Eider Rather Be an Eider Than A Condor

 It was good to see something different along south beach this morning as a Sandwich Tern flew past and landed on one of the breakwaters and a male partial eclipse Eider swam mostly south, but idled a bit in the calm water out of the waves near the breakwaters.

Male Eider off south beach this morning

Sandwich Tern

The burnet moths are out and about and look spectacular in the sun.

5 Spot Burnet Moth on Bird's Foot Trefoil

5 Spot Burnet showing proboscis, on a Common Spotted Orchid

5 Spot Burnet on white clover

Common Spotted Orchid

The species of dragonflies on the wing are getting more diverse now as we move through the months - Emperor and Black-tailed Skimmer are now daily sights along the south side of the Mere.

Black-tailed Skimmer

Emperor dragonfly

Emperors seem easier to catch in flight than they are when stationary 😂

Linnets are a joy to watch and to hear singing - common birds but so beautiful.

Linnet

Our butterfly population is suffering badly with numbers way down on last year already. We did have a sudden explosion of Meadow Brown numbers on Tuesday though so it's not all bad news.

One of several hundred Meadow Brown butterflies

The Young Ones part 1

 A couple of fledgling Reed Buntings were being fed by the adult birds this morning. They were difficult to capture cleanly as they flew about in the reed bed but one or two shots were OK.

Adult male with breakfast

Is breakfast ready yet?

Fledgling in flight

Young 'un after more food

More Good Weather = More Wildlife

 The warm, sunny spell continues and it has been instrumental in getting our local wildlife to show itself. I've seen more butterflies and bees in the past 5 days than in the whole of the year so far.

Poppy with Buff-tailed Bumblebee incoming

Poppy with Buff-tailed Bumblebee outgoing

Red-tailed Bumblebee incoming onto poppy

Buff-tailed and Red-tailed with Marmalade hoverfly

Pied Plumehorn hoverfly (Volucella pellucens)

The numbers of damselflies in the fields along the south side of the Mere have to be seen to be believed. There must be thousands of them - mainly Common Blue Damselflies with a few Blue-tailed and Azure mixed in. I've seen several blue-form females this year and to my eyes these have been in short supply in previous years. Most females locally are of the green form although there are even less numerous other colours too.

Common Blue Damselflies - male above and blue-form female below

Common Blue damselflies with the more common green-form female

 Anything happening on the bird front? Not much. The summer migrants and our resident birds are cracking on with their breeding season. Lots of young birds on the wing now.

Young Starling in first field

Lots of young Starlings in first field

Young Long-tailed Tit

Young Moorhen

Unsure of this one - could be young Whitethroat still with downy feathers

 Great Spotted Woodpeckers seem to have had a good breeding season as there are good numbers around Hornsea. Young 'peckers have a red patch on the crown of the head which gradually disappears as the bird reaches maturity.

Juvenile Great Spotted Woodpecker (red on the crown)

Juvenile GSW taking off

Some birds, like this Yellowhammer, are either preparing for their second brood or are repairing their nests.

Yellowhammer with nest stuff

The mammals hereabouts aren't to be ignored either, with squirrels (grey unfortunately) and hares seen regularly in the fields and woods.

Squirrel with food

Grey Squirrel

Brown Hare approaching

Close enough - time to leave

The wild flowers in the meadows and hedgerows are stunning in the bright sunshine.

Dogwood in flower

Dogwood closeup

Umbellifers, cornflowers and a poppy or two

Creeping cinquefoil

Finally onto butterflies - the real harbinger of summer. Just a few now after the early broods have died off and we wait for the late broods to emerge, but a couple of Meadow Browns appeared just to whet my appetite for what's to come.

The first Meadow Brown of the year

Common Blue butterfly

Here Comes The Sun

 At last!! The sun appeared through the mass of grey clouds that stretched over Hornsea for absolutely ages. It's amazing what suddenly appears when the rays of Sol beam down from above 😀

A Large Skipper (a year first) and a Common Blue along with Red Admirals, Orange Tips, Large Whites and several Speckled Woods.

Common Blue butterfly

Common Blue

Common Blue

Large Skipper

Speckled Wood

 

Common Blue Damselfly

The number of damselflies has been magnificent recently given the generally very low numbers of invertebrates. They have been mainly Common Blue Damselflies with a few Azure thrown in.

It's been pretty quiet on the bird front with just the usual species being seen, but they are still great to see of course. There will undoubtedly come a time when birds we take for granted are no longer seen. Sorry but it is going to happen - but not in my lifetime hopefully 🤔

Marsh Harriers are, to me, synonymous with Hornsea Mere. I always see them here and it's great to see them through the seasons - hopefully raising young at the moment.

Male Marsh Harrier

Cream Crown Marsh Harrier

Oystercatcher

Common Tern with food for hungry mouths

Common Tern (obvs been to Tesco 😂)

Linnet

Getting back to what makes the world work, the bees I saw yesterday along Southorpe Road were endlessly wonderous. I counted 7 species, probably more because I'm no expert. After seeing very few in the last week of grey gloom it's just eye popping to see them out and abut again.

Tawny Mining Bee

Orange-tailed Mining Bee

Hawthorn Mining Bee

Chocolate Mining Bee

Four different species of mining bee on a single road in Hornsea. Fantastic. Hopefully more to come!?

No need to introduce the post title today but I will anyway as there are younger folk who may not know all the Beatles songs. "Here Comes The Sun", written by George Harrison, appeared on Abbey Road in 1969. Just a great song and so apt.