Little Gulls and a Black Tern

The usual large influx of Little Gulls hasn't happened at Hornsea this year yet. Although there is still time for them to arrive, the annual count of 2,500+ birds at Hornsea Mere roost has not materialised - numbers have been nowhere near. The most I have seen was 14 one morning on the jetties -

Little Gulls on Hornsea Mere jetty

Little Gull on Hornsea Mere jetty

Little Gulls on Hornsea Mere jetty

It may be they have not left their breeding grounds yet, or they could have taken a totally different migration route this year, or maybe there is no food for them or perhaps the large off-shore wind farm has affected their migration route enough to move them away from Hornsea. We'll probably never know for sure.

This morning a juvenile Black Tern was back off Kirkholme Point. It was reported yesterday but I was away and couldn't get down to see it. We had one through last year round about the same time.

Black Tern juv

I walked through the south side of The Mere and although there was a Little Egret stooging around, the area was very quiet indeed.

Herons, Egret and Hawkers

I started off today's walk at Kirkholme Point to check for any waders that had dropped in. A single Common Sandpiper was on the end of the Point, with 5 Redshank flying low over the water towards 1st field.

The Little Egret was here again, visible on 1st field shore from KP. Got a count of 5 Grey Herons for the morning - 2 in the shallow water between Tree Island and the north shore; 1 over 2nd field and 2 at the eastern end from Decoy Hide.

2 Grey Herons in the shallow water

Distant Little Egret on 1st field shore

Cormorants were flying in and out of the Cormorant trees on the north side of The Mere. Numbers are growing in this colony.

Cormorants in the Cormorant Trees

Little else was showing so I walked round to the south side and on to Decoy Hide. A female Marsh Harrier was calling and circling over the east end of The Mere, and a male Sparrowhawk flew over the hide. These were the only birds of note on a very quiet morning.

Plenty of dragonflies were out and about this morning though, most of them were Migrant Hawkers with a few Ruddy Darters in and among.

Migrant Hawker, female

Migrant Hawkers, male and female

Footless and Fancy Free

Kirkholme Point (KP) this morning in a stiff breeze (20 mph southerly) and a few scattered, drizzly showers.

2 Dunlin flew in to the south side but didn't hang around long as the wind was gusting into the shore and spray was flying all around.

A Turnstone was a nice find on the north side of KP, as there are few records of these shore birds at The Mere. It was feeding OK and flew with no problems but it had a mis-formed or damaged foot. It hobbled along feeding on the water line and it didn't seem in any distress.

Turnstone with damaged foot on KP

The regular (this week anyway) Little Ringed Plover was also spotted on the substantial shore line.

Hundreds of Swallows, House Martins and Sand Martins were feeding over the water, with about 20 Swifts higher up. Our family group of about 12 Pied Wagtails were also flitting along the shore line.

Over the last few days Mute Swans seem to have congregated on the spit of land at the back of Swan Island. Along with a few Cormorants drying their wings they seem to have  taken over the available territory.

Mute Swans

A pair of Jays were making a racket over by Wassand wood. Hopefully we'll see a bit more of these birds as the acorn crop develops and they start feeding up and laying in food for the winter.

Jay over Wassand

At Freeport there were several Long-tailed Tits and Coal Tits in the conifers, and a nice display of what I guess is some kind of bracket or tree fungus, whatever it is it made a colourful splash.

Bracket fungus at Freeport

Parakeets, in Hornsea?

Overcast, dry, warm with a south easterly breeze.

Walking through Freeport this morning I heard a weird screeching call. I didn't recognise it at all so I searched the trees where the noise was coming from.

A green bird flew out! Green Woodpecker? No, too small. Ring-necked Parakeet? No, too small, wings too short and tail too short. Another call answered the first so I searched and saw a small bird, high in a conifer. Pale underparts, grey back and a pale head with a greenish tinge. It flew after the first bird and they both disappeared.

Two parakeets/love birds or whatever then, in Hornsea no less. I don't do exotics so they were well out of my experience. Wonder what they were, but they will have escaped from somewhere that is for sure. They were not wind-blown migrants!

