A Beach Walk to Barmston - 11 miles

I decided to go off on one today and wander up to Barmston to see if I could see the Hooded Crows and Twite that have been hanging around for a while.

It was a dry and mild morning with a temp of 5 degrees C, so after checking the tide times I set off from home at about 08:30. High tide today was at 08:43 so I reckoned that by the time I reached the beach the tide would be falling and would leave enough sand between the cliffs and the surf for me to walk on.

All went well and I got past the slipway for the boat club at the end of Cliff Road without any mishap with the tide.

2.5 miles in and all OK

Enough sand to walk on and getting wider

The cliffs have loads of fossils embedded in them and they get exposed as the cliff erodes. If you're lucky you can see them before they fall to the beach and get submerged by the sea. Some are bog standard trilobites, other are just bog standard 😂

A fossilised item for The Time Team to investigate?

Off the coast was a Buoy Laying vessel, The Galatea. The crew was busy doing something  but I couldn't see just what is was. Perhaps retrieving one or putting a new one in place.

Plain sailing for me too along the beach so far. However, a little way further north things came to a halt as the sea had not receded far enough for me to get past the eroded cliff face. I found a dry bit and stood to wait...

I killed some time by looking out to sea in the hope of seeing some passing birds, but instead I saw a cetacean going south. It breached several times and I tried to get a photo but it was too far out and it surfaced in an unpredictable way and by the time I got the camera onto it and focussed it had gone again.

The Galatea's crew finished whatever it was they were doing and it sailed off and away out to sea.

The way back looked inviting

The tide was being very lax and just wouldn't ebb any quicker at this deeper section of my walk. I lost patience after three quarters of an hour waiting around and reckoned I could get past the narrow bit if I timed it right - obviously I was wrong because as I was half way round, a big incoming wave got me and made sure the rest of my walk would be made with wet feet 😒 It wasn't too bad really as the day was pretty mild so I wasn't cold at all.

Barmston was getting closer with every soggy step now, or at least it seemed to be through the long lens on my camera.

Barmston caravan site and Fraisthorpe wind farm behind

Flamborough Head

Barmston jetty was reached without further dampening of the boots and the bird life all of a sudden jumped up to meet me.
36 Sanderling
5 Oystercatcher
50+ Ringed Plover
2 Dunlin
13 Redshank

Oystercatchers

Ringed Plovers

Ringed Plovers and 2 Dunlin

Sanderling

One of the Sanderling was colour ringed so I took several photos. I reported the sighting when I got back home and I'm waiting for details of where the bird was ringed.

Colour ringed Sanderling

I left the beach temporarily as the tide hadn't cleared the end of the stone jetty so there was no way round.

Through the caravan park and out onto the beach again at the north side, I looked for the Twite and Hooded Crows in the rough grass and crop field just behind the small sand dunes - the crows were sighted straight away on the beach but the Twite never turned up even though I wandered around the area where they have been seen.

One of two Hooded Crows

Hooded Crow

As it was 12:45 now and time was gettig on, I turned my mind to how I should get home. I looked at the bus timetable on the EYMS website and guess what - the next bus was at 13:30 but was going to Bridlington and the connecting bus to Hornsea would get me home at 16:58 😨😨😨 I wasn't expecting that as buses were regular through the morning! In retrospect I should have got the bus to Barmston, looked for the Twite and Hoodies then walked back home. The tide would have been well out by then too.

After a call home and a laugh about me being stranded on a desert island, my much better half volunteered to come and rescue me. I'm a lucky man - thanks Lin XX