A Good Week

 Things are on the up! Warmer winds and lots of sun has even brought out a few insects, with my first bumble bee (unknown sp) and hoverfly seen briefly.

The hoverfly was, I think, Syrphus ribesii. The female has eyes set further apart than the male and has yellow femurs to the hind legs, which I think can just be seen in the photo.

Syrphus ribesii, female

 As we were driving towards Brandsburton yesterday I saw a white butterfly in Seaton! It was probably an Orange Tip given they are the first white butterfly to emerge, but I couldn't be sure.

Birds have been good with my first sightings of the year at the Mere for Red-legged Partridge, Chiffchaff, Whooper Swan and Oystercatcher. Nuthatch and Green Woodpecker have been quite regularly heard if not seen.

Two Red-legged Partridge were seen running up the field edge south of Heslop's - these are the first I've seen at the Mere for almost 18 months.

Two Red-legged Partridge

The Nuthatch is making itself heard most mornings but needs a bit of searching to locate. While I was following it yesterday morning three Great Spotted Woodpeckers flew in to the same tree and chased each other around for a while before flying off again. Spring is setting things moving alright.

Nuthatch in Wassand - looks like it's lying down 😂

Yellowhammers have been singing in the hedgerows and trees which is a sure sign that winter is on its way out. There are fewer than in previous years which unfortunately follows the downward trend for most birds, but it is still early and numbers may yet pick up.

Yellowhammer

Common Buzzards have been showing well too, along with Marsh Harriers, and I've seen at least one each morning for the last five days.

Common Buzzard

Long-tailed Tits are no longer in their large family groups and have separated to start forming pairs, although I had four squabbling over something in a tree that seemed to be drawing them in - probably something tasty.

Long-tailed Tits

I spotted a Barn Owl hunting along a field edge so to get a photo or two I managed to get into a position where it would hopefully fly past. It did eventually 😀

Barn Owl

 Chiffchaffs have been arriving this week and I heard my first one on Tuesday. Today I heard five and saw a couple of them. They will rapidly grow in numbers and counting them will be a challenge that I enjoy.

Chiffchaff singing

So much for the fauna, what about the flora?

Not much appearing yet apart from the obvious flowering "garden" plants such as crocus, daffodil and snowdrop which nicely brighten up the days, but a couple of Red Dead Nettles were a lovely surprise.

Red Dead Nettle

It's good to see the hawthorns showing signs of bursting into leaf, and once they start they take no time at all to turn the hedgerows green.

Hawthorn buds bursting into leaf

Although the next few days are looking a bit cooler than the last five, now that Spring has started in earnest it will continue apace. Lots to look forward to!!

Waiting For Spring

 Well, here I am again with not much to show or tell. The Easterly wind has gone and the days have been much brighter but not much seems to have changed on the wildlife front.

The old dependables have been seen (Marsh Harrier, Scaup, Long-tailed Duck, Otter, Sanderling and Purple Sandpiper) along with a drake Smew which popped in for a few days, other than that it has been business as usual.

Mute Swan landing

Otter creating an impressive bow wave

So cold even the LTD had to wear ear muffs

Buds are appearing! Getting excited about spring.

Marsh Harriers have been displaying

Nicely camouflaged against the trees

There have been increasing numbers of Wood Pigeons roosting on the north side, I'd guess around 700 or 800 on some mornings. Could be more as they don't all take off together for a fly round which makes estimating more difficult.

Stogies off for a brief fly round

Slim Pickings

 Carole King was almost right:

The weather here has been as grey as it can be,
Although it doesn't really matter much to me;
For all the wildlife seen while the sun is rarely there, 
It might as well rain until September.

The Easterly winds have made getting out and walking a bit of a chore over the last week or so. Add to that a week's worth of hassle with bedroom fitters and the sum total is not much to write home about.

On several days when it rained and/or was really dark and overcast I didn't even take the camera out with me, which wasn't a loss at all as I didn't see anything worth capturing anyway.

This is really dispriting as I can usually find something worth photographing be it a flower, fungus, anything catching the light, even grass! I'm having difficulty even finding buds to look at. Give it a few more days and things will pick up I'm sure so there is always something to look forward to.

Meanwhile the Great Spotted Woodpeckers carry on drumming, the Barnacle Geese keep on goosing one another and the frost has seemingly gone away (for now) 😂😂

Frosty phragmites

Long-tailed Duck at the Mere

Great Spotted Woodpecker in very poor light

 

 

Had it been sunny I could have taken a photo in much better light...

GSW, same wood, different light, different year 😉

The Barnacle Geese were in second field on Thursday which is the first time I've seen them in there. I was able to get close enough to read a few of the leg rings to confirm they are the  birds from Scorton in North Yorkshire.

Barnacle Geese

J41

J43

J72

Things will get better through this week and the blog will be more interesting (I hope).

As Mad As A February Hare

 Brown Hares are famed for going a bit bonkers in March so these three hares were a bit early on the uptake. No boxing going on that I could see but plenty of jaunty prancing and dashing around.

