Drake Long-tailed Duck

The drake Long-tailed Duck that has been on Hornsea Mere since late October last year continues to develop its full adult plumage, but it is not coming as close to the shore as it did last year. All my sightings have been distant, including this morning, but at least it was visible through the camera lens so I managed to get a few photos.

Here are a couple which have been severely cropped to make them more than just white blobs:

Drake Long-tailed Duck

Drake Long-tailed Duck

Here is the last photo I took of the bird on 15 Dec 2017 for comparison:

A Sunny and Calm Day

Yesterday was a wonderful day for being out and walking the paths around Hornsea. It was sunny and almost wind-less, cold of course 'cos it's still January. As I walked onto Kirkholme Point the sun was showing itself in all its glory. Unfortunately I only had my long lens so I didn't really get decent photos.

Sunrise over The Mere

Common Gull and Black-headed Gull

On The Mere the Long-tailed Duck and the Common Scoter were still present, although they were very elusive and never came in close to shore to allow photos to be taken. Hopefully over the coming days I'll be able to get a photo to show the continuing development of the LTD.

Meanwhile there were plenty of other birds, particularly in Wassand Wood, to watch and photograph. As I stood in one place for a while to let the wildlife get used to my presence, a small flock of about 12 Long-tailed Tits appeared. Aha, when you see such a small gathering of tits moving through a wood you can usually expect to see other species being dragged along in their wake - Treecreepers and Goldcrests are commonly seen - so I hoped to see them at reasonably close quarters.

As I hoped, along came Treecreeper and Goldcrest!! My Goldcrest pics were rubbish though, although I've put one up...

Goldcrest jumping from branch to branch

This photo seems to show a Goldcrest jumping from branch to branch as opposed to flying - it probably has its wings closed during a glide phase of its flight though. That's my best guess.

Treecreeper

Treecreeper

Long-tailed Tit

There were 4 Great Spotted Woodpeckers and 2 Green Woodpeckers calling high in the canopy. Two of the GSWs were drumming and a pair were chasing each other so Spring can't be far away now.

The best views of the day were given by the pair of Stonechats in 1st field though. The sun had just struggled above the horizon so the light was lovely and soft:

female Stonechat

female Stonechat

male Stonechat

A Good Start to The Year

Well it's been a good start to the new year of 2018 for me, and I hope your year is also going well.

Not staying in bed on New Year's Day gave me an extra few hours to invest in walking on the cliffs, down to the beach and along the south of The Mere. Kirkholme Point is closed on NYD so that wasn't an option.

Dead fish - Dab or Halibut?

As I walked along the beach it was clear that there had been a pretty high tide and along the strand line there were a few pieces of debris - which we don't really get here on the Holderness coast. Among the jetsam was a dead fish (see photo above) which I think is either a Dab or a Halibut. There were a number of old plastic bits and pieces too so I picked them up to drop in a litter bin. I left the fish for the gulls to eat.

As I walked towards home along Southorpe Road the morning sun was making everything look tremendously golden.

4 Roe Deer

The Mere from Southorpe Road

Hornsea United Reformed Church

St Nicholas Church

Barnacle Geese