Signs Of Spring at long last

Having suffered from flu over the last 6 days, I thought it was time to get out and get a little fresh air, without overdoing it and undoing all the good work put in by my lovely wife.

A slow and steady few miles in the warm late March sun should be OK then 😃

Walking through the trees at Freeport there was the lovely sound of a Chiff Chaff singing from high in a tree top - the first of the year! Below it Coal Tits and Long-tailed Tits were foraging in the shrubs.

Out along the Trans Pennine Trail to the footpath running beside a long hedgerow, I hoped to see lots of finches but there were very few indeed. 2 Lapwing were displaying though and 3 Skylark were up and singing.

In the hedgerow I spotted a few early Blackthorn blossoms opening up. These are a bit later than last year:

Blackthorn blossom

Blackthorn are almost identical to hawthorn bushes and the easy way to tell them apart at this time of year is that blackthorns flower before their leaves appear, whereas hawthorns don't flower until their leaves are already out - so much later in Spring.

A single Brown Hare was running along a ploughed field. Would have been nice to see a few mad March hares boxing and whatever!

Coming back two Yellowhammers were singing, but only the first part of their song. Must still be too early for them to invest time and effort in the full song.

Almost back home and I came across the first frog spawn of the year in a large puddle. There is no future for these unfortunately, unless we have continuous rain between now and August.

Frog spawn in a puddle

Add caption

Shore Larks in the Rain - 4 miles

Well, the weather may be a tad warmer but it isn't getting any drier. This is the wettest winter I can remember having over here on the Costa Del Holderness. OK, this is only my 8th winter on the coast but it is by far the worst.

Having been unable to get down to Aldbrough/Cowden yesterday due to a Mother's Day trip to York to meet our daughter, I was keen to get down today to see if the Shore Larks and Mealy Redpoll were still about.

I woke up to a steel grey sky, with the colour of the sea merging into the grey clouds, and a steady downpour of heavy rain. The vast puddle in the field behind the house now looks more like an annex of Hornsea Mere rather than a crop field. Never mind though, get the waterproofs on (again), wrap up warm and take a waterproof bag for the camera and all will be champion I told myself.

After a bowl of hot porridge I was ready to tackle the elements. As I was loading up the car I saw our next door neighbour so, as usual, we exchanged friendly insults and banter and he went off to work - poor young chap he he he he!

I parked at the southern end of the MoD range and walked up the paths to the northern edge where the cliffs go on to Aldbrough. I could have parked down south to make life easier but then I wouldn't have got the opportunity to get a decent few miles in and warm myself up.

Through the range there wasn't much to inspire or excite. 2 Pheasant, a Dunnock a few gulls circling like vultures overhead. Along the path where I hoped to see the Mealy Redpoll, nothing stirred. I heard a few Mallard and Coot and saw 2 Greylags. Not a sign of finches anywhere. Hey ho, there's always tomorrow, and so onwards into the wild grey yonder :) Not too bad walking down as the wind was a North Easterly it was primarily behind me - but I wasn't really looking forward to going back!

As soon as I reached the spot where the Shore Larks usually are I spotted them, 5 Shore Larks in flight. They got up from the rough stuff at the cliff edge and landed in the very wet, muddy and decidedly unlovely field. How the crop will grow again I'm not sure - unless they've planted rice here.

Are you shore this is a good idea?

Lark's tongues in rainwater

As Steph still had my Canon, I used the Nikon P900 today. The quality isn't as good, especially when you use a high zoom magnification and a high ASA setting because of the poor light. Still they are reasonable record shots. Maybe I'll get down again before they leave our shores.

The walk back to the car was windy, damp and bird-less. Saw 9 Roe Deer though which was uplifting.

During the Cold Weather I Have Been Mainly Wandering About

At last the weather is getting a bit warmer. The last 6 days have been bloody cold with temperatures struggling to get above 0 degrees. I have spent longer on getting ready for my walks (putting on thermals, hats, gloves, extra jumpers etc.) than I have spent walking!! Today's temperature of about 8 degrees feels positively balmy.

What's been about then?

Well. I've been wanting to see Fieldfare and Redwing in our garden ever since we moved here and this cold spell has been an ideal opportunity to do so. I saw 3 Fieldfare over the road in our neighbour's garden so I threw out some eating apples for them, hoping to entice them onto our territory.

They came over eventually and held sway over the Blackbirds and thrushes, and everything else, for 2 days:

Fieldfare in neighbour's garden

Fieldfare on other side of the road

Fieldfare in our garden

Fieldfare eating apples in our garden

Fieldfare bossing his/her patch

Not a single Redwing put in an appearance during the cold spell, which was disappointing but no doubt they will turn up before too long.

Down at Hornsea Mere the ice was building up on the tree lined shore of Swan Island:

Icy Swan Island

   

We were hoping for something special to get blown in during, or just after, the gales but we didn't get anything really. 7 Dunlin were nice to see, and 7 is the most I've seen at The Mere, but special? Nah.

Dunlin, skating away on the thin ice of a new day

Dunlin feeding on.....ice? Couldn't see anything to eat myself

   

The Long-tailed Duck was still here (been here since late October last year) but it has been over in the south east corner and distant from any vantage point. This photo is heavily cropped but shows the plumage of a near-adult drake:

Long-tailed Duck

Getting almost up to date, last Saturday I was out with my long-suffering mate Nick, who happily (?) puts up with my feeble attempts at birding and never fails to cheer me up with his good humour and all round good-blokedness. We called in at Holbeck just outside Scarborough to see if any Mediterranean Gulls were showing in the car park - they were:

Med Gull calling

Apparently up to 14 Med Gulls have been seen here, which is a fine total as at one time this was a rarely seen bird in Yorkshire.

We were on our way to Scarborough harbour, but a message on the local grapevine service made us alter course and go back the way we had come, to the coast between Hunmanby Gap and Reighton. Good numbers of Linnet, Yellowhammer, Lesser Redpoll and Corn Buntings et al had been sighted in a set-aside field so we went to try and catch sight of these well known farmland birds. I have never seen Linnet or Yellowhammer in flocks this big so it would be a great thing to see them.

Unfortunately we got there a little late and we only managed to see a flock of about 90 Linnet, which in itself was marvelous for me. They were going to roost so we left them to it, and went to prepare for our evening's musical entertainment - Tom Townsend at Hunmanby Community Centre. A wonderful evening was had by all with good food, great company and enjoyable music.