I took a walk through to Goxhill this morning and was pleased to come across a pair of Yellow Wagtails flitting around one of the drainage channels.
They were feeding around the ditch and path along with Reed Buntings, Linnets and a pair of Yellowhammers so a clourful morning.
A fine walk along the south side of Hornsea Mere this morning. Although the cold wind is still blowing from the north/north east, the sun makes it reasonably warm.
Along Southorpe Road the bluebells and wood anemones are looking good.
Brown Hares have settled down now and are seen in pairs rather than groups. This one was chilling in between the crops.
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| Brown Hare |
At the hide the Marsh Harriers were showing well and collecting nest material (again).
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| Marsh Harriers |
There were loads of corvids flapping around Heslops for some reason, Jackdaws and Carrion Crows mainly.
I saw my first Speckled Wood butterfly of the year as it landed on the path in front of me. The first of many I hope.
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| Speckled Wood |
Along the hedgerow a couple of Lesser Whitethroats were singing. They just wouldn't come out from behind the twigs and foliage so this is the best of a bad bunch of images.
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| Lesser Whitethroat |
Just a few yards away a Common Whitethroat was also singing.
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| Common Whitethroat |
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| Common Whitethroat singing |
The pair of Treecreepers continue to work away on getting their nest sorted, with both birds away from the nest for quite a time. I'm guessing there aren't any eggs yet.
I've seen and heard more Greenfinches around Hornsea this Spring than at any time since we moved here. This is good news and I hope the trend continues.
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| Singing Greenfinch |
A little further south, therre are a couple of large pools left over from the winter rain. I went past this morning and found 2 Shelduck, 2 Lapwing, an Oystercatcher and several Mallards. I was hoping for a Ringed or Little Ringed Plover but I'll keep checking and hoping.
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| Lapwing |
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| Pair of Shelduck |
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| Shelduck |
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| Oystercatcher |
Today had the true feel of Spring as the wind was gentle and mild and the sun was out. No gloves for the first time in decades it seemed and the woolly hat was left abandoned at home.
The Treecreeper nest in the wood is still occupied and a pair are in residence. One of the birds was sitting when had a look in there.
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| Treecreeper sitting on nest |
Here's a short video of a bird entering the nest. It goes in via the widest part of the crack towards the top and then settles on the nest so that its tail sticks out of the bark lower down.
This morning there were plenty of migrants coming in to join those already established. Top sighting for me was a couple of Sedge Warblers singing away in Heslops. Swallows and Sand Martins, Wheatears and Willow Warblers are all arriving now. I was actually lingering around Heslops hoping for a Grasshopper Warbler when I heard the Sedgies, but no Groppers turned up.
Chiffchaffs are now consigned to singing in the background when I'm walking through the woods and fields, whereas just a few weeks ago they were definitely being actively listened for and were therefore very much in the foreground. I watched one this morning feeding in a tree in second field and it was so wrapped up in catching flies that it didn't notice how close it had come. I could see daylight through its nostrils it was so close.
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| Chiffchaff with a fly |
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| A few Chiffchaff studies |
Workers were grafting away in second field by the Mere replacing fences, and as I watched the Chiffchaff they must have flushed a Brown Hare. It came....wait for it....hareing past me towards first field gate. Me being my usual sloppy self only got pics as it disappeared into the distance.
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| 360 degree vision in evidence here |
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| The standard Brown Hare levitation photo |
All manner of plants and flowers are springing up all over t'place now and I can't for the life of me identify them all. I think this one may be Ground Ivy?
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| Ground Ivy(?) in the wood |
Our pond is coming along well with frog spawn in place, which when the tadpoles hatch out, will be food for the resident Smooth Newts (Lissotriton vulgaris).
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| Smooth Newt in the pond |
Smooth Newts have an orange belly and develop a wavy crest along their backs during the breeding season. This is the only time they are found in water as they spend the rest of the year on land, hiding away in damp places, and they cannot tolerate dry conditions as well as their UK relatives, the Palmate Newt (Lissotriton helveticus).
