Winter

It's sure been a cold, cold winter, Lord
My feet been draggin' 'cross the ground
And the fields has all been brown and fallow
And the springtime take the long way around

 From "Winter" by The Rolling Stones 1973

Yes, I know that winter has only just started, but it seems like it's been for a while!  I've been wearing my cold weather gear for a few weeks (along with waterproofs of course) and there are still nearly 3 months of this to come - aaaaargh.

 

Anyway, back to the weather in due course. What's been around to see here in deepest, darkest Hornsea? Not too much different is the answer, but a few to generate some interest and worthy of a snap or two.

 

I was struggling at the start of December with not much kicking around, so I resorted to a couple of tried and tested faves in good sunlight. 

Starling looking magnificent in good light

Greenfinch

Partially leucistic Carrion Crow

 

The westerly winds provided a good amount of spindrift off the waves as the tide came in along the sea front here in Hornsea. 

Spindrift caught in the rising sun

Spindrift in fading early morning light

Spindrift in full daylight

I love spindrift and it looks spectacular. I was once accused of airbrushing a photo of spindrift! I posted a pic on Facebook on a public group site and some numpty commented that it obviously had been Photoshopped or airbrushed. I don't think they'd ever looked at waves properly 🤣🤣

 

Another 10 Sanderling were on the beach and one of them had coloured rings on its legs. I went down onto the beach to get close ups so I could record it, but before I got anywhere near, the ubiquitous dog walker and dog came along and saw off all the birds. Happens way too often.

 

We've gone from one extreme to the other in almost no time at all it seems. We had Mere water levels at an all time low through late summer and into autumn, now we have the Mere overflowing into the boat house and all the jetties are under water.

Noivember 30 - jetties nearly submerged

 

December 3 - jetties under water

Boat house now flooded

 

A Red-crested Pochard has arrived again, this time on its own. It's always nice to see something different, even though I'm always dubious about them being escapes rather than kosher wild birds.

Drake Red-crested Pochard at the Mere

As above

 Also spotted by Jon was a hybrid Tufted Duck, but it's anyone's guess what it is hybridised with. They are usually Pochard/Tufted hybrids that we see, but this bird would likely be paler if a Pochard had been involved.

Aythya hybrid

 

 Another short post this time I'm afraid. I'll try and get out more often to bring more interesting updates - as long as the wildlife is there to see of coure!

Return of Old Friends?

 Well. The weather isn't getting any better is it 😂😉

Snow, ice and rain just about covers the week.

Still, at least I'm still here to complain, so things can't be that bad yet. 

The highest point of the week was my sighting of two Turnstones and a Purple Sandpiper, which were the first of the autumn and the ones I've been looking for.

 

Last seen in Spring, a pair of Turnstones and a single Purple Sandpiper were with us for most of last winter. Given the exact same numbers/species are here again, it is tempting to think the birds are those same birds that left all those months ago, and have now returned to the same wintering grounds. 

 

I've seen them a few times since but it was great to welcome back some old friends (assuming they are indeed the same birds!).

 

One of two Turnstones on the sea front

Purple Sandpiper

Purple Sandpiper

Purple Sandpiper

 I've seen up to ten Sanderling on the beaches here, with just one wearing a metal ring and none yet with coloured rings.

Ringed Sanderling

Back on the Mere, a Slavonian Grebe and a Great Northern Diver flew in and have lingered ever since, but I have yet to catch up with the GND. I had a look through Jon's scope at the Slav Grebe, which was way over on the northern shore when he found it. The GND has been approaching the southern shore relatively closely, but I still haven't seen it yet.

 

The Scaup are also hanging on and I managed to get a few pics of two of them as they were feeding just off KP.

Scaup off KP

Two Scaup off KP

Common Gull on KP jetties

 The Mere water level is back to normal now and there are no exposed shores or islets. The bent mooring pole that became a marker for a well-populated islet of exposed shale during the summer drought is no longer showing its base.  Named "slopey pole island" for obvious reasons, it is back to being just a pole sticking up out of the water. It is used as a perch by several species of bird, including cormorants:

Slopey pole

The snow came down quite heavily but really only stayed for a day and was quickly melted by the rain that followed, but the day after, the residue had frozen so that made walking on pavements a bit tricky for us old folk 😀

 

 The snow melt and the heavy rain has waterlogged the fields and footpaths, so I'm back to soggy trudges during the morning walks. I'll have to look for better waterproof boots, as walking miles in wellies doesn't do me any good at all.

The ditches are full

Very wet footpaths along the Mere south side

Flooded fields

 

Flooded gateways

Snow, the day after it fell

 I am looking forward to getting a few consecutive dry days so that my boots and socks can have time to dry off properly between walks. It's really wet and winter hasn't even started yet 🤨

Slim Pickings

 No, not the American actor (Slim Pickens), but an apt description of what has been on offer locally as I walked around over the past week or so. 

 

We've had some sun but not much, and most of the mornings have been passed in grim light which has made photography a real challenge.

 

The birds that have been most obvious have been the winter thrushes - Redwing and FIeldfare, with Redwing the more numerous of the two. A couple of hours sunshine allowed some decent pics.

Redwing

Redwing

Fieldfare

A typical example of winter thrush photos over the week is this one, which is not much better than a silhouette:
 

Likewise lots of other reasonable photo opportunities have been spoilt by poor light - a hovering Kestrel in good light would have been a nice subject, but it turned out otherwise. Even though I over-exposed by almost 2 stops it was still way too dark.

Hovering Kestrel 

I tried some post-processing image lightening but the results were still not good enough.

Lighter, but not better

 Siskin, Jay and Great Spotted Woodpecker photos were all consigned to the bin despite my best efforts. Perhaps the old DSLR would have fared better but I'm not sure about that.

 

The Whooper Swans have moved on since the Mere water level has risen to almost normal levels. It's been great having them staying for so long.

A last lingering Whooper Swan

I still look out Great Crested Grebes each day as I walk along the south side and yesterday I saw four, I wonder if they will move on too?

Great Crested Grebes on the Mere

GCG closer view

The other set aside is building its following of birds as the original field doesn't seem to hold the same attraction as it did. The sunflower seeds are a definite hit with tits and finches.

Chaffinch on sunflower seed head

Blue Tit eating sunflower seeds

Great Tit

Unfortunately that's it for this update. Here's hoping for better light next week, although it hasn't started off particularly well, with snow and rain today 🤣🤣

Musings and Ramblings

I've quite enjoyed wandering around over the last week with no particular aim in mind and no particular place to go. As usual I took the camera when weather permitted so there are a few random photos in this blog entry.

 

The time of year dictates the contents of the blog and todays update reflects the dull-ish weather and atmosphere.

 

The Linnets and Goldfinches seem to have abandoned the set aside field and have gone elsewhere for their food. I haven't found them yet but Rolston is a likely place.

 

Meawhile birds are feasting on sunflower seeds in the other set aside. I checked out how ripe the seeds were in one seed head and the answer was, not very! 

Sunflower seeds being eaten even though they don't look ready

A Kestrel has been hanging around the south side fields and I managed to catch up with one near the Pines the other day. This one was a female but the one I've seen recently was a male.

Female Kestrel

As part of the general influx of birds this autumn I've noticed several Goldcrests - here's one near Weatherhill.

Goldcrest

As well as the trees turning brown, gold, red and yellow they are also looking somewhat bare all of a sudden. I hadn't really noticed that leaves were disappearing at a fast rate of knots until I spotted several trees that were leafless.

Bare naked trees

Whooper Swans are still with us but the incursion of the first angling boats of the autumn on the Mere has scattered them and wild fowl to the four winds, with numbers rapidly falling. It's been a real treat having the Mere holding wildlife to the exclusion of all water-borne disturbance, but things have to get back to normal sooner or later,

Whooper Swans in flight over the Mere

Dry and bright mornings haven't been the norm over the week so when one did arrive I made the most of it and enjoyed the sights and sounds.

A bright autumnal morning

A few flowers are still about in sheltered places, most notably along the railway line.

Herb Robert

Herb Robert

Red Clover

Hogweed

Bramble flowers (unlikely they will ripen into fruit)

Bindweed

The seasonal burst of fungi is waning now with the best of the show behind us, but there are one of two beauties still to be found, like this tiny Fairy Inkcap.

Fairy Inkcap

Fairy Inkcap

We had a few Red-crested Pochards arrive a few days ago, with a maximum of nine at one time. I managed to get sight of three of them.

Three Red-crested Pochard

Red-crested Pochard

This time of year is good for winter thrushes of course and as I walked up the railway line to Goxhill I found about ten Fieldfare along with a handful of Redwing and Song Thrushes. This is also one the few places around the Mere to still hold Tree Sparrows.

Tree Sparrow

Murky pic of Song Thrush

Another week of 2025 has gone by in the blink of an eye, ending with Rememberance Day, so I'll leave you with my own tribute to those men and women who selflessly gave so much.