Circuit of Hornsea Mere

A brisk walk around the Mere was well overdue so I set off in the sunshine to enjoy a morning's outing. A light breeze in place of the strong winds made the sun all the more enjoyable.

I walked anti-clockwise so my first stop was along the north side for a check of the birds from Seaton Road hide. As usual when I visit there wasn't much to see apart from Gadwall, Goldeneye, Coot and Mute Swans. All very nice in their way of course but nothing for the camera to feast upon. I contented myself with a view or two...

Swan Island from the west

about 9:30 and the sun is just about up

Along the north side up on the footpath through the fields and I'm quite sure there should be more birds about. A single Herring Gull and 2 Wood Pigeons are all I saw for a mile and a half. Into the copse by Brockholes and a few finches and tits appeared, which at least gave me something to look at.

I reached the drive up to Wassand Hall pretty quickly and the sun through the trees looked nice.

A Mistle Thrush and a Great Spotted Woodpecker made themselves heard and I thoroughly looked forward to getting into the Woodland Walk so that I could enjoy more birds.

Along the track towards the wood, the line of pine trees made a fine sight.

There are usually Coal Tits flitting about in these pines and today was no exception, with at least 4 birds seen.

Coal Tit

Coal Tit

Along the walk through the wood the Great Spotted Woodpeckers were very active and vocal - I counted at least 5 individuals. The challenge as usual in a few weeks time will be to follow some of these birds to try and find their nest holes. Just 2 Goldcrests in with the flock of around 12 Long-tailed Tits.

Great Spotted Woodpecker

At Decoy Hide the view was disappointingly short of birds. 3 Mute Swans, 5 Goldeneye and around 20 Coot, with a few Black-headed and Herring Gulls passing overhead. I moved on sharpish.

Grey Squirrels are numerous in the wood and can easily be seen when walking along the path.

The wintering herd of Barnacle Geese took a break from munching their way through the crops and circled for a while before landing and resuming their meal.

Barnacle Geese

Barnacle Geese - just some of about 147

Out of the wood again and back onto the footpath that runs through the fields along the south of the Mere, which is still very wet underfoot despite the dry weather recently.

Good habitat for Snipe and Jack Snipe

The set-aside field

The set-aside field is not holding as many finches this year as last. We had a fine Goldfinch and Linnet flock of c.450 birds last year, with a few Greenfinch and Chaffinch mixed in; this year the most I've seen is c.220 Linnet with a few Greenfinch and Chaffinch and very few Goldfinch around. More Bullfinches though, with up to 10 seen now that their usual haunt of the large hawthorn patch near the farm has been cleared.