Spring Turns To Summer

 Meteorologically speaking we are now in Summer! Yay!! Doesn't particularly feel like it yet but it's early days 😊

 

There were no big news stories through the last week, with the highlight being the sighting of my first Cuckoo of the year.  In previous years I've seen a few Cuckoos by now, although last year was worrying with only a single sighting, but I thought this year was going to be a landmark year for the wrong reason until one flew in front of the hide yesterday. It announced its presence a minute or so before with a clear call from the East of the hide then whizzed by so quickly the camera had no chance of getting it.

 

Young birds are out and about all over the place with Blue Tits, Great Tits, Long-tailed Tits, Great Spotted Woodpeckers joining the Mallards and geese with fledged broods. This female Linnet looked a bit frazzled as it collected food for its nestlings and probably wished they were out and about too:

Female Linnet with food

Adult Great Spotted Woodpecker

Adult and young GSW

Young GSW with red cap

Young GSW placing its feet carefully

 Some local Herring Gulls have young ones running around out of the nest while others are still sitting on their nests. The location isn't hard to guess 😂😂

Herring Gulls and chicks

I haven't seen any young warblers yet, nor any adult birds carrying food.

Sedge Warbler

Sedge Warbler in song

It's getting harder and harder to see and count the geese in the fields now the crops are growing well. 

Greylag Geese slowly submerging in the wheat

We have two pairs of Lapwings locally but whether they have young in the nest is impossible to tell. Fingers crossed they have but I see them in multiple locations...

Adult Lapwing 

I see Red-legged Partridges regularly but they are very wary and never come within reasonable photo taking distance. I obviously need to work on my field craft.

Red-legged Partridge

I found a new insect species, well for me it's new, and first checks online said it was rare - further research showed it to be rather mundanely common. Still, a new species for the list is not to be sniffed at is it?!

Slender-footed Robberfly (Leptarthrus brevirostris)

Butterflies and moths were in profusion early in the week and made walking though the fields an absolute joy. 

Yellow Tail moth caterpillar

Poseudargyrotoza conwagana micro moth

Common Blue

Large Skipper

Small Copper

Speckled Wood

Yellow Shell moth

Yellow Shell moth

Let's finish on a happy note for a change, with a mammal taking centre stage. Rabbits have all of a sudden seemingly increased in numbers, as I see lots every day. Most seem pretty normal but this one was obviously having a bad day 😀🤣

Plenty To See In Hornsea

After the excitement of the Purple Heron last week it was back to normal. Slim pickings all round with our resident birds providing the only photo opportunities.

Male Gadwall showing his impressive plumage

Female Gadwall

Female Gadwall showing nictating membrane over the eye

House Sparrow collecting food for young ones

This and two below - Marsh Harrier over Heslop's

Mute Swan and four cygnets

Butterflies have shown well through the week, especially Painted Ladies with over 50 seen on a single morning. One new species for the week - Large Skipper seen this morning.

Green-veined White on a buttercup

Green-veined White close up on macro setting

One of many - Painted Lady

Large Skipper butterfly, new for the year list

 

Common Carpet moth

Also a new addition for the year was a Four Spotted Chaser dragonfly found at the hide on Tuesday. I've only seen one here before so I was pleased with the record.

Four Spotted Chaser

Common Blue Damselflies hooked up for mating

 Mammals are seen regularly, especially Roe Deer, and a glimpse of a doe with a fawn was tantalisingly brief as they melted into the undergrowth and disappeared.

Brown Hare

As last week, insects were the primary focus, although their numbers are not as good as previous year. I'm not surprised given the downward trend of all wildlife in this country 😕

 

Tachina fera/magnicornis fly

Psila sp.

Red-headed Cardinal Beetle

The Mere has been looking particularly beautiful this week - blue skies and fluffy white clouds above buttercup-filled fields look just great.

South side footpath view of the Mere

South side footpath view of the Mere

I have to say the Mere south side has more going for it then the north side. Arable fields provide us with food but are not generally good for insects or bird life I'm afraid. Intensification, insecticides and weed killer tend to have a detrimental effect on wildlife.

 

I walked around the Mere earlier in the week and for the first half of the walk I saw precious little life, and only when I got half way through the fields where the path meets trees and shrubs 

North side of the Mere

North side of the Mere, arable land and a hedgerow

Better after half way - north side

Look Out Hornsea, I've Got My Shorts On!

 All of a sudden the world looks a different place. Warmth and golden sunshine have dragged my shorts out of their winter sojourn and are gracing my legs as we speak 🤣🤣

 

 The past week I have spent more time perusing insects than I have looking for birds, in an attempt to catch up on the chilly weeks lost without seeing much insect life at all.

 

The best news of the week came when I saw a damselfly emerging from our pond - the first one since we installed it last year👍 

Emerging damselfly in our pond

The usual emergence of hundreds, if not thousands, of damselflies at the Mere started on Thursday. Most of them are Common Blue Damselflies, but I saw two Azure Damselflies at the hide and had a Blue-tailed at home.

Common Blue Damselfly with breakfast (moth I think)

Azure Damselfly

Blue-tailed Damselfly

Butterflies have powered into the air along the length of the south side footpath! I'd already seen Comma, Holly Blue, Peacock, Comma, Large White and several Painted Lady - add to those Common Blue, Green-veined White and Small White.

Small White

Common Blue

Many different kinds of insect have been seen and photographed around Hornsea in the last week - here is a selection:

Zebra Spiders

Alder Fly

Wasp Beetle

Common Carpet moth

Leafhopper

On the birding front the week has been largely quiet then got interesting yesterday with a Purple Heron found at the hide and a couple of Hobby there too - both year firsts for me. No pics of either I'm afraid as a schoolboy error on my part meant I saw the birds but with a dead battery in my camera!

 

 Some good views of other, more common birds though:

Little Egret close to the hide

Marsh Harrier

Greenfinch wheezing

Chaffinch

Greylag/Canada Goose hybrid

Lesser Whitethroat in song

Pied Wagtail

No new wild flowers to report unusually, but there has been so much other stuff to see I'm not surprised if I missed one or two.