Brown Hares first seen with 8 Roe Deer near the hedgerow

The local population of Tree Sparrows is definitely on the down turn. We don't see them in the places they used to be seen around the Mere, and reports from further down the coast point to a similar pattern. It's difficult to see one reason for this but the usual culprits are habitat loss, food scarcity and a reduction in nesting locations. I walked along Hornsea north cliffs and found a few in the hedgerows there, so we are not Tree Sparrow-less yet thank goodness.

Tree Sparrow at north cliffs

While I was walking on the cliff tops a couple of Stonechats popped up, but apart from them, the Tree Sparrows and a couple of Reed Buntings there was nothing else to set the heart racing.

Stonechat

The two Egyptian Geese that are often seen at the Mere now were there again on the same morning as I was coming back from the cliffs (1st February).

Egyptian Geese at KP

"Our" Barnacle Geese are still with us, usually to be seen in the Clover Field but they do get up and have a fly around every now and then. There were 38 of them when they first arrived last year and that number has been stable until the last few days when only 37 were counted. Whether one has slept in or has gone elsewhere remains to be seen.

Barnacle Geese

Song and Mistle Thrushes have started to sing and they are the harbingers of Spring for me. It was really good to see two Mistle Thrushes the other day.

Mistle Thrush

The snowdrops at Wassand are in full bloom and look just splendid. Well worth a short amble along the drive towards the hall.

Snowdrops near Wassand Hall

A drake Smew appeared on the Mere on Monday and was seen again yesterday. I found it over near Swan Island so not really 'tog-able but I took some anyway - along with the long-staying Long-tailed Duck which was a bit closer.

Drake Smew from a fair old distance

Long distance Long-tailed Duck

I started this post with images of Roe Deer so I thought I'd bookend it with one of Roe Deer. I see three deer most mornings (a buck and two does) and the buck has antlers coated with velvet. This will peel off gradually through the coming weeks to reveal pristine antlers beneath.

Roebuck showing velvet covered antlers

Windy, Rainy, Cold and Icy

 It's been a while since my last post on the blog, so let me cast your mind back to when it was a bit breezy with Storm Eowyn.

I went down to the sea front to see what havoc was being wreaked and was highly delighted to find that we were havocless here on the East Coast. That's not to say it wasn't a tad breezy, as this Turnstone found as it was hoisted from its chosen landing place to a place a few inches away...

A displaced Turnstone

The usual birds were found along the beach and it was a nice surprise to see the Purple Sandpiper on the strand line rather than on one of the breakwaters.

Purple Sandpiper having a bad feather day

Purple Sandpiper and a Sanderling

I walked up from the beach to the cliffs hoping to get the year's first Skylark as they are usually to be seen and heard along the cliff tops at this time of year.

Disappointingly there wasn't one to be found. I'm not really surprised as the amount of disturbance caused by the ongoing development of Hornsea Lakes and Longbeach has maybe put them off. Only one Meadow Pipit as well when there are historically quite a few along there in January. Carry on buggering up the countryside folks as there is still wildlife clinging on that you haven't totally scared off yet. This fox continues to hunt successfully amid the chaos.

A fox braving the wind and excavators on the cliff top

Life goes on regardless (hopefully) but we are several species poorer each year it seems.

The sun has made an appearance a few times and the local Winter Heliotrope near KP could have been awakened for an hour or two to track its movement through the heavens.

Winter Heliotrope

Great Spotted Woodpeckers are well into their spring drumming regime and I heard three rattling away one morning. I'm yet to see one of them drumming on anything other than a branch or tree trunk yet. Back west I frequently saw and heard 'peckers drumming on metal pylons. You'd think brain damage (no, not a Pink Floyd link) would result but their skulls have evolved to cushion the vibrations and they fly away unharmed to drum another day.

Great Spotted Woodpecker spotted in the tree tops

Back to the Mere now and I'm seeing a Kestrel each morning as I walk along my usual route. It swooped down to the road side yesterday and I hoped it had caught something, but it flew away with nothing.

Kestrel

The set aside field continues to do a grand job in sustaining our wildlife through the food gap. Linnet is the most numerous bird and is seen daily, followed by Chaffinch, Goldfinch and Reed Bunting. I hadn't seen a Yellowhammer this year until this morning when I found eight in the hedgerow towards Weatherhill in a mixed flock with over 25 Reed Buntings. As I walked through to the set aside I found two Yellowhammers there along with about 20 Reed Buntings - probably the same flock I saw earlier.

A good-sized flock of Linnet in the set aside

Yellowhammers and Reed Buntings

Yellowhammer and Reed Buntings

A last comment on the windy weather - I saw no damage following Storm Eowyn but this tree fell foul of the winds this last weekend. I didn't think it was particularly windy but maybe it's a cumulative effect? Almost half the tree fell and had to be cleared to make it safe.

Sad to see damage of this magnitude to trees

 * The Who's 1971 singles compilation album "Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy" becomes Windy, Rainy, Cold and Icy. An obscure musical link to keep you on your toes.