Local Patch Walk

 A normal morning here in the Tier 1 (soon to be Tier 2) East Riding of Yorkshire, but unseasonably warm at 12 degrees with a balmy south westerly tickling my fancy. 

I walked straight on Southorpe Road towards the hawthorns hoping to get photos of the Redwing feeding there. On my way a few roe deer crossed the road in front of me, unbeknown to the couple who had passed by a few minutes earlier.

Roe deer sneaking over the road between passers by

Down in the hawthorns there were a few Redwing, but only 11 today and they weren't hanging around to let me watch them feeding. 

Cr@p pic of Redwing

I did see two dragonflies though! Looked like Migrant Hawkers to me, and this is the latest date I've ever seen any dragons before.

A small downy feather had caught on some hawthorn berries so I took a photo using the selective colour set to red. The nearest I get to arty farty photography 😂

Red berries and a white feather

A record number of Jays this morning for me with 4 seen and heard up in the trees. 

The Slavonian Grebe is still hanging around on the Mere and has been here for about a week now. There were two at one point but we're back to one again. This is assuming that it's the same bird of course, which it may not be.

Slavonian Grebe in dull, grey light

I went home via Rolston and I came across another roe deer that came out of the hedgerow and stared at me before wandering off through a gap in the hedge into the field. 

One doesn't usually get so close to a deer that a full frame photo is possible...

Instead of carrying on across the field, it stopped and waited for me to arrive at the gap.

A magic encounter but I hope it doesn't get too used to humans as there are far too many about that aren't content to just look and take photos.

Back home this afternoon five more roe deer wandered across the field behind the house and into the hedgerow. Everywhere I went today there seemed to be deer about. Nice 😎

Starling Murmuration at Hornsea Mere

The starling murmuration at Hornsea Mere is looking pretty good. I was a bit late tonight so I only got the back end of it before they moved west to roost in the larger reed beds, but it was still a great sight.

Starlings on their way west to roost

 I'll try and get there earlier tomorrow and get a better video.

A Circular Walk - kind of

 Along Hornsea's promenade there is a measured kilometre walk and at distances of 200, 400, 600 and 800 metres there are circular plaques, together with another at the end of the walk at 1 Km.

Each of the plaques shows a different bird that could be seen while walking the route.

During lockdown I decided to try and take a photograph of each of the species shown on these plaques, in a pose as close as possible to the one drawn. All photos were taken locally.

It's taken a while but here are the results at last. They look better if you click on each one so it gives a larger image.

The start of the walk at Hornsea south promenade

200 metres - Pied Wagtail

400 metres - Sanderling

600 metres - Herring Gull

800 metres - Oystercatcher

1 Km - Cormorant

 That's the end of another project, now what should I do next to keep myself occupied?

A Week Of Hobbling

 Well, I'm a bit upset as over the last week I haven't been able to walk the distance I usually cover due to a bad foot, so the opportunities for photographs and decent walks have been curtailed.

However, a few photos have been taken and I've posted them just to keep updates coming. The highlight of the past week was the Crossbills feeding in the pine trees along the start of the woodland walk.

To start with though, we had a couple of Great White Egrets which was nice, for a short while anyway, until the Grey Herons saw off the addition to our one long-staying bird.

2 Great White Egrets and a Grey Heron

Grey Heron seeing off a Great White Egret

Moorhens have been visible more than usual, maybe the fact that the Marsh Harriers are no longer feeding young has made them a bit braver.

Moorhen

Moorhen nibbling a water snail

Obviously not scared of the Sparrowhawk!

Sparrowhawk with its head in the shadow of the early morning sun

The Stonechats that have been with us for a week or more were still there yesterday morning, despite the vegetation being cut down.

Stonechat

Stonechat

The Crossbills were the stars of the wildlife show though, feeding and flying between the pine trees on Saturday morning. I had two juvenile Crossbills earlier in the year and they came lower down than these birds so the images aren't as good. I was more than happy to see them though, especially the brightly coloured males.

Acrobatic creatures these Crossbills

male Crossbill

female Crossbill

male Crossbill showing under tail coverts

6 of them landed in a dead tree on their way west

male Crossbill

 While I was busy with the Crossbills on the dead tree I noticed a Great Spotted Woodpecker land next door to them...

 

male Great Spotted Woodpecker

My field guide to British mushrooms and toadstools arrived so I've been spending a fair amount of time trying to id the species I've photographed over the last few weeks. I find them fascinating but quite difficult to separate from each other when there are so many species that look similar.

common bonnet fungus I think

common jellyspot

honey fungus, armillaria sp.

jelly ear fungus, photo'd with selective colour function

yellow brain fungus, photo'd with the selective colour function

Up to date now with these photos of a Dunlin on first field shore this morning.

Dunlin

Dunlin

Just Another Migrant Monday

 After an absolutely cracking day yesterday at Flamborough (cheers Nick and Andy) with great autumn migrants headed by Red-flanked Bluetail, Red-breasted Flycatcher, distant views of Barred Warbler and a few Yellow-browed Warblers - together with a fine supporting cast of Ring Ouzel, Spotted Flycatcher and Redstarts, it was back to my local patch today.

No disappointment at all though as there were birds aplenty on the cliffs, and they were still arriving too with Skylarks and Mipits overhead plus at least 4 Wheatear that must have just arrived as they were around the caravan park and right on the cliff edge.

6 Stonechats were also on the cliff edge and just a few yards in on the fence and scrub, but the best bird of the morning was a Whinchat that didn't hang around long enough for a photo. I searched for it but couldn't refind it.

Most of the pics today are full frame with no cropping necessary for a change. 

Cold air and warm air meeting generated a nice sight along the cliffs

female Reed Bunting

Stonechat at the cliff edge

Incoming Meadow Pipit

Wheatear - fresh off the sea

Back to yesterday morning to finish off this blog post and a wonderful meeting with a weasel on the Outer Head cliff path: