I'll start the blog by going through a round-up of the wildlife sightings over the last few days.
Friday 12 August 2016 (the in-glorious 12th, as the Grouse shooting season starts today)
Down to the beach first thing and a fine sight indeed - a Common Seal pup! It looked as though it wanted to come ashore for a while and bask but people (me included) and curious dogs kept driving it back into the sea.
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| Common Seal |
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| Common Seal doing a bit of surfing |
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| Common Seal on the beach |
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| Common Seal - last sighting |
Moving on I walked over to Kirkholme Point at Hornsea Mere and, as it has been for the last 2 weeks, the Little Egret was on Swan Island. Joined by 2 Grey Herons this time.
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| Little Egret and Grey Herons on Swan Island |
Saturday 13 August 2016
A breezy day today (force 4-5 westerly), making waves on the Mere and causing a fair amount of foam to collect on Kirkholme Point. A pair of
Dunlin were found there on the South shoreline.
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| Dunlin at Kirkholme Point |
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| Dunlin at Kirkholme Point |
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| Dunlin at Kirkholme Point |
As expected there was nothing else to see in the windy conditions so I wandered off to the south side of the Mere, hoping to see butterflies and dragonflies in the places where they were sheltered from the breeze. The number of
Painted Lady butterflies has increased dramatically over the past few weeks. These are one of the few species of butterfly to migrate and their numbers in the UK fluctuate from year to year.
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| Painted Lady - Mere south side |
Moving on further towards Wassand Hall, the shelter provided by the large hawthorns was being used by several species of dragonfly, including this
Ruddy Darter - difficult to get a decent photo as they are very mobile and it's hard to get close without them taking off.
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| Ruddy Darter at Wassand |
Carrying on towards home I spooked a couple of
Roe Deer, this Roe buck gave me the once over and decided I wasn't much of a threat after all.
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| Roe buck |
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| Roe buck |
Monday 15 August 2016
A wonderful morning in Hornsea today, enjoyed to the full with a 6 mile walk around the cliffs, beach and Mere. There were a few ships passing by offshore and a good view of Flamborough Head.
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| Flamborough Head showing old and new lighthouses |
A couple of Shelduck flew South but apart from that there was precious little other wildlife this morning.
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| Shelduck on their way to warmer climes |
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