Little Gull You Fly, Across The Horizon... *

 * Seagull by Bad Company from Bad Company album 1974

 The number of Little Gulls present at Hornsea Mere is slowly building. They are usually highest early in the morning (when there's only Jon around to see them 😂) and they stay a short while before flying back to sea.

33 Saturday; 55 Sunday; 110 today

I took several photos of them feeding on Saturday in an attempt to get some detail on what they were actually feeding on. The reference books I have are pretty generic in their diet description - Little Gulls are essentially insect feeders, consuming aquatic insects taken on the wing from the water's surface or just below it. Small fish are taken only occasionally. They have been recorded taking terrestial insects and worms and even following agricultural ploughs.

My photos seem to back this up but it's very difficult to ascertain just what they are eating from these images:

Little Gull feeding at Hornsea Mere

Some of the Little Gulls that remain through the morning rest on the boat jetties, giving good photo opportunities.

Little Gulls and a Black-headed Gull, showing size difference

Room for a Little Gull? No, bugger off!

Also while I was on KP a Dunlin appeared so a few frames were snapped.

Dunlin

Along the south side a Great White Egret visited first field edge. I've taken better photos of GWE and these are record shots before and after it took off and landed on Swan Island.

Great White Egret off first field

GWE off to Swan Island

Warblers have young ones out and about now with several Reed Warbler, Sedge Warbler and Whitethroat family groups seen.

Reed Warbler

Juv Whitethroat

Over in Decoy a Marsh Harrier was harrying a Buzzard - it was just too near the nest site I guess.

Male Marsh Harrier giving a Buzzard a hard time

 Also along the south side I saw my first Migrant Hawker of the season, this one was very pale so it must just have emerged and not got its full colouration yet.

immature Migrant Hawker

An Outstanding Wildlife Day at Bempton and Hunmanby Gap

 A message from a friend of mine asking if I fancied going to Bempton the following day to see the Black-browed Albatross was a nice surprise. Of course I said yes and three of us met at Bempton quite early on Friday. My friends, Nick and Andy, are both excellent birders, nature lovers and very good company so I looked forward to a good day.

It started well with a decent walk to the north before I met them and we got onto the albatross almost straight away. It favoured an area at the base of Staple Newk and didn't wander very far from that while we watched. From our viewpoint we were about 500 yards away so photos are record shots only. This was a new species for Andy and myself, but Nick had been fortunate enough to see it a few days ago.

Black-browed Albatross

We watched for a couple of hours before deciding to go off for breakfast, so we headed north to Hunmanby Gap and the smashing cafe there. We met two more friends (Sandra and Keith) for a good chat and a lovely breakfast, with a bit of sea-watching thrown in. It was so good to be meeting friends and eating and talking as normal after all these miserable months, and the sun was shining too so it was set fair for an unbeatable al fresco breakfast.

We discussed where we should go next and Keith mentioned a pond he knew not far away where we could see something we'd never heard of - Semaphore Flies. Cue jokes of questionable taste 😂 In his inimitable style, Keith told us of the male Semaphore Fly's courtship dance around the female and that of course made us want to see one! This display includes wing waving with their white tipped wings and this waving is what gives them their name of "Semaphore".

At the new location we encountered two new species for us - Emerald Damselfly and the intriguing Semaphore Fly.

Semaphore Flies with white wing tips and bronze bodies

The Emerald Damselfly is a fantastic looking creature and we were lucky enough to see several, both male and female, around the pond.

Male and female Emerald Damselfly

Male Emerald Damselfly

The place was alive with insects - bees, flies, moths, butterflies, damselflies and dragonflies, as the surrounding slopes had been planted with wild flowers a few years ago. If only there were more places where this could be done we would have so many more insects.

I hadn't seen a Small or Large Skipper around Hornsea this year to date so I was more than happy to follow the random path of a Skipper for long periods of time, trying to id it. It turned out to be Small Skipper but it's quite hard to tell Small and Large apart in flight.

Small Skipper

We also watched Black-tailed Skimmers, Emporer dragonfly, Four Spotted Chaser and Ruddy Darters; Common Blue damselfly and Blue-tailed damselfly; Ringlet and  Meadow Brown. I was more than happy to stay there all day but time was getting on.

Male Black-tailed Skimmer

Female Black-tailed Skimmer

Female Black-tailed Skimmer

Male and female Black-tailed Skimmers

Female Emporer dragonfly ovipositing

Male Ruddy Darter

I had to leave my two good friends after we'd finished at the pond so I missed out on a trip to Filey Dams, but more importantly I missed out on their company for a few more hours. It was a brilliant day and an all-too-brief glimpse of what life can be like when we get back to normal. Thanks everyone 👍

Walk 4. Bewholme and Dunnington added to "Walks Around Hornsea" page

 Click on the Walks around Hornsea tab above to view this new walk.

Meadow Brown, Texture Like Sun *

* The Stranglers, 1982

Butterfly numbers are definitely down on last year, both in species seen and in numbers of each. Sure, Spring was very late in getting going but things have gradually caught up for the most part. 

Meadow Brown is the most numerous butterfly in the fields at the moment around here, with RInglets now emerging to challenge this. Yesterday I only saw a single white butterfly on my 3 hour walk - not good.

Meadow Browns, texture more like mud than sun

Also yesterday I saw my second Emporer dragonfly - a female this time, basking in the grass. This was a pain in the grass as I couldn't get an angle to avoid the grass stems...

Emporer dragonfly along the Mere south side

I had the same problem with grass/reed stems that obscurred a couple of Sedge Warblers as they came very close in Heslop's. Nothing you can do in that situation, just hope for better next time.

Sedge Warblers hiding behind a screen of reeds

I got a few distant pics of a couple of Hobby a few days ago, one was carrying prey. It looks like a small bird with longish legs and a longish bill. Any thoughts on id gratefully received.

Hobby with prey - Moorhen chick??

To end on a happy note, I don't see many Greenfinches in Hornsea so I was delighted to find a pair feeding young. Here's hoping a few of them survive to breed.

Local Greenfinch