At last, Spring has sprung and it's getting Otter

What an awful, awful start to April! What should be a relatively mild and clear month, with early migrants arriving to start their breeding season, has been bloody cr@p.

Cold winds, mist, fog, rain. What a half month it's been, and no chance of putting the gloves, waterproofs, warm hats, thermals etc. into storage.

Still, hopefully all that's behind us now and although there will be some setbacks the weather is improving and with it our chances of seeing more flora and fauna.

A couple of days ago our first Sedge Warblers arrived at Hornsea Mere, with 2 singing in the reed bed at 1st field. The Reed Buntings have already started singing their usual 5-note song which to me is the harbinger of Spring hereabouts.

Today I walked down the Wassand woodland walk to the hide at Decoy and along the way the wood was full of birdsong. My first Blackcap of the year was singing as I went through the iron gate and I could already hear a Green Woodpecker yaffling. Good start to the morning I thought 😊

I soon had 2 more Blackcap and reckoned I wouldn't get many more - how wrong I was!

For some reason I was in a bit of a hurry to get to the hide so I walked on at a brisk pace, noting but not counting the birds I saw and heard, so more of those in a while. I got to the hide and didn't have to open a window as one was already open with no one present. Tut, tut to the last person in there 😎

Straight away there were 3 Marsh Harriers over the reed bed opposite the hide, a male and 2 females.

male Marsh Harrier

A few bubbles in the water right in front of the hide were moving towards me. I guessed what it might be and picked up my camera. It had the long 400mm lens fixed as usual and the bubbles were already close. The beast showed itself vaguely:

Damn, come on, show yourself....yes, an Otter!!!

Ah, just about right:

I think that the noise of the camera shutter alerted it to my presence because it did an about turn and disappeared.

An all-too-brief encounter but a dazzling one. I was a bit gobsmacked to tell you the truth and it took me a while to calm down.

Meanwhile the Marsh Harriers were still flapping up and down the reed bed.

Female Marsh Harrier with distinctive light patches on the wings

Through the reeds I caught a glimpse of a white form flying gracefully. It turned out to be a tern, a Common Tern and my first of the year!

Common Tern

From both sides of the hide I could hear Cetti's Warblers singing, 4 in total. When we first started coming to Hornsea in 2011 I don't recall hearing any at all, last year there were upwards of 10 singing.

Time to head home and as I was in good time for a change I strolled through the wood, looking for as many birds as possible. I was told that 16 Blackcaps had been seen yesterday so there was a target to aim for. There were certainly plenty about, singing males, chacking males, quiet males and quiet females (!!!!!):

female Blackcap

singing male Blackcap

Blackcap living up to its name

I got up to 13 Blackcap by the time I reached the gate to the woodland walk and I'm sure there were many more I'd missed. Also had 5 Great Spotted Woodpeckers, 5 Chiff Chaff, 2 Common Buzzard, Sparrowhawk and lots of more common species that added to whole mass of birdsong.

One of the more interesting sights was a Starling believe it or not. Usually these birds are to be seen nesting in buildings but today I saw one checking out a hole in a tree for a change:

Starling  mostly being a 'pecker

That was a really enjoyable and uplifting walk through our local wood. It will slowly get better as the next few weeks pass, with other summer migrants arriving and adding their different songs and calls to the dawn and daylight chorus. I am so looking forward to that 😃

Mild Morning Musings

After the torrential rain it was we've had recently I was looking forward t a reasonably dry walk today. I set off with waterproofs though, just in case. The ground everywhere is just soaked through and through, with standing water in every field and on every footpath. It makes walking a bit harder, trying to evade the worst of the deep mud and water, as I do not like walking in wellies so I continue to wear my walking boots that are no longer water resistant, never mind waterproof!!

Sure enough I had only just reached the footpath along the south of Hornsea Mere when the rain started. Camera straight under my coat then 'cos the Nikon isn't waterproof either.

Goldeneye are still here in reasonable numbers but they are gradually thinning out as they leave Hornsea for their breeding grounds. The male Gadwall are looking tremendous now as they are in full breeding plumage. Fantastic colours.

From 2nd field shore line the Long-tailed Duck was showing well, just about 60 yards out. The Nikon bridge camera gave reasonable results in poor light but I'd have preferred to have my Canon DSLR with me.

Long-tailed Duck

Long-tailed Duck and Greylags

Long-tailed Duck

At the other end of 2nd field Jon had spotted a Black-necked Grebe, which is a good sighting for The Mere this winter as vagrant grebes have been few and far between. It stayed well out and never came closer than about 300 yards so very poor record shots:

Distant Black-necked Grebe

Distant Black-necked Grebe

A single Oystercatcher flew West, calling as it went, and a few Lapwing were calling from fields further South, their calls mingled with the song of several Skylarks that had emerged along with the welcome sunshine after the shower of rain had passed.

A Yellowhammer had also started singing as I picked my way carefully through the morass that was Snipe Grounds:

Yellowhammer

I decided to go down to the hide at Decoy, although I changed my mind several times before I started on my way down the Woodland Walk as I knew it would be flooded. Sure enough it was. Many times I had to leave the footpath and pick a drier route through the undergrowth around the worst parts of water and mud. The 2 fallen trees that are still lying over the path have become almost permanent features now, with a beaten path showing clearly the route around them. Will they get moved some time?

3 Great Spotted Woodpeckers were drumming and flitting up in the canopy and a Green Woodpecker was yaffling from the direction of Wassand Hall. I counted 4 Chiff Chaffs as I walked towards the hide but didn't see or hear any Willow Warblers.

Just before the hide there was an early show of colour as a nice grouping of Common Dog Violet was in flower:

Common Dog Violet

Common Dog Violet

As I approached the hide I'd heard a Little Grebe calling so I went in a quietly as I could and had my camera at the ready to try and get a few photos before it realised I was there. I could see 2 of them through the misted up windows but had to open one before I could try for a picture. As soon as I moved the window they spooked and swam like buggery into the reeds:

Little Grebe buggering off

I heard 4 singing Cetti's Warbler from the hide but, as usual, didn't see anything of them at all :)

So a really good morning's walk and a good tally of bird species seen, as well as enjoying a bit of colour with the violets.

I hadn't finished though, as I had some good views of a couple of Brown Hares as they ran through a ploughed field. Obviously March had been too wet for them so they had become April hares instead.

Mad April Hares