A Week's Catch Up

Here's a change for me - something like a week's worth of photos in one update. Let's see how it looks shall we?

Working backwards from today:

FRIDAY 8 December 2017
A bright, bloody cold day. Started off at zero degrees and didn't get much warmer all day despite the lovely winter sunshine.

I walked up Rolston Road towards the cliffs and as I passed Hornsea Lakes I flushed a Common Snipe from a small patch of wet ground. Going on I checked out the fields and found 4 Lapwing which took off as I looked. The usual gulls were hanging around - Black-headed, Herring and Common.

From the cliff tops, where it was nice and windy and even colder than I'd felt before, there is always something to brighten your day here on the East Coast. This gorse was in full bloom and looked stunning in the morning sun's rays.

Below, the waves were crashing onto the base of the cliffs. With the sun catching them they made quite a spectacle, which would have been picturesque if the water hadn't been a muddy brown colour due to the erosion :(

Erosion in action - muddy waves

After coming across 2 Stonechat I got to the beach and watched the waves breaking on the groynes - what a difference in colour to those I'd watched from the cliffs!

Clean water breaking on South Beach

As the tide was in, and it was a good high tide today, there were no birds to seek out on the tide line, but 3 Turnstone were feeding on the grass by the boat launch building -

Turnstone

Walking along Stream Dike I checked for the Kingfisher that can be seen along there, but not this morning, so onwards to KP.

As the wind was a brisk westerly it wasn't surprising that as I ventured onto KP that I was met with a blast of icy wind. Good job I had extra layers on and my extra warm lined trousers.

A good count of Gadwall (74) Pochard (13) Tufted Duck (c.90) and Coot (c.40) along with a few Wigeon and Goldeneye were looking wonderful in the sunshine on the North side of Kirkholme; a Sparrowhawk was seeing off a Grey Heron that had obviously got too close to where the sprawk was -

Distant Sparrowhawk

I met Jon and Mike while I was gazing skywards and we spent a half hour chatting and bimbling about, including having a look for the Common Scoter and Long-tailed Duck that are becoming long stayers now. Neither was showing for us so we decided to call it a day and I set off home, looking forward to a warm cuppa. As I was walking past the jetties I had a last look and up popped the Long-tailed Duck!!

THURSDAY 7 December 2017
Weird weather today. As I stepped out of the house at about 08:00 the temperature was 11.6 degrees C with a stiff westerly wind blowing. It was raining, but only a light drizzle. The temperature was forecast to drop markedly through the day until it reaches zero overnight.

I decided to break with my usual route and go straight to the hide at Wassand instead. Nothing showing through Freeport or the allotments which wasn't particularly surprising given the rotten conditions. As I tramped through 1st field I noticed a tractor up on the sloping ground which was cutting the grass. This hadn't been cut before to my recollection so I was surprised, but as the land had changed ownership recently I shouldn't have been. Ever watchful for an opportunity, a Kestrel was perched atop a tree hoping for a small mammal to be flushed out by the farmer.

Kestrel hoping for a snack

Wrong lens for a decent pic of the mown banking

Although a Cetti's Warbler was singing as I went through Snipe Grounds, there was little else to catch my attention until I reached the hide. Even then, as I sat down, all I could see was a dozen or so Mute Swans at first. However, looking towards the West end over by the willows I saw a male Marsh Harrier making sure a Grey Heron didn't catch anything that it may want.

I sat for a while and scanned the swans to ensure they weren't hiding any darvik rings, but they weren't of course. A brief moment of excitement came and went as I saw a Goldeneye land, almost obscurred by the reeds to the left of the hide. I left.

I went by a circuitous route home to ensure I could walk the long hedgerow by the Trans Pennine Trail and look for winter thrushes, as they have been noticable by their absence.

There weren't any thrushes at all (loads of Blackbirds as usual) but the flock of Chaffinch is growing nicely as winter progresses. A pair of Bullfinch were also flitting along the hedgerow in front of me together with a pair of Robins -

Chaffinches and a Bullfinch down low

More Chaffinch

No caption needed methinks

Galloping off towards home and a warming drink, I considered the wasteful way that spuds are harvested these days as I looked at those left behind by the machines in a field by the footpath. I'm sure that the farmers/landowners make a passable living by processing the vegetables (?) in this way but it really seems wasteful to me to leave so many pots in the field to rot -

Spuds, left to rot

On that happy note, good morning to you and on to the next (or a previous) day's musings....

MONDAY 4 December 2017
As I missed the Shore Larks the last time I went to Aldbrough cliffs, I thought I'd go back and see if I could get them today. As they are usually to be found in the planted field almost at Cowden MoD range, I parked there and walked through the old MoD place, south to the cliffs.

I saw them almost immediately as I went down the field edge with the sea on my left. I saw 5 at first but then as the birds moved around I got all 7 in my camera field of view -

Shore Larks

4 Shore Larks

8 Shore Larks

...and while I was photographing the larks, a Kestrel was making shore they were indeed Shore Larks.

Well, I think that's quite enough for now. I may need to re-think the time between updates if there is so much going on, as there seems to be even though we are getting close to the Winter solstice.