New Year but Still the Old Me :)

 Yep. I'm still here. So is the 2020 Covid hangover unfortunately. To paraphrase Roger Daltrey - welcome to the new year, same as the old year.

However, the wildlife is also still here which is great, and hopefully we'll have something new to see during this year. No reason why not as the climate is still warming up so maybe new species will find their way to Hornsea 😂🤣

Not a new species as I've seen one or two offshore in the past, but this lovely creature won't be gracing our seas again. What looked to be a Harbour Porpoise washed up on the beach this morning as the tide was receding. I reported it to the CSIP as a dead cetacean but have had no call back yet.

A deceased Harbour Porpoise on Hornsea South Beach

 As I was photographing the porpoise a rain shower blew in on the easterly wind, and with a brief glimpse of the sun it made a rather fetching spectacle.

North Sea rainbow

Up on the cliffs the Snow Buntings were still in the stubble field and I counted 29 again this morning after seeing just 23 on December 31st.

Snow Buntings against the rising sun

29 Snow Buntings

Over at Wassand the set aside flock of Linnet has grown in size to about 130 birds now, with a few Goldfinch and 4 Greenfinch mixed in too.

Linnets having a rest

The Redwing and Fieldfare continue to feed in the hawthorns and numbers are pretty steady. Maybe they will reduce as the berry harvest reduces over time.

Fieldfare

 The bird hide at Decoy remains closed due to Covid restrictions, which is probably as well as the wood is flooded at the moment, so the woodland walk will be rather soggy. I wonder when we'll get to go there again???

Wassand wood flood