09.08.07 Humber estuary, Lincolnshire, E England
12.08.07 Humber estuary, Lincolnshire, E England
04.09.07 Humber estuary, Lincolnshire, E England
06.09.07 Humber estuary, Lincolnshire, E England
08.09.07 Humber estuary, Lincolnshire, E England
27.09.07 Humber estuary, Lincolnshire, E England
05.10.07 Humber estuary, Lincolnshire, E England
23.10.07 Humber estuary, Lincolnshire, E England
05.11.07 Humber estuary, Lincolnshire, E England
08.11.07 Humber estuary, Lincolnshire, E England
04.12.07 Humber estuary, Lincolnshire, E England
26.02.09 Swavesey, Cambridgeshire, E England
27.02.09 Swavesey, Cambridgeshire, E England
02.03.09 Fen Drayton, Cambridgeshire, E England
03.07.09 Musselburgh, Firth of Forth, Lothian, E Scotland
18.10.09 Humber estuary, Lincolnshire, E England
19.10.09 Humber estuary, Lincolnshire, E England
06.11.09 Humber estuary, Lincolnshire, E England
06.03.10 Grafham Water, Cambridgeshire, E England
05.10.10 Humber estuary, Lincolnshire, E England
06.10.10 Humber estuary, Lincolnshire, E England
26.10.10 Humber estuary, Lincolnshire, E England
20.02.11 Welney, Ouse Washes, Norfolk, E England
18.03.11 Welney, Ouse Washes, Norfolk, E England
03.07.11 Humber estuary, Lincolnshire, E England
11.04.12 Ouse Washes, Cambridgeshire, E England
05.08.12 Snettisham, the Wash estuary, Norfolk, E England
09.09.12 Humber estuary, Lincolnshire, E England
28.09.12 Humber estuary, Lincolnshire, E England
16.01.13 Elmley, Swale estuary. Kent, SE England
01.04.13 Nene Washes, Cambridgeshire, E England
22.10.14 Humber estuary, Lincolnshire, E England
25.12.14 Welney, Ouse Washes, Norfolk, E England
30.01.15 Elmley, Swale estuary. Kent, SE England
12.02.15 Ouse Washes, Cambridgeshire, E England
12.04.15 Humber estuary, Lincolnshire, E England
28.11.15 Welney, Ouse Washes, Norfolk, E England
30.12.15 Welney, Ouse Washes, Norfolk, E England
04.04.16 Nene Washes, Cambridgeshire, E England
29.09.16 Humber estuary, Lincolnshire, E England
04.12.16 Welney, Ouse Washes, Norfolk, E England
15.12.16 Welney, Ouse Washes, Norfolk, E England
02.02.17 Welney, Ouse Washes, Norfolk, E England
23.04.17 Belmont, Lancashire, NW England
24.04.17 Belmont, Lancashire, NW England
25.04.17 Belmont, Lancashire, NW England
26.04.17 Belmont, Lancashire, NW England
27.04.17 Belmont, Lancashire, NW England
28.04.17 Belmont, Lancashire, NW England
29.06.17 Kilnsea, E Yorkshire, NE England
29.07.17 Humber estuary, Lincolnshire, E England
14.10.17 Humber estuary, Lincolnshire, E England

On October 27th we encountered a pair of Bar-tailed Godwits feeding on the edge of the flock of Black-tailed Godwits on the mud at the River Humber and one of these individuals was also marked. The Bar-tailed Godwit had a red ring around its left tibia and a yellow flag on its right tibia. Unfortunately the Bar-tailed Godwit was too distant on an outgoing tide to be able to read any writing on the yellow flag, so although we know it was marked in Norway since 2016 we are not able to find out the individual birds history. Due to the fact that very few birders walk the sea wall observing birds it may well avoid identification for now!

Norwegian marked Bar-tailed Godwit

Another exciting find on October 27th was a family of Whooper Swans at the Killingholme Haven Pits. Last year we had only encountered the one Whooper Swan at North Cave Wetlands and this year we had already encountered several family groups in the area. Maybe it was colder further north and they had arrived in the UK early.

Whooper Swan family

Our final birding trip with Mum was just before we took the train back to Manchester on October 31st and of course it was to Killingholme Haven Pits. It was raining, but that wasn’t going to stop us from going into the hide to watch the birding activity that last day of October. We had seen all of the “usual suspects” apart from the Grey Heron and a Kingfisher. Shortly after mentioning their absence a Grey Heron flew in and landed in front of the hide and a Kingfisher flew by and across to the other side of the pits.

Grey Heron and Northern Lapwings in the rain

We were able to enjoy one last look at one of the Little Egrets that have become such a common bird in the last few years in the UK. The Little Egret fed in front of the hide and had to keep shaking the rain off its feathers!

Little Egret

Of course our year list got quite a top up whilst out birding and walking with Mum and we all had a most enjoyable time birding the UK in October! Killingholme Haven is a special place for us all and we are so lucky that what had been my Dad’s job site in 1973 is now such an excellent reserve.