The allotments were alive with Blackbirds, House Sparrows and Song Thrushes this morning. It was great to see and hear them, but I bet the allotment owners won't be as glad to see them around their raspberry canes :)

The south side of The Mere was pretty quiet apart from 5 Redshank that flew off 2nd field shore line over to Hermitage shore. The usual suspects were about including 4 Great-crested Grebe with 2 juvs in tow; 3 Grey Heron using the low water level to fish in the reeds at the east end along with a whole host of Coot and Mute Swans. A Cetti's Warbler was singing in the hedge between 1st and 2nd field which was a nice surprise. Although there are several pairs of Cetti's around the Mere, they go quiet for a while and then all of a sudden they start singing again.

The hedgerows were buzzing with finches and sparrows as I walked on towards Wassand. There must have been over 50 Goldfinches, Linnets and Tree Sparrows in a flock feeding on seed heads. A pair of Yellowhammers flew in for a short while too.

Sorry, no photos today as I had my scope to carry and it was one of those days!

Hornsea south beach, Kirkholme Point

Another fine, warm and dry morning, overcast with a south easterly breeze.


Sandwich Terns on the beach this morning - 7 of them. They are regular visitors here after the breeding season.

Sandwich Terns

Went to Kirkholme to see if there were any waders on the rapidly expanding shore line. The Little Ringed Plover that has been here for a few days was there again. We don't get many LRP's at The Mere so it was good to get decent views and photos of one.

Little Ringed Plover on Kirkholme Point

Redshank (2) and a Greenshank were heard as they flew over. 6 Common Tern were fishing off the Point (but didn't catch anything while I watched). 2 Wigeon were also just off Swan Island.

South Side of The Mere
Several butterflies in the fields - Meadow Brown, Small Skipper and Speckled Wood nearer to Wassand.

Met a visitor to the area while walking through the fields - a lady from Hanover in Germany. She loves the UK because she likes the freedom our footpaths give her to walk freely almost anywhere. She comes over 3 times a year and visits a different part of the country. She was staying in Flamborough and spending the day in and around Hornsea. I gave her a few tips on where to walk and suggested she had a cuppa at The Mere cafe on her way to town.

Seal of Approval for Hornsea Beach

I'll start the blog by going through a round-up of the wildlife sightings over the last few days.

Friday 12 August 2016 (the in-glorious 12th, as the Grouse shooting season starts today)

Down to the beach first thing and a fine sight indeed - a Common Seal pup! It looked as though it wanted to come ashore for a while and bask but people (me included) and curious dogs kept driving it back into the sea.

Common Seal

Common Seal doing a bit of surfing

Common Seal on the beach

Common Seal - last sighting

Moving on I walked over to Kirkholme Point at Hornsea Mere and, as it has been for the last 2 weeks, the Little Egret was on Swan Island. Joined by 2 Grey Herons this time.

Little Egret and Grey Herons on Swan Island

Saturday 13 August 2016
A breezy day today (force 4-5 westerly), making waves on the Mere and causing a fair amount of foam to collect on Kirkholme Point. A pair of Dunlin were found there on the South shoreline.

Dunlin at Kirkholme Point

Dunlin at Kirkholme Point

Dunlin at Kirkholme Point

As expected there was nothing else to see in the windy conditions so I wandered off to the south side of the Mere, hoping to see butterflies and dragonflies in the places where they were sheltered from the breeze. The number of Painted Lady butterflies has increased dramatically over the past few weeks. These are one of the few species of butterfly to migrate and their numbers in the UK fluctuate from year to year.

Painted Lady - Mere south side

Moving on further towards Wassand Hall, the shelter provided by the large hawthorns was being used by several species of dragonfly, including this Ruddy Darter - difficult to get a decent photo as they are very mobile and it's hard to get close without them taking off.

Ruddy Darter at Wassand

Carrying on towards home I spooked a couple of Roe Deer, this Roe buck gave me the once over and decided I wasn't much of a threat after all.

Roe buck

Roe buck

Monday 15 August 2016

A wonderful morning in Hornsea today, enjoyed to the full with a 6 mile walk around the cliffs, beach and Mere. There were a few ships passing by offshore and a good view of Flamborough Head.

Flamborough Head showing old and new lighthouses

 A couple of Shelduck flew South but apart from that there was precious little other wildlife this morning.

Shelduck on their way to warmer climes