Leven Canal walk then Decoy Hide at Hornsea Mere

 I walked the length of the Leven Canal on Friday on what was the hottest day of the year for me at 20 degrees by the time I finished at about 12:45. It was a fantastic walk though and enjoyable from beginning to end. The canal from where I parked in Leven is only 3.5 miles, so 7 miles there and back, but I walked along the river for a while so got the total to over 10 miles.

I didn't see some wildlife I wanted to see but there was so much on offer that I didn't miss it.

Here are several views of the habitat along the canal. For long stretches you are hemmed in with reed bed on one side and hedgerow on the other. I'm fine with this because through late spring and summer there are flowers, damselflies, dragonflies and mammals to see, plus of course birds to see flying over and to hear from all directions.

There are open sections too so scan the water surface for dragonflies

Far Fox Aqueduct looking west

Far Fox Aqueduct looking east

Looking north from Far Fox

The River Hull at the west end of the canal

More of the path on the way back

Panorama view looking north to the airstrip

Lovely knees!!

The wildlife was great, looking magnificent in the sunlight.

Four Spotted Chaser

Azure Damselfly

Four Spotted Chaser

Flag Iris

Yellow Water Lily

Fox (still had wide focus setting on unfortunately)

One of 13+ Little Egret

I'd heard a Cuckoo calling distantly for a couple of hours before it eventually made its way towards me and landed on a tree top for a second or two.

Cuckoo incoming

Cuckoo landed but it didn't stay long

Buzzard hassled by Black-headed Gulls

Buzzard seen off by crows

Shelduck on Leven Carrs

Brown Hare

Sedge Warbler

Peacock

Hairy Dragonflies

Grey Heron and Shoveler on Leven Carrs

On the way home I stopped off at Wassand and walked along to the hide at Decoy Channel. It was a warm sunny afternoon so I expected Hobbies to be up and doing and I wasn't disappointed, seeing at least 3 at the same time.

Hobby - this and the 4 below

Having seen Azure Damselfly at Leven I wasn't particularly looking for them here, but you just get into the groove sometimes:

Azure Damselfly in flight over a teneral Common Blue Damselfly

I also saw a few Four Spotted Chaser at the hide but couldn't get a decent image.

Four Spotted Chasers, poor image but recognisable

In the reedbed I found this - a Long-jawed Orbweaver I think