Hornsea Wildlife and Walks: Catch Up On The Week

I keep meaning to post updates but time just slips away from under my feet, so here's a quick run down of the last 6 days. In my usual manner I'll start with today and then go to whichever day fits best.

Today (Friday 17 March) was mild and sunny with a slight SW breeze. I walked up the old railway line to Hatfield then wandered along the footpaths over to Wassand and then home through the fields.

Yellowhammers, Skylarks, Song Thrushes, Chaffinches, Linnets, Dunnocks, Robins - everything seemed to be singing as I sauntered along enjoying the mid-morning chorus. A Little Egret and a pair of Stonechats were the highlights of the morning.

Little Egret landing near the railway line

Blue Tit checking out a nest box

Linnet

Dunnock

Song Thrush

Weatherhill rookery

Meadow Pipit in first field showing long hind claw

Stonechat in first field

Female Reed Bunting in first field

Wednesday 15 March was a bit drab but good walking weather so I did a brisk 8 miles along the south side before elevenses 😉 at first everything seemed to be in threes:

3 Buzzards over the Mere

3 Roe Deer chilling

1 of 3 Mistle Thrushes

Another Mistle Thrush

A pheasant ran past, as fast as a Roadrunner

I remembered from last year that there was a small patch of Coltsfoot along the south side, so as this is the time of year they flower I went to have a look. Unsurprisingly it has been wrecked by the tidy countryside mindset of land owners/contractors/farmers or whoever decides how the field margins should look. Instead of a healthy patch of wild flowers I saw just a single stem with a poor looking damaged flower 😢

A single Coltsfoot flower

Sorry folks, but I seem to find more things to annoy me as time goes by. I really love to get out and enjoy the open air, wildlife and countryside but things aren't the same as they used to be, even 5 years ago never mind longer than that. More fences, more ignorant people, more restrictions, more cutting back of trees and habitat, fewer insects, mammals and birds (and wild flowers). Hey ho, on we go.

Tuesday 14 March was sunny, dry and cool and I walked through to the hide at Decoy channel. I love walking through the wood early in the morning before others are out, as I see and hear so much more. Not much at all to see from the hide apart from a couple of Marsh Harriers, as wildfowl don't seem to visit in the numbers they used to. Spring and summer will change that with other wildlife instead.

Brown Hares are active in the fields now

Lesser Celandine

A common dog violet I think

Small groups of violets are showing in the wood but despite my best efforts I can't say 100% which species they are. I think they are common dog violets as they don't have a scent at all, whereas Sweet Violets do.

Monday 13 March was windy and rainy but I went to the hide anyway. A quiet day with not much showing apart from a Treecreeper, a couple of Great Spotted Woodpeckers and my first Red Dead Nettle of the year. It has a square stem and is quite small at the moment but they can grow much bigger than the 3 inches this specimen was.