Hornsea Wildlife and Walks: The Last Few Days...

I was walking along minding my own business as usual when I spotted a sleek something or other trotting along about 20 yards away and to the right of me. I looked again and saw it was a fox, and it hadn't clocked me yet as I was downwind and being relatively quiet.

I moved back into the shadow of the hedgerow, kneeled down and watched as it trotted on, then it stopped with its ears pricked forward. It had seen something and was hopefully going to try and catch it.

I had time to get the camera ready and started taking photos. Luckily the fox pounced on its prey while I had the shutter pressed and I got 3 shots of it in the air. It ate whatever it was pretty quickly so it can't have been much more than a mouse or vole.

Fox pouncing on its prey

That put a spring in my step for the rest of the morning and everything else I saw was a bonius. It doesn't really take much to lift the spirits if you enjoy watching wildlife as there is so much about at the moment.

In the trees several birds were active at last because it's been really quiet recently, which usually happens after the breeding season ends. Young birds are making themselves heard and are easier to see now.

Juvenile Goldcrest, lacking the yellow stripe through the crown

Juv Goldcrest sans yellow stripe

Juv Chiff Chaff

Either a juv Blackcap or a female, looks more like a juv to me

Dragonflies and butterflies have been doing their best to enthrall me while the birds are mostly keeping their heads down. The diversity hasn't been there among dragons with most sightings being Common Darter, Migrant Hawker or Brown Hawker, but butterflies have been more interesting with Skippers always raising the hope of getting an Essex.

female Common Blue

Small Copper

Comma

I've taken so many photos of Common Darter and Migrant Hawker that I nearly avoid seeing them in case I'm tempted to take more 😂but I still do anyway. This Common Darter had a fly sp. behind it and I was shouting "behind you" but it never looked. Well, in my defence, the summer panto is on at The Floral Hall!

It's behind you! Oh no it isn't.

The wild flowers, shrubs and trees are suffering with the heat. I look with dismay at trees with shrivelling leaves - even the mature trees are struggling. We need rain soon.

Lords and Ladies ripening

Lords and ladies have an interesting flower structure and are pollinated by flies. The orange/red berries are readily eaten by birds, providing a good source of food in late summer. Having eaten the berries, birds disperse the seeds, ensuring the plant continues to spread.

Smaller creatures are providing interest along with larger invertebrates, ladybirds in particular:

14 spot ladybird (Propylea quattuordecimpunctata)

I'm guessing the latin name includes the relevant words for 14, quatt for 4 and decmi for 10 is as far as I could go.

7 spot Ladybird (Coccinella septempunctata)

Likewise for the 7 Spot - septem being latin for 7? If so, why isn't September the 7th month?!? To save you looking it up here is the entry from Wikipedia - "September (from Latin septem, "seven") was originally the seventh of ten months in the oldest known Roman calendar, the calendar of Romulus c. 750 BC, with March (Latin Martius) the first month of the year until perhaps as late as 451 BC. After the calendar reform that added January and February to the beginning of the year, September became the ninth month but retained its name. It had 29 days until the Julian reform, which added a day."

To end this blog entry here's a few pics that missed the edit...