A good couple of days - Red-necked Grebe, Whinchat and Curlew Sandpiper

The weather is turning cooler now but #stillinshorts!! Unsure if I'll make it to the end of the month as planned 😅

Thursday 20 September 2018

Bright and sunny with a strong south westerly wind. Off to see if the Red-necked Grebes are still at The Mere.
They were, although I only saw one of the two. The one I had was with a Great Crested Grebe between KP and 1st field. Always distant so the photos are heavily cropped and of poor quality:

Red-necked Grebe from KP

Red-necked Grebe from KP

Red-necked and Great Crested Grebes

RNG and GCG taking off

RNG and GCG

I decided to walk round to the south side of The Mere to see if I could get better views from there. On the way off KP I saw 4 Little Egrets over in the south east reed bed:

3 of 4 Little Egrets

The views from 1st field weren't any better than those from KP so I wandered on to the other end of the field, checking the open shore line for waders - none this morning :(

A nice surprise over in the longer grass was a Small Copper butterfly that is still hanging on. I don't know why the photo has a bluish cast because it certainly didn't look like that?

Small Copper in 1st field

Walking back I saw a couple of birds flitting about in the reed bed and thought they looked a little like Sedge Warblers. However, closer inspection proved them to be Whinchats.

Whinchat in 1st field reed bed

A Whinchat and another Whinchat

Whinchat eyeing up a fly

The final Whinchat photo

Friday 21 September 2018

It rained all through last night - about time we had a good downpour to dampen the land. The wind was still blustery and coming straight in from the west. Only 12 degrees this morning brrrrrr but #stillinshorts.

I went straight down to 1st field today as Jon had WhatsApp'd that there was a Curlew Sandpiper on 1st field shore.

Got down there and the first bird I saw was the Curlew Sandpiper - another addition to my Mere List 😄

Nice line up of Dunlin, Ringed Plover and Curlew Sand

Ringed Plover and Curlew Sandpiper

The Curlew Sand was with 6 Dunlin and 2 Ringed Plover on the shore, with 2 Little Egret feeding further along to the east. A single Great White Egret was also seen below the Cormorant Trees.

Still about 350 House Martins and a few Swallows over The Mere this morning. The numbers have reduced from yesterday when there were c.1000

A Tad Breezy

It was a little bit breezy this morning in Hornsea, but the southerly wind was weirdly warm and there was no chill to it at all. According to our max-min thermometer the temperature never got below 14 degrees C last night.

I've been checking the shore line along first field most days since the willow and birch scrub was cleared at the back end of last week. Any birds along there are now clearly visible which is just great, the only downside is that the area is so clear the birds can see you coming from miles off so approach with care.

First field shore line clearance

First field shore now open for viewing

A couple of Little Egrets were feeding on the shore this morning, along with Snipe, 4 Ringed Plover (2 adults and 2 juveniles I think) and 3 Dunlin.

Little Egret off 1st field

Little Egret

Dunlin and juv Ringed Plover

Dunlin and juv Ringed Plover

juv Ringed Plover and Dunlin

juv Ringed Plover and Dunlin

 juv Ringed Plover and Dunlin

juv Ringed Plover and Dunlin

2 Dunlin and juv Ringed Plover

I walked round to Kirkholme Point, knowing that the wind would be stronger over there, but hoping that I could shelter behind the willows that form a wind break along the south shore.

Although there were lots of birds to be seen they were all the usual suspects. No sign of the Red-necked Grebe (which was reported to be west of Swan Island as I was on KP, which is of course east of Swan Island!). Most of the ducks and geese were north of Swan Island where they could get a bit of shelter from the wind, but several were braving the waves.

Wigeon, Mute Swan and Black-headed Gulls surfing

Gadwall numbers are increasing now as we approach Autumn, as are Coot, Teal and Wigeon.

Gadwall over KP

The cafe was still shut as I left so no chance of a cuppa before I walked home 😞

Hornsea Mere in the morning

Just for a change I thought I'd walk down to the Mere 😂

The sky was as grey as Gandalf and the south westerly wind was decidely chilly as I strode off from home. Two minutes out and I was already wishing I'd made the switch from shorts to long trousers. It's too soon yet though - another few weeks before I have to hang up my shorts?!

I've been going down to the sea front first over the past 3 weeks, but today I reckoned it may be a tad too cool so I made for The Mere straight away. Bad choice as the gates to KP were still locked at 08:00. Off to the south side then.

The first thing I noticed was the hundreds of hirundines over the Mere. Mainly Swallows and House Martins but a fair number of Sand Martins too. Estimate between 1,500 and 2,000 but probably more.

I met JL in 2nd field and we had a brief chat about the cool weather and other important stuff. I carried on as I was getting a bit cold.

Willow Warblers were singing away in the willows on my way to the hide and Long-tailed Tits were also noisily busy in the hedgerows.

As I entered the hide I saw a Little Egret feeding right in front of the hide. No chance of opening the windows so I took a few hurried photos before I was spotted.

All too soon I was seen and the Egret legged it, well winged it actually.

Arse end of a Little Egret

No Marsh Harriers about but the Great White Egret was still present, over by the western reed bed. Those reeds must be going for a world record height...

Great White Egret from Wassand hide

On the way back from the hide I spent a long time in the wood looking for Treecreeper. A good sized group of tits came through with all 4 common species but the hoped-for TC wasn't following in their wake as they usually do.

The set aside field has been sown with wild flowers and is looking great with colourful flowers still showing even though summer is long gone now. Linnet (c.30) and Reed Buntings (c.15) were feeding contentedly in among the plants.

Set aside

Reed Bunting eating the fruits of set aside

I didn't have time to re-visit KP so will have to go this afternoon instead.

A Late Show of Butterflies

Another lovely day to go for a walk along the south side of Hornsea Mere. The sun was warm and the morning was calm-ish so I hoped for a few butterflies, even though we are into September now, and the second day of meterological Autumn. I wasn't disappointed at all and there was a fantastic show of butterflies and dragonflies (although none of the dragonflies stayed still long enough to be photographed).

Speckled Wood

Painted Lady

Small White

Small Copper

common blue - male

common blue - male

common blue- female

common blue - female

Green-veined white

Most of the butterflies were looking very worn as they are coming to the end of their season, but the Painted Lady and the Speckled Wood still looked quite stunning.

Putting these pics together into a collage looks quite nice too.