Nothing (Much) To See Here

 The week has been unrelentingly similar each day - grey and overcast, dry, with a slight south or south west breeze. The wildlife has largely followed this same pattern, with little change day to day.

Monday 4 November

 On the beach there were eight Sanderling and a single Dunlin. It was particularly good to see Dunlin as we do not get that many on the beach in a year. We probably see more at the Mere than near the sea.

Ignore the S on its breast - it's a Dunlin 😂

Dunlin running

Sanderling running

 

 

While reviewing these photos it struck me how alike the poses were on the shots above of Dunlin (DN) and Sanderling (SS) so I put them side by side...

Side by side DN and SS look to have indentical gaits

 

 A Black-headed Gull in the background of this photo with a Sanderling in the foreground is an opportunity to see the large size difference between the two. The gull isn't particularly big but it looks gigantic with the Sanderling next to it.

Compare Black-headed Gull and Sanderling

That's Monday's sightings covered then!

Tuesday 5 November

A walk along the Mere south aside today. No fireworks on the sightings front but four Whooper Swans, four Bullfinch and a Little Egret did get my heart rate up by one or two beats. Little Egrets have been scarce at the Mere this year - maybe due to the high water levels which prevents them landing and feeding around the shoreline.

Two of the four Bullfinch

Yellowhammer

On the way home three Grey Squirrels were frolicking around the trees near Edenfield. Having nothing else to 'tog I fired off a few shots.

Grey Squirrel

Back home, a Collared Dove was sneaking some food from the feeder outside my office window so a few more frames entered the camera.

Collared Dove

Wednesday 6 November

Another slow day I'm afraid. Although I heard Bearded Tits and Water Rail as usual, there were no photo opportunities. However with the four Goldcrests I heard (and saw just two of them) I managed a reasonable likeness.

Goldcrest

 

More wild flowers in evidence today - Red Campion and White Dead Nettle this time.

White Dead Nettle

Red Campion

Another day done. Uninspiring certainly but at least I'm out and about and still looking for the wildlife that is (hopefully) out there somewhere.

Friday 8 November

A walk to Rolston and then along the cliffs today which was a good old enjoyable leg-stretcher for me. The camera was a passenger for most of the walk but it was a good morning.

A Kestrel along the cliff top hovered for long enough to allow me to get some video and a photo.

In the fields at Rolston the Hebridean sheep kept me amused by walking towards me for a bit. I thought they were going to block my path but they sauntered calmly out of my way as I approached.

They reminded of the stereotypical country yokel with a piece of straw in his mouth 🤣

Also on the cliffs I spotted four Fieldfares at the far edge of the field I was crossing. The distance was great so the image isn't, as it's cropped down as far as I could without losing too much definition.

Fieldfares in the distance

I am hoping for a change in the weather next week as the wind veers more northerly. It'll be cooler, but that's to be expected at this time of year.

Sunrise, Sunset

Tuesday 29 October 2024

Most people are too young to remember, but Sunrise, Sunset is the title of a song from the 1964 musical "Fiddler On The Roof".

 A fine, dry and sunny morning put a spring in my step - well, not so much a Zebedee-like "boing" more a half-hearted squelch 🤣

There is a good sized patch of borage still in flower at Wassand and it had loads of honey bees busily collecting pollen.

Honey bee on borage

Borage still showing well

The Bearded Tits came a little closer this morning so I got reasonable photos.

About 10 Bearded Tits at the Mere

Bearded Tit in flight over the reeds

Great Spotted Woodpeckers are getting easier to see now the leaves are falling. Mind you, this one would have been seen with or without leaves!

GS Pecker on top of the world

Friday 1 November 2024

A lovely day with a fine sunrise and an even better sunset. As I've been busy in the house recently I have been out for a short walk most mornings, then gone out late afternoon for a longer walk, and catching some impressive sunsets is a bonus.

Start of the day through The Wave

It's been a while since I've seen a really impressive Starling murmuration at the Mere and today just refreshed my memory with about 10,000-15,000 birds swirling over the east end reedbed. I did take some video but the light wasn't great and the quality wasn't good enough.

The setting sun reflected in the Mere Cafe windows

Thousands of Starlings gathering for the roost

Murmuration starting with St Nicholas church in the background

Wide angled view of the cafe and the murmuration

The day ended in spectacular fashion

Saturday 2 November 2024

We had a subdued sunrise today with cloud fully obscurring the sun eventually. At one point though there was a lovely sight as there was a clear band of light just above the horizon.

Sunrise over the wind turbines at Westermost Rough

A good sized pod of Dolphins passed by offshore going south, I estimate about 30 or so. Not much else to report for the day apart from a single Fieldfare chacking from a tree top on KP.

