Green Woodpeckers

 The past week has been characterised by cool, grey and cloudy mornings which then burst into sunshine at about tea time. As I am a morning walker and don't often get out in the afternoons this was unfortunate, as it wasn't warm enough for butterflies and dragonflies to be out and about when I was out and about.

 

We are also in that period of time when birds disappear into post-breeding moult and the place goes deathly quiet. Gone are the warblers singing and the other birds are almost non-existent too - apart from the water birds of course - they keep the whole thing going but aren't very good singers!

 

The week's highlight was a couple of young Green Woodpeckers, one at Bewholme and one in Wassand Wood. The one at Bewholme was more developed than the one at Wassand so I'm guessing they are from different nests.

Young Green Woodpecker at Bewholme

Bewholme 'pecker

Wassand Young Green Woodpecker

With warblers having gone quiet they don't appear on my lists very often apart from yesterday afternoon when I saw two Sedge Warblers and three Reed Warblers. One of Sedge Warblers was collecting food so possibly still feeding young.

Sedge Warbler in hunting mode

Reed Warbler

Reed Warbler

Reed Warbler

This morning there were 19 Common Terns at the Mere. At one point almost every buoy seemed to have a tern on it, resting and preening.

Common Tern

Common Terns

Almost every buoy - Black-headed Gull juv

Common Tern

Common Tern

I managed to see a Willow Emerald Damselfly near the hide yesterday afternoon but by the time I'd got the camera on it the little blighter had flown off, and I never did find it or another again but at least I know they are there now.

 

Migrant Hawkers were out in reasonable numbers - I saw five yesterday. Also Ruddy Darters, Common Darter and Emperors at the hide.

Female Migrant Hawker

Emperor dragonfly in flight

Ruddy Darter

Common Darter

I managed 10 different species of butterfly yesterday, which isn't bad but not my best ever day hereabouts. Common Blue and Gatekeeper were the most numerous, with more female Common Blues than I've seen at any one time.

Speckled Wood

Small Copper

Female Common Blue

Male and female Common Blue

One last insect to mention and that is a grasshopper - Lesser Marsh Grasshoppers are abundant locally, this one was spotted in a field next to the railway line.

Lesser Marsh Grasshopper

I see lots of Grey Squirrels as I wander the highways and byways of Hornsea, too many for my liking as they are an introduced species and have a derogatory impact on wildlife. They are part of our flora and fauna however and are here to stay, so I take an interest in what they are doing. 

 

The other morning I'd seen a couple of squirrels dashing out of a crop field as I approached and when I walked on to Weatherhill I saw another squirrel sitting on the drive eating. As I got closer I could see it was a stalk of wheat and it was eating the seed and discarding the husk.

Grey Squirrel eating wheat

Husks

A final photo for this update - a Roe Deer watching me pass by. It didn't run off as they usually do, it just watched me and carried on eating 😊

Roe Deer

Dragonflies Galore

In my previous post I was bemoaning the fact that I hadn't seen many dragonflies this year.

 

Since then I've seen loads of them!! We even had two in the garden visiting our new pond, which has now been in place for just a year. I'll cover those first.

 

I expected and hoped Common Darter would arrive at the pond as it is by far the most commonly seen locally. One duly arrived, a female, and it took up position on the plant stalks put there for that specific reason. It hung around for over an hour, intermittently taking off and flying around before landing back in the same place.

Female Common Darter at our pond

Female Common Darter at our pond

After the Common Darter had left we were lucky enough to get a Four-spotted Chaser in its place! This one stayed for over four hours and used the same plant stalks as the darter.

Four-spotted Chaser at our pond

Looks like it's had a rough life so far

There is plenty of time left for more species to visit before the end of the dragonfly season, so fingers crossed for new arrivals.

 

At the Mere I've seen lots of Common Darters, a few Black-tailed Skimmers and Emperors, then yesterday I saw three Migrant Hawkers and a Southern Hawker.

Black-tailed Skimmer in flight

Emperor dragonfly in flight

As above

Female Migrant Hawker well camouflaged against an umbellifer

Female Migrant Hawker

Southern Hawker

Southern Hawker

Things have been somewhat quiet on the birding front, apart from a Quail heard in the barley field adjacent to Heslop's. It was heard very clearly, singing near to the footpath, but over the other side of the hedge. As is usual with Quail it was heard but not seen.

 

A few photos have been taken of the local birds and here are just some of them. Nothing new but it's good to keep your hand in 😂

Marsh Harrier juv

Marsh Harriers, one with prey

Black-headed Gull

Yellowhammer in song

Whitethroat

Swallow in flight

Greenfinch

Grey Heron

Last year was an awful year for butterflies but this year has seen a resurgence of numbers for most of our locally seen species. Perhaps the long, dry spell allowed them to breed well and we are now seeing the fruits of that. Meadow Browns and Ringlets are the most numerous with the three whites also well represented. Gatekeepers did surprisingly well last year and have continued that success into this year. I've never seen as many Large Skippers as I have this year, and the same goes for Common Blue and Small Copper. Red Admiral, Comma, Peacock and Speckled Wood seem to be about the same as previous years.

Common Blue

Meadow Brown

Small Copper (underside for a change)

Gatekeeper, with a beard?

Gatekeeper

Another Gatekeeper

As a bit of a change I drove down to Ulrome and walked through to Barmston Drain in the hope of seeing some different birds. Two species on my hit list were Corn Bunting and Yellow Wagtail and both were ticked off soon after my arrival 👍

Singing Corn Bunting

Corn Bunting

Juv Yellow Wagtail

As above

Three juvenile Yellow Wagtails

I had a really good morning with loads of birds, butterflies, insects and a few mammals seen. I should go there more often but then I'd probably miss something at the Mere! 

I saw four Small Tortoiseshells. More than I've seen in one day in Hornsea

Barmston Drain

Whitethroat

Wild flowers and plants provide the setting for all the wildlife we see and I take a keen interest in what's growing and flowering each time I take a walk. The flowers to catch my eye in the past week were...

Agrimony

Cornflower

Poppies

Poppies

I'll finish this update with another new moth species for me - a small moth fluttered into the undergrowth, and actually stayed within camera distance so I could get a photo for id purposes. Thank goodness it has a common name as the Latin name pronunciation is beyond me 😉

Bird-cherry Ermine moth (Yponomeuta evonymella) I think