Hornsea Sea Watch

Up at the crack of dawn today - that extra hour helped obvs!

It was flippin' cold and grey with a strong north westerly wind, veering to the north then north east later, so a possible good sea watch was on the cards. Not that I do a lot of sea watching 'cos I'm a bad birder but today was looking so good I couldn't resist.

My target for the morning was to try and get a decent photo of Little Auk and given the conditions I was very hopeful. However I had a glitch straight away. I took my scope off the hide clamp and looked for the tripod adapter but couldn't find it. Damn where's it gone? Time was slipping away so I set off with just my bins and camera. Not a good start.

Out to sea the conditions looked bright but at the same time, on shore it wasn't as good 😟

Same time as the photo above, different aspect

On the birding front things were much more rosy. Little Auks were going by in good numbers and soon a pair came in close enough for photos.

Little Auk - only as big as a House Sparrow!

2 Little Auks

Job done then! Off home for breakfast part two 😀

Well no actually. Lots of other birds going past so quickly that I found it hard to keep up with the calls from my friends who were calling out species and locations.

A visiting birder from Bradford pointed out a Grey Phalarope right in front of us and it stayed there for a few minutes, feeding between large waves crashing in.

Grey Phalarope over the waves

Grey Phalarope against a wall of waves

Grey Phalarope and Common Gull size comparison

Gannets, Teal and Wigeon were flying by in good numbers but the most common species this morning was Common Scoter.

30 Common Scoter with a Wigeon and a Teal mixed in

Nice to see several (18) Common Eiders go past in 3 different groups and two Brent Geese were the first of the year for me.

3 of 18 Common Eider

Brent Geese

I missed out on photographing a drake Long-tailed Duck but had very good views through the bins.

I went down to the sea front again in the afternoon and saw more species to add to the day's tally. A Red-throated Diver, 2 Velvet Scoter, 6 Kittiwake, 7 Little Gull, a Bonxie (Great Skua), 3 Guillemot and more Gannets, Common Scoter, Teal and Wigeon.

A brilliant day for me and although it was very cold it was wonderful to have such great views of so many marvellous birds.

A Blazing Dawn

I went down to the beach as it promised to be a wonderful sunrise today and I was not disappointed.

As the sun rose it took on a weird shape that I haven't seen before, not circular or semi-circular, and looking like it had chunks cut out either side. Then it went all atom bomb mushroom cloud!

No enhancements just straight off the camera

You can see Bikini Atoll from here

The sun cast a golden glow over everything, including a drying-out cormorant.

Sunrise reflected in Hornsea's windows

Over at The Mere the number of Scaup had increased to 5 but I never managed to get them all in one photo.

Goldeneye, Scaup and Tufted Duck off 1st field

Scaup and Tufted Duck

Little Grebes were swimming just off the shore and seeing 6 altogether here was unusual, at least in my experience of The Mere.

6 Little Grebe off 1st field

...and 6 Whooper Swans flew off to the north, leaving 2 behind on Swan Island.

Whooper Swans heading north-ish

In second field there were 3 Redwing and a Mistle Thrush along with about 12 Blackbirds. The Barnacle Goose herd of over 100 birds was in the newly sown crop field south of third field/Snipe Grounds and I counted 107 individuals, although there were some hidden by the undulating ground. A Yellowhammer was singing in the warm sunshine and it felt more like spring than autumn.

To quote a good friend of mine "After the Lord Major's show..."

Last Sunday was a bit mad. Sunday 14 October will go down in local birding folklore though.

The finding of a very special bird at Hornsea Mere - my local patch - by a friend was a momentous occasion, indeed it was the first time this bird had been seen in Great Britain. That doesn't happen very often.

A White-rumped Swift was found by Lesley Ball in the pouring rain from her own front room on Sunday afternoon. After the strong and warm southerly winds on Saturday, she saw Swallows and House Martins through her bins from her window. Swallows in mid-October? Rare enough, but also there was something that looked like a Swallow at first glance but raised a question as it looked different and needed a little more investigation.

That investigation meant going out and getting closer, luckily the bird also came closer. She saw the scythe-like wings of a swift but it was smaller....and it had a white rump. Friends were called on our local WhatsApp grapevine and initially it was thought to be a Pacific Swift, which would have been terrific, but could it be a White-rumped asked Tim? A few of us reckoned we saw the diagnostic signs of white edges but no firm id could be announced without photos to back it up. Once the throngs of birders started arriving and good photos were taken and reviewed, it was declared to be a White-rumped Swift and a first for Great Britain!!

I didn't take any photos myself as the rain was really heavy and my camera is not at all waterproof so I left it at home. The good news is that by the time the really good photographers had arrived it had nearly stopped raining so they had a good chance of getting decent shots.

After all the furore and loads of people up and down the place on Sunday and Monday, it was nice to have the place back to normal by Tuesday - peace reigned once again and birds flew, birders birded, dog walkers walked their dogs, dabbling ducks dabbled and twitchers were absent 😊

It did however feel a little anticlimactic.

