Egrets, I've had a few, but then again, too few to mention....

With sincere apologies to dear old Frank Sinatra, the sight of a Great White Egret and a Little Egret at Hornsea Mere yesterday made me smile and remember the twisted lyric from Frank's "My Way".

Great White Egret and a Little Egret at The Mere

The Great White Egret stayed for quite a while and although it stayed a fair distance away from Kirkholme Point it still gave good views.

Also at KP was a Dunlin. Nothing new there but this one was different in that it only had one eye. It seemed to be fine though, feeding as normal on the shoreline.

One-eyed Dunlin on KP

Sunday 26 August 2018
Today dawned cool and bright with rain forecast for midday onwards so an early start would give me the best of the day to enjoy. I set off to walk on the cliffs from Rolston down to Hornsea South Promenade and hoped to see a migrant or two - Whinchat was my target bird.

A few Skylarks and a lone Mipit were the only passerines to flit across my path, but over the sea things were a bit more interesting.

A few groups of Common Scoter and Wigeon flew north as I walked on the cliff tops, with 5 or more individual Gannets coming closer to the beach than usual (but still way out to the naked eye).

Wigeon going north

adult Gannet

immature Gannet

On to KP again to see what the new day has brought and the first bird I saw was a Grey Wagtail.

juv Grey Wagtail

I checked the Little Gulls on the jetty (12 of them) for any ringed birds but with such a small number I didn't expect to find any with rings. Another Grey Wagtail appeared and then another. I walked back to get a better angle to fit all the wagtails and a Little Gull into the camera viewfinder, then another wagtail appeared - 4 Grey Wagtails - the most I'd ever seen at The Mere.

2 Grey Wagtails - both juvs I think

4 grey Wagtails - at least 1 adult and 2 or 3 juvs

4GL

4GL

Grey Wagtail isn't a bird we normally see at Hornsea Mere so having 4, including juvs, was a real treat. As we have seen Grey Wags pretty often this year, always around KP, it could be that they have bred locally. Here's hoping that they have and that this year is the start of a new local population.

Over at Swan Island there were 5 Little Egrets and the Great White Egret was still hanging around from yesterday. It had been seen further out near the cormorant trees but then Jon saw it on Tree Island -

Great White Egret on Tree Island

The Common Terns are still here and making themselves heard with calls and a little bit of fratching when food is caught. This one had been successful and was perched with a small perch in its bill.

Common Tern with perch

Common Tern with perch

Another wonderful morning in Hornsea. There's always something to see here! As I walked out from KP I spotted a Cormorant on the grass, which isn't something we see often. It looked really cumbersome as it waddled towards the water.