The Lincolnshire Bird Club

Not been out for a month so decided to have a nose round

Started mid-afternoon at Nisa Lake and as usual nowt much doing just 6 Coot and 1 GSW.

Next stop Winterton Floods, it was as calm as the proverbial duck pond with very little in sight, saw/heard Willow Warbler, GC Grebe - 6, Gulls, Tufted Duck, Coot, Greylag, Mutes, Sand Martins.

Main stop of journey Alkboro Flatts, not been for about four years and very little gets reported on here from this cracking place, except in the monthly report by which time it's too late to see owt When we arrived (16:00) we had the place to ourselves, we were surprised to see how high the reeds had grown, and disappointed because they blocked our view .

In three hours we saw/heard the following :

Spotted Redshank - 10 (distant photo)
Grey Heron - 4
Shelduck - 104
Teal - 17
MH - 2
Avocet - 7
Lapwing - 2
Curlew - 2
Greenshank - 1
LBB Gull - 1
Greylag - 4
Gadwall - 2
Mallard - 4
Coot - 2
LRP - 1
Black-tailed Godwit - 7
Redshank - 2
Black-head Gull - 60
Wood Pigeon - c50
Collared Dove - 1
Yellow Wag - 1
Pied Wag - 1
Reed Warbler - 1
Linnet - 6
Blackbird - 2
Whitethroat - 1
Willow Warbler - 1
Magpie -2
House Sparrow - 4

Although I enjoyed the three hour stay it wasn't without pain, both for me and Dave, for me it was a constant niggle and for Dave and don't laugh unless you need to, the shutter of the hide fell on his head and camera almost knocking him out a similar incident happened to me on my last visit, I daresay some people would be pleased this happened to us but hey we are still here to wind people up

When we were just leaving the hide and for me dreading the slog getting back to car a young chap came past with a Labrador type dog, I remarked saying I wish you'd had an horse and I would have got a ride back, he said the dog would take me anyway . The chap offered to carry my scope and tripod ( Dave had carried it there) so I took him up on his offer, I had enough walking with me stick and carrying camera gear. We had a very interesting chat about the place and people. When we reached our cars I thanked him very much for his kindness and waved bye bye to his companion. I'd like to thank him again on here, he did say he is an Alkboro resident. It's good to know that people who we don't know are willing to offer their kindness to us, the disabled.

We left at 19:00 just as it was starting to drizzle.

Kind regards

Max ably assisted by DJ

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GETTING OLD HAS IT'S ADVANTAGES BUT I CAN'T REMEMBER WHAT THEY ARE lol

Hello JTG
i also had the shutter land on me..i was the only one in the hide & it was snowing so if i did myself an injury i would of been there maybe for a long time due to the weather & no one daft enough to go out in it..
i always check the latch is on now!

So is this yet another hide window obscured by reeds? I did mention similar to the Lincs Trust and attached a pic of the problem and they did come and clear the reeds a few days later which I thought was very good of them. If it's trust's hide might not hurt to email em? No point in having hides if we can't see out of em.

Colin,

On this occasion the view from the hide is perfect, no reeds no nothing just 100% viewing (at present).

What I was referring to is when we are stood on the bank just after the car park it's almost impossible to view the water (birds) straight in front because the reeds have grown to high! Next time I visit I'll have to take some steps or a cherry picker to get a better view without knackering myself going to the hide!

Better still an electric buggy would be perfect now the paths are flat as a pancake, I daresay I'll get ribbed if I do but I can take it

I noticed a portaloo nest to sewage works but it was the other side of a big gate. Pity the old farmhouse wasn't made into a visitor centre like the one at Far Ings, it would have made an handy place for people to have a hot/cold drink, a natter and a widdle, not for me though unless I was under some form of power

Regards

Max

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GETTING OLD HAS IT'S ADVANTAGES BUT I CAN'T REMEMBER WHAT THEY ARE lol

Answer this = Re Dave and I, if the latches weren't on properly how did the shutters stay open for so long?

Regards

JTG

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GETTING OLD HAS IT'S ADVANTAGES BUT I CAN'T REMEMBER WHAT THEY ARE lol