I needed to get out for some fresh air and to stretch my legs today so I took a walk to Eske, despite the strong winds. Well, it was freezing with a brisk northerly wind making it uncomfortable to hold my binoculars. As a result the only birds I saw on my walk to the lake were 4 Meadow Pipits on the flood defences.

At the lake, however, large numbers of waterbirds were present with groups of Wigeon flushing from the River Hull into the lake. Today I counted 160+ Wigeon, 32 Shoveler, 4 Pochard, 31 Tufted Ducks, 100+ Mallard, 1 Teal, 1 Gadwall, 6 Mute Swans, 2 Greylag Geese, 14 Great Crested Grebes, 16 Cormorants, 27 Black-headed Gulls, 14 Common Gulls, 38 Coots and 7 Moorhens. Also, in the trees around the lake I found a Reed Bunting and large numbes of Redwings, Fieldfares and Blackbirds.

Walking around the lake I got a bit worried that the trees were about to fall on me as many of the old dead ones were creaking in the wind. The trees did provide some shelter for some smaller birds including 3 Goldfinches a family of Long-tailed Tits, some Wrens, a Dunnock and a Mistle Thrush but the wind was making my ears hurt so much that I took a brisk walk back. I did spot a Kingfisher as I was departing and a hunting female Kestrel but I walked back so quickly that I didn’t see much else.