Wednesday was a bit better as Jon found a Yellow-browed Warbler in Second Field (second field in from Hull Road on the south side of Hornsea Mere). Jon, Mark, Lesley, Alan, Mike and myself gathered near the ash tree where it was spotted but although Mark saw it as it flew into a neighbouring sycamore tree, the rest of us missed it.

Today, Thursday 18 October, was a sunny but cool day. The temperature had risen to a giddy 7 degrees C as I set out for the sea front - #nolongerinshorts! I decided to check the trees just inland from the beach for Yellow-browed Warblers, or any migrants. No luck with them but a Kestrel landed on a branch very close to me and gave great views for a minute or so.

Kestrel

It moved from the branch onto the ground and then back up onto another branch - still giving good views.

Perhaps KP will have a YBW, after all it has plenty of broad leaved trees? Off I went on my usual route around my patch but KP had no migrants. 2 Cetti's Warblers of course and the usual ducks etc. but Bull Hole (the north east corner of Hornsea Mere) yielded the Great White Egret flying out towards Decoy.

Great White Egret flying west

There was also a single Little Egret and 5 Grey Herons along the north shore up to Swan Island. One of the herons came over me as it flew off.

Grey Heron off elsewhere

At the end of KP was a Grey Wagtail. We've had a breeding pair here this year which is fantastic.

Grey Wagtail in different light conditions

I checked Bull Hole again on my way out of KP and there were a few Teal feeding, but no Moorhens or Water Rail which is what I'd hoped for.

Teal

I walked round to the south side but nothing else of note showed itself so I walked off home for a cuppa and a biscuit. It had been a fine walk in lovely weather - what more could a bloke ask for in October?

Hornsea Mere on a great autumn morning, with Bearded Tit, GWE and Kingfisher

A marvellous sunny morning with a light and balmy south westerly breeze stirring the tree tops.

A walk along the south side of The Mere to the hide at Wassand then back past Weatherhill Farm and on Southorpe Road was a good way to spend a few hours in the sun 😊

A few Meadow Pipits flew from the fence by the water's edge over the footpath and onto the rough meadow where the goats and sheep graze. Good numbers of Wigeon, Teal, Gadwall and 5 Shoveler were just off shore.

Into Snipe Grounds where a Cetti's Warbler was doing its best to deafen me as it was very close to the path - but as usual with these birds, you hear them but seldom see them.

Another field further on and the set aside flowers are still looking pretty good, as well as providing much-needed food for the birds through winter.

Sunflowers in wild flower set-aside

Wild radish in set aside

Musk mallow (I think)

In the hedgerow by this field were 12 Reed Buntings, 2 Yellowhammers and a large flock of Goldfinch - over 170 Goldfinch have been seen here in the last few days.

A charm of Goldfinch

I walked on through the wood to the hide by the Mere at Decoy Plantation and as soon as I walked in there were 2 Little Grebes and a Grey Heron right in front of the hide. The Grey Heron flew off straight away but the grebes stayed while I slowly and quietly opened a window.

Little Grebes - one on right is one of this year's chicks

While photographing the grebes I heard a distinctive sound from the other side of the hide which is described in the bird guides as a "ping". To my ears it doesn't sound like a ping at all, but anyway the bird is the same, however its call is described - a Bearded Tit, or more correctly these days a Bearded Reedling. No apologies for adding so many photos of this bird as we don't get many records of them here at The Mere.

First sight of the Bearded Tit

Looked like a female as a male would have a black moustachial stripe and a young bird would have a black back and black edges to its tail. Please comment below if this is incorrect

It stayed in view for about half a minute and then flew into the reeds at the right of the hide before flying off east. This was the best view of Bearded Tit I've had in Hornsea and the first time I've managed to get reasonable photos too.

The Bearded Tit had just flown off when a Kingfisher appeared! It perched on a bent reed stem to the left of the hide and stared intently at the water, looking for food.

Kingfisher from Wassand hide

 It dived into the shallow water and came back up with a tiny fish.

Kingfisher bashing fish to kill/stun it.

Unfortunately as the Kingfisher was in the shadows, the photo is blurred because I couldn't get a fast shutter speed. After it had eaten the fish the Kingfisher flew off west over the reed bed.

As if all this wasn't enough, the Great White Egret that has been here since 26 August was also looking for food over by the far reed bed opposite the hide.

Great White Egret

All I needed now was for the Otter to make an appearance and I would count myself the luckiest bloke on the planet - it didn't, but I was still grinning from ear to ear after my best hour in the hide this year 😃

The walk home was a bit of an anti-climax, but I still saw a Roe Deer, a Small Copper butterfly and 2 Common Darter dragonflies to add to the day's wildlife tally. Only 5½ miles walked today but packed with interest and delight.

Common Darter dragonflies

Small Copper