Circuit of The Mere

At last some decent weather :) Although I go out every day for a walk, I don't always take my camera with me. It was nudging 5 degrees this morning, although the wind was still quite strong, and the sun was threatening to show itself.

I decided to head to the hide at Wassand to see if the Bitterns were still around. If not at least the Marsh Harriers would be there.

From home, through Freeport and along Southorpe Road there was very little to get excited about, apart from being out in the decent weather that is. As I walked along the track towards Wassand from Southorpe Road a Roe Deer watched for a while, decided I may be a threat and bounded off through the hedgerow -

Roe Deer, not impressed by my presence

As I went into the wood at Weatherhill Plantation I heard a Great Spotted Woodpecker "drumming". This noise is created by a rapid hammering of their beak into a tree that can be heard for a good distance. They do this at this time of year to attract a mate.

In the hide at Wassand there was very little activity. The Marsh Harriers were displaying - a male and what looked like a young female -

Female Marsh Harrier from Wassand hide

Male and female Marsh Harriers displaying

As nothing else was showing itself today I went on my way, through the wood and down the drive from Wassand Hall. The snowdrops were looking fantastic -

Snowdrops at Wassand

There were another two Great Spotted Woodpeckers as I walked down the drive, one of them was flying from a pole to feeders in a cottage garden -

Going through the fields to the north of Hornsea Mere there was a noticable lack of birds or wildlife. Hardly a sound was to be heard apart from the cars passing by on the main road. Hopefully a few weeks will pass and this will all change, when early March gets underway the birds will start singing and the hares will start boxing :)

As I emerged from the fields onto Seaton Road the footpath was impassable due to several inches of standing water. The fields had drained the recent rainwater into the ditch which had filled up and had nowhere to go....

I called in to Kirkholme Point on my way home to see if the Water Rails were showing at Bull Hole. They weren't - because the reed cutter was work opening up the view from Fair Place. They did this last year but of course the reeds just grow back. Unless they want to cut the reeds every year someone will have to try and remove the reeds; good luck with that !!!!!

Reed cutting at The Mere to open the view from Fair Place

The water level in The Mere has risen markedly over the last week following the heavy rain, so much that there is only a small portion of shoreline available to get round to Bull Hole.

Almost a Spring Morning

What a fantastic morning! Dry, calm, sunny and bright with a temperature of about 7 degrees at 08:30

It's been a while since I walked on the cliffs so that's where I went, hoping for Skylark and Meadow Pipit.

As I was walking past the crop field opposite Freeport I noticed lots of geese feeding there. On checking they were mainly Greylag Geese (50+) but the White-fronted Geese (30+) and Pink-footed Geese (5+) that were by the Mere yesterday were in there too! As I was counting them the farmer arrived on his 4 wheel drive buggy and chased them off. That's reasonable as the field represents his livelihood.

White-fronted Geese

White-fronted Goose

White-fronted Goose

Just by Hornsea Lakes there were 9 Redwing feeding in the hawthorn bushes and 18 Common Gull mixed in with the Black-headed and Herring Gulls.

Onto the cliffs and the hoped-for Skylark was soon heard, 3 of them up and singing in the clear blue sky. It really was very Spring-like with the warm sun beating down.

Skylark

Skylark singing

Skylark singing

Skylark taking a breather

Further on the cliffs I heard a familiar sound, much like 2 pebbles being knocked together, which is the call of a Stonechat. There were a pair of them with the male looking very striking in full breeding plumage.

Female Stonechat

Male Stonechat

Male Stonechat

Along the sea front the tide was just turning and starting to go out so I wasn't expecting any shore birds - so I wasn't disappointed when none showed up!

Checking Stream Dike didn't take long either this morning, no birds of note but the Mallard numbers seem to be on the increase, there were 11 in the stream today.

At the Mere I walked around Kirkholme Point to see if anything had turned up but again there was nothing of note, except a couple of Oystercatchers on the jetty.

Oystercatcher on KP jetty

Oystercatchers on KP jetty