Fieldfare

Sunday 3 November 2024

One more dry and very calm day. Southerly breeze reported at 4mph only and no sun all day.

I walked to Rolston, through to Goxhill and back home via the TPT (Trans Pennine Trail aka the railway line). Plenty of Redwing were along the TPT but as usual they were very flighty and difficult to get a clear photo.

Redwing

Blurry but still a Redwing

There were lots of wild flowers still in bloom as I walked through Rolston.

Oxeye daisy

Knapweed

Yarrow

Bristly Oxtongue

Meadowsweet

Hogweed

That's another week gone. Not much excitement overall but lots to see and hear if you look for it. The list of my favourite bird sightings for the week shows nothing out of the ordinary but enough to keep me interested.

Bearded Tit

Water Rail

Fieldfare

Redwing

Whooper Swan

Pink-footed Goose

Barnacle Goose

Common Scoter

Lapwing

Yellowhammer

Starling murmuration

Great Spotted Woodpecker

Treecreeper

That Was The Week That Was

 Tuesday 22 October

An early morning walk to Rolston and a lovely sunrise to accompany my footsteps. The area is wonderful at the moment - full of autumn colour.

Sunrise

Spear thistle covered in cobwebs

 Thursday 24 October

 This morning's walk took me north along the sea front and back the same way then along Stream Dyke. Not much to see I'm afraid.

Great Black-backed Gull

The highlight of the morning was a flock of Greenfinch by Stream Dyke, 14 in total.

Greenfinch feeding on Rosa rugosa

Half of the Greenfinch flock

 Friday 25 October

I walked along the south side footpath to the hide this morning. Plenty of birds about in the early morning sunlight but not many came within camera distance.

 In Wassand Wood I found a species of fungi I'd not seen before and as it looked quite different to others, I checked its id. I decided upon Rhodotus palmatus (Wrinkled Peach), but I wasn't really convinced so I posted it on the Yorkshire Naturalists Union page and asked for either confirmation or an alternate id. Confirmation came back which really pleased me as it was not only a new species for me, but also it is not common. It is found on elms which of course are disappearing far too quickly, but there are currently plenty of them in Wassand wood.

Wrinkled Peach (rhodotus palmatus)

Cormorants from the hide

Saturday 26 October

Back to the Mere again this morning and one more very pleasant morning in our local beauty spot. A single Lapwing flew over me heading north.

Lapwing showing the wide wings that enable its aerobatic displays

There aren't many mammals on show these days (apart from rabbits and squirrels but I mostly discount them) so a Roebuck was good to watch as it browsed the field edge.

Roebuck

The best place for passerines at the moment along the south side is the set aside field and its surrounding hedgerows. A large flock of about 100 Linnets and some 30 Goldfinches is building well and hopefully numbers will swell to a couple of hundred birds soon.

Also in the hedgerows are Yellowhammers, Reed Buntings and Chaffinches. No Brambling yet for me.

Yellowhammer

In the large reedbed at Heslop's there are nearly always Bearded Tits to be seen and/or heard. This morning was no exception with about 10 of them calling and moving through the reeds. They didn't come near the footpath so I made do with heavily cropped shots from about 150 yards.

Distant Bearded Tits

On the water there were nine Whooper Swans, including a single young swan.

Whooper Swans with a Cormorant spectator

Greater Scaup visit frequently through winter and two were found by Jon, luckily for me they were pretty close in so I didn't need the scope to get them.

Greater Scaup

While watching the Scaup, 24 more Whooper Swans appeared from the north and a few landed close by the other nine Whoopers. The young ones among them didn't make elegant approaches to touch down 🤣🤣

A young Whooper Swan looking ungainly

Sunday 27 October

As I enjoyed the previous two days at the Mere I made it a thrid consecutive visit to the Mere this morning. It was colder than the other days at 7 degrees C but it soon warmed up once the sun got a little higher in the sky.

I caught a fleeting glimpse of a dragonfly as I went through one of the gates but not enough to have a guess at id I'm afraid. The sun also brought out plenty of hoverflies with Tapered Dronefly the most numerous.

Sysphus sp. hoverfly

Tapered Dronefly

Common Green Bottle Fly (Lucilia sericata)

In the largest hawthorn by the set aside and Heslop's I found six (six!) Tree Sparrows. They have been hard to find around the Mere this year and although there are plently of them nearby and in Hornsea as a whole, they are very scarce at the Mere.

A Mere Tree Sparrow

The local Kestrel was up and hunting over first field. Great to see but I do wish it would turn and face me sometimes. Yes, I know the wind direction controls the direction it faces while hovering, that doesn't stop me wanting it to do an about face 😀

A Wind Hover (old English name for Kestrel)